The various pieces of the drum set have origins spanning thousands of years: from the Ancient Romans' adoption of African drums around 200 B.C. to the circulation of the Turk-made bass drum throughout Europe in the 1500's. So where did so many wildly varying cultures come together to form one unified set, you ask? Well, the answer lies in American history. As the use of Africans for slave labor became more common in the 1800's, the slaves began creating their own variations of their culture's instruments. Slaves were not generally allowed to play music, but hand-crafted drum sets were often ignored, and by the time more of America recognized the drum set's existence, no one even knew it had been originally created by African-American slaves.

As America entered the 20th century, drum sets and African rhythms began to break into the mainstream. As more beats relied on the use of cymbals, the size of the cymbals gradually increased; the initially-used Chinese tom-toms were replaced with their African variants; and the size of the hi-hat was increased to make playing with sticks easier. Thus, the modern drum set as we know it today began to take its shape.

The "Standard" Drum Set

As widely varied as the people who play them, two drum sets are rarely ever alike. Generally speaking, however, a set usually consists of a bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, hi-hat cymbals, ride cymbals, and crash cymbals. Typically, there are three tom-toms (two rack toms, one floor tom), and one of each of the other types of drums, but that formula is frequently changed to modify the sounds one can produce. Rock drummers, for example, often use lots of cymbals and tom-toms to flesh out fills and create more variation. Many drummers use an additional mid-level tom-tom, and some even use two bass pedals simultaneously to create an extremely heavy, frenetic pace.