In the previous posts, I talked about the fundamentals of a drum set and cymbals. What is needed to play the drums. These additional instruments I add here are exactly that, add-ons to the basic set. They all produce different sounds to be used in making music. These additional instruments give a drummer a larger palette, if you will. Concert toms are like rack toms, except they only have a batter head. The bottom of the drum is open. One reason a bottom head is installed on a drum is to cause the air inside the drum to vibrate back and form between the two heads to create resonance, or boom. Concert toms, because they lack the bottom resonance head, have an altogether different sound than double headed rack toms. Their attack is faster and they lack resonance. Marching toms are also concert toms, but their drumheads are over stretched […]
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Anatomy of the Drum Kit – Part 2: Drum Anatomy
A drum consists of a shell, a vent, a badge, lugs, tension rods, hoops, drum heads and mounting hardware. Most all drums have these items. Some drums also have legs. Snare drums also have snares, a butt plate and a throw off. Got all that? Everything that comes into contact with the drum head will affect how a drum sounds. That means that there are potentially thousands of variables when it comes to how a drum sounds. Understanding how to properly tune drums also helps a great deal. But because of all this, one should be able to get even a POS drum kit to sound good. Cymbals are another matter, but more on that one at a later date. Drum shells come in different standard sizes. Tom-tom sizes are 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18 inch diameters. Snare drums are typically 13 or 14 inch […]
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