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Drums & Percussion

Used Pearl Boom
Product Price  $99.99
Fair Condition
Used Yamaha 5in STEEL SHELL Chrome Drum
Product Price  $104.99
Fair Condition
Used SABIAN 20in B8 Ride Cymbal
Product Price  $59.99
Fair Condition
Used Orange County Drum & Percussion 13X6 Miscellaneous...
Product Price  $109.99
Fair Condition
Used Unknown 12in SPLASH Cymbal
Product Price  $49.99
Fair Condition
Used Alesis Control Pad USB/MIDI Percussion Pad Drum MIDI...
Product Price  $129.99
Fair Condition
Used SABIAN 16in AA Sound Control Crash Cymbal
Product Price  $139.99
Fair Condition
Used Mapex 4 Piece MYDENTITY BLUE Drum Kit
Product Price  $399.99
Fair Condition
Used Yamaha 14X5.5 SD496 Snare Chrome Silver Drum
Product Price  $154.99
Fair Condition
Used SABIAN 13in Pro Fusion Hats Cymbal
Product Price  $74.99
Fair Condition
Used SABIAN 13in AA El Sabor Salsa Splash Cymbal
Product Price  $99.99
Fair Condition
Used Sabian 8in Pro Splash Cymbal
Product Price  $33.99
Fair Condition
Used SABIAN 10in XS20 Splash Cymbal
Product Price  $71.99
Fair Condition
Used SABIAN 20in AA RAW RIDE Cymbal
Product Price  $189.99
Fair Condition
Used Zildjian 17in 17" CRASH Cymbal
Product Price  $170.99
Fair Condition
Used Yamaha DTX2 KIT Electric Drum Set
Product Price  $399.99
Fair Condition
Used Gretsch 5.5X14 Maple Natural Drum
Product Price  $299.99
Fair Condition
Used Zildjian 10in ZHT Splash Cymbal
Product Price  $59.99
Fair Condition
Used PDP by DW 12X4 Pacific Series Snare Chrome Drum
Product Price  $84.99
Fair Condition
Used Sound Percussion Labs 4 Piece KCIKER 3 PIECE Black...
Product Price  $189.99
Fair Condition
Used ddrum 14in Diablo Snare Black Drum
Product Price  $99.99
Fair Condition
Used PowerBeat 14in HI-HAT TOP Cymbal
Product Price  $45.99
Fair Condition
Used Premier 6X14 Snare Drum Chrome Drum
Product Price  $239.99
Fair Condition
Used Zildjian 18in L80 Low Volume Ride Cymbal
Product Price  $99.99
Fair Condition
Used Mapex 14X6.5 Black Panther Aluminum Black Drum
Product Price  $274.99
Fair Condition
Used Infinity Drumworks 5 Piece Bubinga Maple Black Drum...
Product Price  $899.99
Fair Condition
Used SABIAN 12in B8 Splash Cymbal
Product Price  $49.99
Fair Condition
Used Zildjian 14in Scimitar Hi Hat Bottom Cymbal
Product Price  $100.99
Fair Condition
Used Peace 13in Piccolo Snare Chrome Drum
Product Price  $69.99
Fair Condition
Used SABIAN 10in pro china splash Cymbal
Product Price  $49.99
Fair Condition
Used MEINL 16in Classics China Cymbal
Product Price  $64.99
Fair Condition
Vintage 1970s Ludwig 4 Piece 3 piece kit vistalite Black...
Product Price  $699.99
Used Avedis 12in CUSTOM SPLASH Cymbal
Product Price  $114.99
Fair Condition
Vintage 1990s Pearl 4X14 John JR Robinson Snare Natural...
Product Price  $299.99
Used Percussion Plus 5 Piece 5-Piece Drum Set Black Drum...
Product Price  $324.99
Fair Condition
Used Zildjian 15in AZUKA Cymbal
Product Price  $179.99
Fair Condition
Used Borg 20in 20inch crash Cymbal
Product Price  $100.99
Fair Condition
Used Pearl 6X14 ALL BRASS SHELL BRASS Drum
Product Price  $424.99
Fair Condition
Used Paiste 13in 2002 SOUND EDGE HI HAT PAIR Cymbal
Product Price  $229.99
Fair Condition
Used SABIAN 14in SBR Hi Hat Pair Cymbal
Product Price  $49.99
Fair Condition
Used Ludwig 10in Hi-Hat Cymbal
Product Price  $99.99
Fair Condition
Used Taye Drums 6.5X14 Tour Pro Snare Drum Purple Drum
Product Price  $149.99
Fair Condition
Used Simmons DA25 Drum Amplifier
Product Price  $59.99
Fair Condition
Used Pdp 4in DOUBLE BASS PEDAL SILVER Drum
Product Price  $124.99
Fair Condition
Used SABIAN 14in B8 Pro Hi Hat Top Cymbal
Product Price  $46.99
Fair Condition
Used MEINL 14in Meteor Cymbal
Product Price  $49.99
Fair Condition
Used Zildjian 18in High China Cymbal
Product Price  $230.99
Fair Condition
Used Peavey 14in INTERNATIONAL SERIES Cymbal
Product Price  $49.99
Fair Condition
Used Pearl 14in mirror chrome Chrome Drum
Product Price  $89.99
Fair Condition
Used Ludwig Student Percussion Kit
Product Price  $309.99
Fair Condition
Used Zildjian 14in A Custom Crash Brilliant Cymbal
Product Price  $139.99
Fair Condition
Used Beverly 20in VINTAGE RIDE Cymbal
Product Price  $134.99
Fair Condition
Used SABIAN 22in AA Bash Ride Brilliant Cymbal
Product Price  $519.99
Fair Condition
Used Mapex 5 Piece MARS SERIES Midnight Wine Drum Kit
Product Price  $499.99
Fair Condition
Used Leedy 14in broadway pearl white Drum
Product Price  $699.99
Fair Condition
Used Zildjian 14in ZBT Cymbal
Product Price  $50.99
Fair Condition
Used Zildjian 16in A Series Medium Thin Crash Cymbal
Product Price  $134.99
Fair Condition
Used Saluda 8in Decadence China Cymbal
Product Price  $99.99
Fair Condition
Used Crush Drums & Percussion 14in SUBLIME SERIES SNARE...
Product Price  $149.99
Fair Condition
Used Noble & Cooley 3 Piece Custom CD Maple Natural with...
Product Price  $1,999.99
Fair 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.