Your Drum Kit, Explained: Names, Materials and Sticks

Every chart, lesson and video you’ll ever use assumes you know what each part of the kit is called. It takes ten minutes to learn, and after that a shop, a spec sheet or a second-hand listing starts to make sense.

This is the kit from the floor up: the drums and cymbals, what they’re made of, who makes them, and the sticks you play them with.

The drums

A standard five-piece kit has five drums and three or four cymbals. Positions below are for a right-handed set-up; a left-handed drummer mirrors the lot.

• Bass/kick: the big drum on the floor, played with the right foot pedal. Usually 20 or 22 inches across.
• Snare: the sharp, cracking drum between your knees. It has wires under the bottom head, which give it the crack. Usually 14 inches across and 5 to 6.5 inches deep.
• Rack toms: one or two toms mounted above the bass/kick. 10 and 12 inches are common.
• Floor tom: the big tom on legs to your right. Usually 14 or 16 inches.

Drums are measured by diameter. As a rule, a bigger head vibrates more slowly and gives a lower note, which is why the floor tom sits below the rack toms.

The cymbals

• Hi-hat: two cymbals on a stand, opened and closed by the left foot. Usually 14 inches.
• Ride: the big cymbal to your right, for keeping time. Usually 20 inches.
• Crash: the cymbal you hit for accents, often 16 or 18 inches.

On a chart you’ll see them shortened: BD or K for the bass/kick, SD for snare, HH for hi-hat, T1 and T2 for the rack toms and FT for the floor tom.

What drums are made of

Most shells are wood, made from thin plies bent into a cylinder. The wood does affect the tone, but heads, tuning and the room change the sound far more than most people expect. With that caution, here is what each material tends to be known for:

• Maple: the most common choice in good kits. Usually described as warm and balanced.
• Birch: often described as brighter and punchier, with strong highs and lows and less in the middle. Popular for recording.
• Mahogany: warm, with a strong low end. You’ll find it in a lot of vintage kits.
• Poplar: a cheaper wood used in many budget kits. Perfectly usable, if a little less lively.
• Acrylic: clear plastic shells. Loud, bright and full of attack.

Snares are often metal. Steel tends to be bright and loud with plenty of ring, brass warm and full (and often the most expensive), aluminium dry and crisp with a quick decay.

Treat all of this as tendencies. Two maple kits can sound more different from each other than a maple kit and a birch kit, and a well-tuned budget drum will beat a badly tuned expensive one. Listen first and read the spec sheet second.

Who makes drums and cymbals

You’ll see these names for the rest of your drumming life. Knowing which do drums, which do cymbals and which do electronic kits helps you follow a conversation and judge a bargain.

• Drums: Yamaha, Pearl, Tama and Mapex are large companies with ranges from beginner to professional. DW (Drum Workshop) is American and mostly high-end, and well known for its pedals. Gretsch and Ludwig are American makers with long histories. Sonor is German, long established, and known for build quality.
• Cymbals: Zildjian is the oldest, with roots in Turkey going back centuries, and is now based in America. Sabian is Canadian, founded by a member of the Zildjian family. Paiste is Swiss and known for a bright, clean sound. Meinl is German, with a wide range that includes many dark and trashy cymbals.
• Electronic kits: Roland leads at the professional end. Alesis makes kits across the price range and is strong at the budget end.

Almost every maker sells cheap and expensive lines under the same name, so the badge alone tells you little about quality. The range name is what to look up.

Anatomy of a drumstick

A stick has five parts, from the end you hit with to the end you hold:

• Tip (or bead): the end that strikes. Its shape changes the cymbal sound. Round tips are focused; barrel and acorn tips sound fuller.
• Shoulder: the widening just behind the tip. It’s what you use on a crash for a big sound, and on a cowbell.
• Taper: where the stick thins towards the tip. A long taper feels light and quick at the front; a short one feels front-heavy and strong.
• Shaft: the straight main body, where you hold it. In a rim shot the shaft hits the rim while the tip hits the head.
• Butt: the back end. Some players flip the stick round for a heavier sound.

Sizes use a number and a letter. Generally, a lower number means a thicker stick, and B is heavier than A at the same number. So 7A is thin, 5A is medium, 5B is thicker and 2B is thick. 5A is the standard all-round choice, and the place to start if you’re not sure.

Tips are wood or nylon. Nylon gives a brighter, clearer sound on cymbals and doesn’t chip. Wood sounds warmer, and it’s what most players use.

Now play it

Knowing the kit is the start. GrooveIQ takes you from here to playing it, building the 2&4 backbeat a step at a time, and FillIQ does the same for fills. If you already play, Find My Level is free, needs no account, and tells you exactly where you are on a groove or a fill in about five minutes.