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Drums & Percussion

Used SABIAN 17in HHX Complex O-Zone China Cymbal
Product Price  $399.99
Great Condition
Used MEINL 14in Byzance Traditional Hi Hat Medium Pair...
Product Price  $389.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 20in XSR RIDE CYMBAL Cymbal
Product Price  $149.99
Great Condition
Used TAMA 5 Piece Superstar SUNSET FADE Drum Kit
Product Price  $684.99
Great Condition
Used MEINL 10in HCS Splash Cymbal
Product Price  $23.99
Great Condition
Used Pearl 4 Piece Export CHROME Drum Kit
Product Price  $399.99
Great Condition
Used Symrna 12in HIT STACK Cymbal
Product Price  $119.99
Great Condition
Used MEINL 10in HCS Splash Cymbal
Product Price  $23.99
Great Condition
Used Zildjian 14in K Constantinople Hi Hat Pair Cymbal
Product Price  $599.99
Great Condition
Used Zildjian 19in K Constantinople Crash Ride Cymbal
Product Price  $449.99
Great Condition
Used Zildjian 18in K Constantinople Crash Cymbal
Product Price  $449.99
Great Condition
Used Ludwig 5 Piece Backbeat Red sparkle Drum Kit
Product Price  $399.99
Great Condition
Used Zildjian 22in a series Cymbal
Product Price  $249.99
Great Condition
Used 1999 Zildjian 16in A Series Medium Crash Cymbal
Product Price  $159.99
Great Condition
Used 2000s Gretsch Drums 5X14 BROADCASTER CHERRY RED Drum
Product Price  $499.99
Great Condition
Used Zildjian 16in A Custom Fast Crash Cymbal
Product Price  $249.99
Great Condition
Used C&C Drum Company 14X8 Player Date II Gold Sparkle Drum
Product Price  $759.99
Great Condition
Used Zildjian 13in K CUSTOM HYBRID HI HAT BOTTOM Cymbal
Product Price  $209.99
Great Condition
Used Zildjian 13in K Custom Hybrid Hi Hat Bottom Cymbal
Product Price  $209.99
Great Condition
Used TAMA 4 Piece Cocktail-JAM Bright Orange Sparkle Drum...
Product Price  $599.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 18in HH THIN CHINESE Cymbal
Product Price  $175.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 16in AAX O-ZONE Cymbal
Product Price  $204.99
Great Condition
Used 2000s SABIAN 16in AA Rocktagon Crash Brilliant Cymbal
Product Price  $199.99
Great Condition
Used Palmetto 14X8 SNARE MAPLE GREEN SPARKLE Drum
Product Price  $429.99
Great Condition
Used 2010s Pearl 4 Piece Vision Birch brown birch Drum Kit
Product Price  $549.99
Great Condition
Used Zildjian 14in Avedis Hi Hat Pair Cymbal
Product Price  $199.99
Great Condition
Used Pearl 14in AL-6214D Aluminum Drum
Product Price  $749.99
Great Condition
Used TAMA 4 Piece Club Jam Grey Sparkle Drum Kit
Product Price  $459.99
Great Condition
Used ddrum 14in Reflex Series Black Drum
Product Price  $149.99
Great Condition
Used Zildjian 13in Z Custom Dyno Beat Hi Hat Cymbal
Product Price  $174.99
Great Condition
Used 1970s Zildjian 20in Avedis Ride Cymbal
Product Price  $199.99
Great Condition
Used PDP by DW 5 Piece fs series Flat Red Drum Kit
Product Price  $449.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 18in HHX REDLIGHT Cymbal
Product Price  $399.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 16in AAX Xplosion Crash Cymbal
Product Price  $169.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 10in AAX Splash Brilliant Cymbal
Product Price  $99.99
Great Condition
Used Zildjian 14in I SERIES HI HAT Cymbal
Product Price  $119.99
Great Condition
Used Yamaha 14in RYDEEN SNARE CHAMPAGNE SPARKLE Drum
Product Price  $69.99
Great Condition
Used Pearl 5.5X14 President Series Deluxe Desert Ripple...
Product Price  $249.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 19in AA HOLY CHINA CHAD SMITH Cymbal
Product Price  $199.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 22in HH SESSIONS RIDE Cymbal
Product Price  $549.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 14in legacy hi hat pair Cymbal
Product Price  $349.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 14in HHX EVOLUTION HI HAT PAIR Cymbal
Product Price  $349.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 8in SR2 Thin Splash Cymbal
Product Price  $69.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 16in AAX CHINESE Cymbal
Product Price  $199.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 12in Mike Portnoy Signature Max Stax Cymbal
Product Price  $249.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 10in Mike Portnoy Signature Max Stax Cymbal
Product Price  $199.99
Great Condition
Used TAMA 5 Piece Royalstar Champagne Drum Kit
Product Price  $649.99
Great Condition
Used MEINL 14in HCS Crash Cymbal
Product Price  $44.99
Great Condition
Used Singular Sound Beatbuddy Footswitch Drum Machine
Product Price  $49.99
Great Condition
Used Remo Festival Djembe Hand Drum
Product Price  $229.99
Great Condition
Used Zildjian 16in L80 Low Volume Crash Cymbal
Product Price  $89.99
Great Condition
Used MEINL 18in Byzance Medium Crash Cymbal
Product Price  $249.99
Great Condition
Used Wuhan Cymbals & Gongs 10in LINEAR SMASH Cymbal
Product Price  $89.99
Great Condition
Used Alesis Nitro Amp Mini Drum Amp Drum Amplifier
Product Price  $99.99
Great Condition
Used MEINL 14in Byzance Fast Hi Hat Pair Cymbal
Product Price  $329.99
Great Condition
Used SABIAN 14in HHX Complex Medium HiHat (Pair) Cymbal
Product Price  $399.99
Great Condition
Used Bosphorus Cymbals 21in 1600 ERA RIDE Cymbal
Product Price  $369.99
Great Condition
Used Gretsch Drums 3 Piece Catalina Club Series Crimson Red...
Product Price  $549.99
Great Condition
Used Soultone 21in Ride Cymbal
Product Price  $334.99
Great Condition
Used DW 14X6 Design Series Snare Nickel Drum
Product Price  $274.99
Great Condition

About Drums

Drums and percussion are likely the second oldest musical instruments, beaten only by the voice itself. Percussion instruments produce sound by being struck, shaken, scraped or rubbed. Drums are just one member of the percussion family. They refer specifically to instruments with head or skin stretched over a shell. The technical term for the drum head is a membrane, making the drum a membranophone.

When you think about drums and percussion, your first thought might go to a drum set with a snare drum, rack toms, floor toms, bass drum, cymbals and cymbal stands. Perhaps you're a hand percussionist and drums to you are bongos, congas, timbales, cajons or even djembes. This just goes to show the wide variety of instruments within the drum and percussion category, and with such a long, rich history it’s easy to see why there are so many variations and types of drum in world.

Drum History

Drums and percussion instruments are the oldest musical instruments in history and haven’t changed much in the course of a few thousand years. One of the oldest discovered drums was made with an alligator skin and dates back to as early as 5500 B.C. Every culture on every continent used drums in some form, whether it was for musical purposes, communication with distant neighbors or relaying commands on the battle field. We've all seen the paintings of the Revolutionary War drummers marching on the front lines, or the ancient hortator keeping time on the Viking longship. However, as technology evolved, so did the drum.

Drum Construction

The basic principal of every drum is the same: a round cylinder with a drum head—or a drum skin— that you strike with your hand or a drum stick or mallet. The head is held down by a hoop or a rim, and tension rods or rope thread into a lug. The distinction made between drums and hand drums is somewhat obvious. Any drum you play using your hands is a hand drum or hand percussion. Acoustic drum heads vary widely depending on the type of drum they're on. A typical drum set drum uses a drum head made of mylar on the top and bottom of the drum, while hand drums often only have a calfskin head on top. To tune the drum up or down, you tighten or loosen the drum head.

The drum shells are constructed from a myriad of materials including wood, metal and plastic, and the different wood species or metals can produce special sounds. Many companies such as DW, TAMA and Yamaha create hybrid drum shells which utilize different tone woods or metal and wood to achieve a unique sound. Wood drum shells are constructed in several ways but the two most common ways are multi-ply construction or stave construction. Multi-ply drum shells are constructed using anywhere from three to 20 thin pieces of wood that are glued and pressed together. Stave drum shells are built using one piece of wood that is typically steam bent into its cylindrical shape.

Electronic Drums

Electronic drums originally started out as simple metronome machines and evolved in the early 1970s into something closer to what they are today. Companies such Roland, Yamaha and Simmons produced the first electronic drum sets. They became popular and commercially successful in the early 1980s as technology and samples became better and more advanced. Electronic drum kits or e-kits have a very similar design to acoustic drum sets. There's a snare, toms, bass drum, cymbals and you play it using drum sticks. However, electronic drums utilize rubber or mesh heads and the cymbals are rubberized pads. The biggest advantage to electronic drums is the amount of drum and percussion sounds you can program, as well as the built-in, complete drum sets.

Drum Set Cymbals

A typical drum set or percussion setup utilizes cymbals. A drum set includes a pair of hi-hats, a crash cymbal or two, and a ride cymbal. However, experimenting with different cymbal sounds has become very popular and many drummers often have effects—or FX—cymbals in their setup, including china cymbals, splash cymbals and cymbal stacks. Most cymbals are made from bronze alloy and are either machine or manually hammered into their final form.