What Is the Difference Between Acoustic and Percussion Drums?

A true percussionist is a different kind of musician than a drummer. The techniques for playing differ between these two types of player. Their instruments differ, as well. Learn the differences between acoustic drums and percussion instruments so you can develop the style of playing that appeals to you. There are many types of drums and percussion instruments, but some guidelines will help you choose between the two.

Acoustic Drums

Acoustic drums are the drum sets you often see with bands. These drums consist of skins stretched over both ends of different-sized cylinders. The drum set not only has different sizes of drums, it usually has cymbals, as well. The drummer hits the drum skins with drum sticks.

Percussion Drums

Percussion drums come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. They feature skins stretched across a range of cylinders, boxes and column-like wooden structures. Percussion drums are often played with bare hands, though some use sticks. They differ from acoustic drums in appearance in that they are seldom as perfectly round as drums, and often are set directly on the ground instead of on legs as acoustic drums are.

Purpose of Acoustic Drums

Acoustic drums fill the role of keeping the beat. The acoustic drummer's primary task is maintaining the bass beat with accents throughout a song. All the other members of a band rely on the drummer to keep them on track rhythmically.

Purpose of Percussion Drums

Percussion drums are designed to create musical sounds. They may be pitched high, medium and low, and the player mixes these pitches to make interesting drum melodies. The percussionist does not merely keep a beat, he contributes melodic ideas to a piece by varying the way he plays percussion drums.