Drums vs Percussion Instruments: Key Differences Explained

People often use “drums” and “percussion” as if they mean the same thing. They do not. One word names a single type of instrument. The other names a whole family, and drums are only one branch of it.

This guide explains what percussion means, what counts as a drum, where the two overlap, and why a drummer and a percussionist are not always the same person. It is written for beginners, parents and band students, so you do not need any music theory to follow along.

Drums vs percussion at a glance

If you only read one part of this guide, make it this table. The details behind each row come later.

What is percussion?

Percussion is a family of musical instruments, in the same way that strings, woodwind and brass are families. An instrument belongs to the percussion family if you make its sound in one of three ways:

• Hitting it, with a stick, a mallet or your hand. A snare drum and a cowbell both work this way.
• Shaking it. Maracas and other shakers work this way.
• Scraping it. A guiro, the ridged instrument you hear in Latin music, works this way.

The word itself comes from the Latin percussio, which means a striking or a blow. That is a good way to remember it. If the main way to play an instrument is to strike it, it is almost certainly percussion.

Percussion is by far the most varied family. A violin and a cello look alike and work alike. A triangle, a bass drum and a marimba share almost nothing except the way they are played. That is why the word “percussion” covers so much ground.

The two big groups inside percussion

Most percussion instruments fall into one of two groups. People who study instruments have formal names for them, but the idea is simple.

• Instruments with a skin. A thin head is stretched over a frame or shell, and the head makes the sound. These are drums. The formal name is membranophones.
• Instruments whose whole body rings. There is no skin. The metal, wood or shell of the instrument itself vibrates. Cymbals, triangles, cowbells, woodblocks, shakers and xylophones belong here. The formal name is idiophones.

So the line between “drum” and “other percussion” is really the line between these two groups.

What is a drum?

A drum has two main parts. The head is a thin skin pulled tight across the top. The shell is the hollow body underneath. When you hit the head, it vibrates. The shell shapes that vibration into the sound you hear.

Drum heads were once always made of animal hide. Most drum kit heads today are plastic film, while many hand drums still use hide. Some drums have one head, some have two, and the size of the head and shell decides how high or low the drum sounds.

Drums come in many shapes. Here are the ones you are most likely to meet:

• Drum kit drums: the snare drum, the bass drum and the toms.
• Hand drums: congas, bongos, djembes and frame drums.
• Orchestra and band drums: timpani, the concert bass drum and the concert snare.
• Marching drums: marching snares, tenor drums and marching bass drums.

Drums in name only

A few instruments are called drums but have no skin at all. The steel drum, properly called the steelpan, is a tuned metal bowl from Trinidad and Tobago. A steel tongue drum and a handpan are also all metal. A cajon, often called a box drum, is a wooden box you sit on and slap.

Strictly speaking, these belong to the “whole body rings” group, not the drum group. In everyday talk, nobody will mind if you call them drums. It simply helps to know that they work in a different way.

Are drums percussion instruments?

Yes. Drums are percussion instruments, and the percussion family is the family they belong to. If a school form or a quiz asks what instrument family the drums are in, the answer is percussion.

The part that trips people up is that it only works in one direction. Think of apples and fruit. Every apple is a fruit, but not every fruit is an apple. In the same way:

Percussion instruments that are not drums

This is where most of the confusion clears up. All of the instruments below are percussion. None of them is a drum, because none of them uses a stretched skin to make its main sound.

Notice the last four rows. Percussion is not only about rhythm. A good share of the family plays real melodies and chords.

Pitched and unpitched percussion

Musicians often sort percussion a second way, by whether an instrument plays definite notes.

• Pitched percussion (also called tuned percussion) plays clear notes that you could sing back, such as C, D and E. It can play a tune.
• Unpitched percussion makes a sound without a clear note. It plays rhythm.

Here is the important part. This split is not the same as the split between drums and other percussion. The two cut across each other, as this table shows.

One small warning about the word “unpitched”. It does not mean “untuned”. Drummers still tune their toms and congas higher or lower so they sound good together. The drums just are not set to exact notes that are written in the music.

Is a drum kit drums or percussion?

Both. A drum kit, also called a drum set, is a group of percussion instruments arranged so that one person can play them all with two hands and two feet.

Look closely at a standard kit and you will see it is a mix:

• The drums: bass drum, snare drum and toms.
• The cymbals: hi-hat, crash and ride. These are percussion, but they are not drums.

So even the instrument we call “the drums” is only about half drums. The rest is metal.

Plenty of percussion is not part of a standard drum kit. Congas, bongos, timpani, triangles, tambourines, shakers, woodblocks and xylophones are all played separately. Some drummers do clamp a cowbell or a tambourine onto the kit as an extra, but those are add-ons, not standard parts.

If you are thinking about buying a kit, our guide to the best beginner drum kits explains what comes in the box and what does not.

Drummer vs percussionist

A percussionist is a musician who plays percussion instruments. By that meaning, every drummer is a percussionist. In real life, though, musicians use the two words for different jobs.

Here is how the two roles look in different groups.

In a band

The drummer sits at the kit and holds the groove together. If the band also has a percussionist, that person stands nearby with congas, bongos, shakers or a tambourine and adds layers on top. In band talk, “the percussionist” usually means “the rhythm player who is not on the kit”.

In an orchestra

There is normally no drum kit. One player, the timpanist, looks after the timpani. The other percussionists share everything else. In a single piece, one person might play snare drum, then cymbals, then a triangle, then a xylophone part.

In a school band

Students join the percussion section, not “the drums”. Most programmes start with snare drum technique and a set of bells, which is a small glockenspiel. Timpani and the smaller instruments usually come later. Our guides to school percussion kits and concert percussion cover what students are asked to bring.

In a marching band

The percussion section is often called the drumline. One part, the battery, marches with snares, tenor drums, bass drums and sometimes cymbals. The other part, the front ensemble, stays at the front of the field with marimbas, vibraphones and other large instruments. See our marching percussion guide for more.

What is auxiliary percussion?

Auxiliary percussion means the small extra instruments that add colour to the music. You may also hear them called accessory percussion.

Common examples are the tambourine, triangle, shakers, cowbell, woodblock, claves, sleigh bells and castanets. In a school band, one or two players handle these parts. In a pop or rock band, an auxiliary percussionist might spend the whole show on tambourine and shaker. They are small instruments, but playing them cleanly and in time takes real skill.

Is the piano a percussion instrument?

This question comes up a lot, and the honest answer is “partly”. When you press a piano key, a felt hammer strikes a string. The sound starts with a hit, which is what percussion instruments do. But the sound itself comes from a vibrating string, which is what string instruments do.

Most musicians and schools avoid the argument and call the piano a keyboard instrument. You can think of it as a cousin of the percussion family.

Where you will hear each one

• Rock, pop, funk and country: the drum kit leads. Tambourine and shaker are common extras.
• Jazz: the drum kit again, often played with brushes. Vibraphone shows up as a melody instrument.
• Salsa and Latin jazz: congas, bongos, timbales, cowbell, claves and guiro, often with no drum kit at all.
• Orchestras: timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle and the mallet instruments.
• Acoustic and folk groups: a cajon, a shaker or a frame drum often stands in for a whole kit.

Which should you learn first?

There is no wrong door into percussion. The right one depends on your goal, your space and how much noise you can make.

• Choose the drum kit if you want to play in a band. It is the most in-demand percussion job, but it is loud and takes up floor space. A practice pad and a pair of drumsticks are a cheap way to start on technique.
• Choose hand percussion if you want something small, portable and less costly. A cajon, a pair of bongos or a djembe can be played almost anywhere.
• Choose school band percussion if you want to read music and play many instruments. You will need sticks, a pad and mallets.

Still unsure? The Instrument Match Quiz asks about your space, noise limits and taste and suggests a starting point. Our guide to the best percussion instruments for beginners compares the main options side by side.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Using the two words as exact matches. “Drums” is the narrow word. “Percussion” is the wide one.
• Calling cymbals drums. They sit on a drum kit, but they are metal plates with no skin.
• Thinking percussion cannot play a melody. Marimbas, vibraphones and steelpans play tunes and chords.
• Treating percussion as the easy section. A school percussionist has to learn several instruments, each with its own technique.
• Joining school percussion and expecting only a drum kit. Most of the work is on snare drum and mallet instruments.
• Assuming anything called a drum has a skin. Steel drums, tongue drums and box drums do not.
• Skipping hearing protection. This applies to every loud instrument in the family.

Related reading: our guide to bongo vs conga drums.

Frequently asked questions

Quick checklist: drum, percussion or both?

Use these questions the next time you are not sure what to call an instrument or a player.

• Is the sound made by hitting, shaking or scraping? Then it is percussion.
• Does it have a skin stretched over a shell? Then it is also a drum.
• No skin, but still struck or shaken? It is percussion, not a drum.
• Can it play clear notes and a tune? Then it is pitched percussion.
• Is it a set played with hands and feet? The player is a drummer.
• Does the player move between many instruments? That is a percussionist.
• Joining a school band? Expect snare drum and mallets, not only a drum kit.
• Playing anything loud? Pack hearing protection.

The bottom line

Drums and percussion are not rivals. One sits inside the other. Percussion is the big family of instruments that are hit, shaken or scraped. Drums are the members of that family with a skin stretched over a shell.

Once you see it that way, the rest falls into place. A drum kit is a mix of drums and cymbals. A drummer is a percussionist who specialises in that kit. And a percussionist is the player who can pick up almost anything in the family and make it sound like music. If you would like help choosing your own starting point, the Percussion Path Quiz takes about a minute.