Percussion instruments can proudly be referred to as the oldest form of manmade musical instrument, and they come in a staggering variety of sizes, shapes, sounds, and playing styles. 

Percussion instruments include any instrument that makes a sound when it is hit, shaken, or scraped. It’s not easy to be a percussionist because it takes a lot of practice to hit an instrument with the right amount of strength, in the right place, and at the right time.

Some percussion instruments are tuned and can sound different notes, like the xylophone, timpani, or piano, and some are untuned with no definite pitch, like the bass drum, cymbals, or castanets. Percussion instruments keep the rhythm, make special sounds, and add excitement and color. 

The percussion family of musical instruments consists of membranophones and idiophones. Membranophones, or drums, make sounds when a player strikes a membrane tightly stretched over a frame. Idiophones produce sound when the entire instrument vibrates in response to being struck. Percussionists play their instruments with their hands or with beaters, a collective term describing drumsticks, mallets, rods, or wire brushes.

The comprehensive membranophone Percussion Instrument guide is as follows: 

  • Conga: The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: Quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest).
  • Bongos:  Bongos are tall hand drums that are smaller than congas and produce a higher pitch. They are Afro-Cuban percussion instruments consisting of a pair of small open-bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger hembra and the smaller macho which are joined by a wooden bridge. 
  • Timbales: Timbales or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casings. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size. They were developed as an alternative to classical timpani in Cuba in the early 20th century and later spread across Latin America and the United States.
  • Mridangam: The mridangam is a percussion instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. It is thought to be the oldest type of drum still in use, the mridangam has two drum faces—a left face and a right face.
  • Tabla: A tabla is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments and vocals, or as a part of larger ensembles.
  • Djembe: A djembe or jembe is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. The player holds a djembe between their knees and plays with their hands.
  • Talking Drum: The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech.
  • Ngoma: A ngoma is a barrel-shaped African drum that sits on the floor. The drummer strikes it with large wood beaters.
  • Orchestral bass drum: Similar in origin to the bass drum found in a standard drum set, but much larger in diameter, the classical bass drum hangs from a frame. The percussionist strikes it with handheld mallets.
  • Tenor drum: A Tenor drum is round and of medium depth. The drummer plays it with a mallet or a drumstick.
  • Side drum: The term “side drum” is used in classical music to describe a snare drum, usually with its snare disengaged. Side drums feature importantly in most contemporary classical music, whether or not they’re part of a standard drum set.
  • Bodhran: A bodhran is a conservative Irish drum that sometimes finds its way into orchestral music, particularly when composers hail from the British or Irish Isles. A bodhran resembles a tambourine without any jingles. 
  • Timpani: Timpani are also known as kettle drums. Timpani sets consist of massive drums that stand on the floor in front of the player, who strikes them with felted mallets. The pitches can be adjusted using a foot pedal, which loosens and tightens the drum head.
  • Kick drum: They are also known as bass drum, and the kick drum is a large, deep-sounding drum that sits on the floor and is played with a foot pedal.
  • Snare drum: It is a drum that has metal snare wires running beneath its lower drum head. Typically, a drummer plays the snare with their non-dominant hand.
  • Floor tom: A deep, low-pitched tom-tom drum that stands on legs near the drummer’s dominant hand.
  • Rack toms: Tom-tom drums hang above the kick drum. They produce a higher-pitched sound than the floor tom.
  • Tambourine: Tracing back to the Middle East, a tambourine can be part of a drum set, either mounted as a standalone instrument or placed atop a hi-hat. A tambourine can have a drum head or it can exclusively produce sound via its zils (or jingles), which are metal discs mounted around the tambourine frame. 
  • Surdo: A Brazilian variant on the bass drum, played with handheld beaters.

Idiophones produce sound when a percussionist strikes them, causing the entire instrument to vibrate. The comprehensive idiophone Percussion Instrument guide is as follows:  including:

1. Cymbals: A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a definite note (such as crotales). Cymbals are used in many ensembles ranging from orchestras, percussion ensembles, jazz bands, heavy metal bands, and marching groups. Drum kits usually incorporate at least a crash, ride, or crash/ride, and a pair of hi-hat cymbals. A player of cymbals is known as a cymbalist.

2. Crotales, sometimes called antique cymbals, are percussion instruments consisting of small, tuned bronze or brass disks. Each is about 10 cm (4 in) in diameter with a flat top surface and a nipple on the base. 

3. Claves: Claves are a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of short, wooden sticks about 20–25 centimeters (8–10 inches) long and about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in diameter. Although traditionally made of wood (typically rosewood, ebony, or grenadilla) many modern manufacturers offer claves made of fiberglass or plastic.

4. Temple blocks: Temple blocks are a series of pitched woodblocks popular in classical ensembles.

5. Agogo: An agogô (Yoruba: agogo, meaning bell) is a single or a multiple bell now used throughout the world but with origins in traditional Yoruba and Edo music and also in the samba baterias (percussion ensembles). The agogô may be the oldest samba instrument and was based on West African Yoruba single or double bells. The agogô has the highest pitch of any of the bateria instruments.

6. Ganzá: A ganzá is an unpitched metal rattle developed in Brazil and popular in Brazilian samba.

7. Headless tambourine: This instrument is a tambourine without a membrane. It produces sound via the vibration of the frame and jingles.

8. Slit drum: Also known as a log drum, the slit drum is not a membranophone despite its name. Rather, a slit drum is an idiophone made from a hollowed log.

9. Udu: An udu is an untuned idiophone resembling a hollow jug.

10. Cajón: Originating in Peru, a cajón (or cajón de rumba) is a hollow wooden box that usually features internal snares on one side. A player sits on the cajón and strikes it with their hands (and occasionally beaters).

11. Gong: A gong is a suspended metal disc found in both Western classical and Eastern traditional music. Orchestras particularly favor a type of gong known as a tam-tam.

12. Maracas: Originating in Venezuela but popular throughout Latin American music, maracas are wooden shakers with handles.

13. Castanets: Castanets are handheld wood idiophones that come in pairs. They make a clicking sound when the player snaps two of them together.

14. Güiro: A güiro is an idiophone made from a dried gourd. Typically, a percussionist plays güiro by rubbing wire brushes against it.

15. Shekere: A shekere is a dried gourd covered with a netting of beads. Originally from West Africa and popular in Latin American traditions, it produces sound when shaken.

16. Tubular bells: These bells are pitched chimes that a player strikes with beaters.

17. Mbira: Better known as an African thumb piano, a mbira contains individual keys that a player presses and releases, causing them to vibrate.

18. Cabasa: A cabasa is a type of African shaker made by wrapping metal chains around a wooden cylinder.

19. Xylophone: A xylophone is a pitched percussion instrument made from wooden bars laid out like a piano keyboard, which the player strikes with felted mallets.

20. Marimba: A marimba is a musical instrument much like a xylophone but with a greater range and resonators beneath its wood bars.

21. Vibraphone: An adaptation of a xylophone, the vibraphone has metal bars and a built-in electric resonator that projects the instrument’s sound. A vibraphone is essentially a plugged-in metal marimba.

22. Glockenspiel: A glockenspiel is a smaller member of the xylophone and vibraphone family, containing small metal bars that produce a definite pitch with numerous overtones.

23. Steel drum: A steel drum is an idiophone made from a concave metal drum. The player can attain different pitches by striking different parts of the drum.

24. Cowbell: A cowbell is a hollow metal idiophone named for a similar device hung around the necks of some domestic cows.

FAQs

How many percussion instruments are there?

    There are over 500 percussion instruments, and new ones are created all the time. 

    How many main types of percussion instruments are there?

    There are two main types of percussion instruments: tuned and untuned. Tuned instruments can play different pitches and tones, while untuned instruments can only play one tone and pitch. 

    How to classify percussion instruments?

    Percussion instruments are typically classified by whether they produce a pitch or not, and are categorized as pitched or unpitched:

    Pitched: These instruments can play different tones and pitches.

    Unpitched: These instruments can only play one tone and pitch. 

    Some instruments, like bells, can be used in both roles. The terms “tuned” and “untuned” are less commonly used today. 

    Other ways to classify percussion instruments include: 

    Idiophones and membranophones

    Most percussion instruments are classified as either idiophones or membranophones. 

    Concussion

    These instruments have two or more sonorous parts that strike against each other. For example, clappers like zills and clapsticks are concussion idiophones. 

    Schaeffner’s system

    This system has three categories for instruments that make sound from vibrating solids: I. A for no tension, I.B for linguaphones, and I.C for chordophones. 

    What is the most commonly used type of percussion?

    The most commonly used types of percussion instruments are timpani, xylophone, cymbals, triangle, snare drum, bass drum, tambourine, maracas, gongs, chimes, celesta, and even sometimes piano.