Have you ever seen two perfectly similar drum-sets? Every drum-set looks a little different. Some have four drums, other five or even more. Some have four cymbals and one Hi-Hat, others have eight cymbals and a Hi-Hat. Some drummers even like to play with two bass drums. There is however a 'standard'. This standard "Jazz-drum", as it is also called, consists of:

One bass drum One snare drum One Hi-Hat Two or three tom-toms Two cymbals *Click on the different parts of the drum-set on the picture to see info about that part.

Bass drum

The bass drum is the largest drum of the drum-set. You use a pedal to play this drum. Because of its size, the drum produces a deep, dark sound. It is used as a basis for the rest of the rhythm and for the rest of the band or orchestra. The size of the bass varies a little. A diameter of 24" is the most common size.

When you take a look at the picture of the bass drum, there is a hole beacause normally without the hole, the sound of the bass cannot go out so fast, so it gets a little stronger, and you have a longer tone. We want to hear a quick, strong 'boom' instead of a long 'boiong' with an echo. To avoid that long echoing sound, drummers usually cut out a circle, out of the resonance of the bass drum, so that there is a big hole in the drumhead. That way you do have the strong, quick sound of a bass drum with resonance, but don't have the echo, the long tone.

Snare drum

The snare drum is the centre drum on the drum-set. The snare drum is a flat drum, about 15 centimetres high. Some drum-sets have snare drums that are much higher, about 25 or 30 centimetres, but 15 are a nice average. When you play, the snare drum is directly in front of you. The snare drum is called snare drum, because of a set of snares, which lie against the resonance. These snares give the snare drum a very sharp sound. Look at the picture to the right. There you can see the snares of the snare drum. If you are playing rhythms which require a more tom-tom like sound, you can take the set of snares away from the resonance. To do this, just pull over a lever. This is nice for Rumba-rhythms or African-like rhythms.

For some music, you can play with brushes. These brushes give a funny effect on the snare drum, when you sweep the brushes over the top drumhead, usually called the "batter". With special techniques, special sounds can be made using brushes.

Tom-toms

Some drum-sets look very impressive, because of the large number of toms they have. Two of three is standard. Toms are used mainly used in solos, fills or breaks or Latin numbers. When playing rhythms, toms aren't used very much. The diameters of most toms are 12", 14" and 18". These diameters are perfect for a drum-set with three toms. The toms are tuned on different ways. The smallest tom has the highest pitch. The largest tom has the lowest pitch.
The sounds of toms sounds great in solos, but not special because no extra things are added, like snares, holes in it or something like that. Mostly two things determine the sound of the toms: the drumhead and the size of the tom. The size partially determines the pitch of the drum-set, but the drumhead is the component that gives the drum its characteristics. The drumhead determines whether a drum has a dark or a bright tone, whether is has a short or a long sustain and a low or a high response. So the type of sound of any drum is almost completely determined by the drumhead, not by the type of wood of the drum itself.

Cymbals and Hi-Hat

Cymbals aren't drums, but they are an essential part of the modern drum-set. The Hi-Hat is two cymbals above each other. For more imformation, go and check out the Cymbals chapter.To The Cymbals Chapter