• Keep the Beat With Specialty Drums

• Select Cymbals, Bells, & Triangles

• Create Good Vibrations

• Shake, Rattle, & Roll

• Find Percussion Instruments on eBay

• Buy Percussion Instruments With Confidence

Keep the Beat With Specialty Drums

Keep the Beat With Specialty Drums

Hand drums, any type of drum played with bare hands rather than a stick, mallet, or hammer, have a simple design. Frame drums, the simplest type of hand drum, consist of a shallow, cylindrical shell with a drumhead attached to one of the open ends. Djembe, conga and bongo drums are also hand drums.

• Bongos: Hold bongos, a set of two different-sized drums attached by a thick piece of wood, between your knees to play. Modern bongos may be made of wood, metal, or composite materials.

• Congas: A conga is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum that used to be made from hollowed logs with cowhides nailed or strung on. These days, it has a fibreglass or wooden shell and a screw-tensioned drumhead.

• Djembe drums: The djembe drum is a goatskin-covered drum shaped like a large goblet. Striking the skin near the centre produces a bass note. Striking the skin near the rim produces either a tone or a slap note.

• Bass drums: Orchestras and marching bands use large, heavy bass drums to produce a low-pitch "thumping" sound. Bass drums come in a variety of sizes. Younger students should start with a 28-inch diameter bass drum. For older players, 32- to 36-inch diameter bass drums work best.

Take on the tambourine

Tambourines consist of a single drumhead mounted on a ring with small metal jingles. To play the tambourine, shake it or strike it against your palm or hip. Most players choose tambourines with a 10-inch diameter, but you can also find smaller models for younger players on eBay. When purchasing a tambourine, look at the shell, head, and jingles.

• Tambourine shells: Tambourines should have a solid shell with a staggered double row of jingles.

• Tambourine heads: Tambourine heads are made out of natural skin or synthetic material. A head is necessary to play finger rolls and for proper articulation. Professional players prefer tambourines with natural-skin heads.

• Tambourine jingles: Quality jingles have good sound and articulation. The pros often choose hand-hammered jingles. Avoid tin jingles.

Like the tambourine, jingle sticks use rows of jingles to produce sound. Play straight, handled jingle sticks as an instrument or use them as a drumstick to hit drums, cymbals, and other percussion instruments.

Select Cymbals, Bells, & Triangles

Select Cymbals, Bells, & Triangles

Clang or ring your way into a band or orchestra with metal cymbals, bells, and triangles.

Select cymbals

Cymbals consist of thin, round plates of various metal alloys. Most modern cymbals are of indefinite pitch. You can either choose cymbals made for drums or hand cymbals (piatti). Young players and beginners should buy small, light to medium-light cymbals. Adults can then move on to 20-inch cymbals. Always fit your hand cymbals with leather straps, not wooden handles, which distort sound and eventually lead to cracks in the cymbal bell. If you’re going to use pads, make them leather, not the furry, woolly type. Professional percussionists rarely use pads because they dampen some higher overtones.

Finger cymbals, or zils, consist of four cymbals, two worn on each hand, each commonly about 5 cm (2 inches) in diameter. Finger cymbals are usually brass rather than the bronze used for larger cymbals. Finger cymbals usually come in two colours: gold tone (brass) and silver tone (either a silver alloy that is silver tone throughout the metal, or brass plated with either nickel or silver). Some finger cymbals come with elastic to hold them on your fingers.

Ring different types of bells

Bells have an open-ended hollow drum that resonates when struck by a tongue suspended within the bell, known as a clapper, or a separate mallet. Bells are usually made of metal, but some small bells are ceramic or glass.

• Cowbells: Cowbells are clapperless, made of metal, and struck with a stick. Modulate tone by striking different parts of the bell and by damping with the hand holding the bell. A good general-purpose cowbell should be deep and low in pitch. When choosing a cowbell, go with a large “mambo” bell, which is low in pitch and works well in almost all concert situations.

• Handbells: A handbell is a small bell rung by hand.

• Chimes: Chimes are tubular bells typically made of brass tubes tuned by altering their length. Rawhide or plastic-headed hammers strike the top edge of the tube to produce sound.

Try the triangle

Triangles made of quality steel or bronze produce a high-pitched ringing tone when struck with a metal triangle beater. A triangle hangs from a piece of thin wire or gut attached to one of the corners, leaving it free to vibrate. Triangles are available in sizes from 4 to 10 inches, but experts say a 6- to 9-inch triangle produces the best results for concert work. Suspend triangles from a clip using a very thin monofilament fishing line.

Create Good Vibrations

Create Good Vibrations

Strike the wooden or metal bars of xylophones, marimbas, and vibraphones to produce music.

• Xylophone: Made of wooden bars of differing size and pitch, and set in a frame and played with a stick, the xylophone makes use of both snare and advanced mallet techniques. The xylophone has a brighter tone than its cousin the marimba.

• Marimba: The marimba has keys or bars (usually made of wood) that you strike with yarn mallets to produce musical tones. Both xylophone and marimba bars are made of rosewood, but the bars of the marimba are wider and thinner.

• Vibraphone: The vibraphone is similar in appearance to the xylophone, but has metal bars instead of wood.

Shake, Rattle, & Roll

Shake, Rattle, & Roll

Shakers and blocks such as maracas, percussion spoons, castanets, and cabasas can finish off your percussion instrument collection and add unique sounds to your music.

• Maracas: Maracas are simple instruments, usually played in pairs, consisting of a dried gourd (or leather, wood, or plastic) shell filled with seeds or dried beans.

• Percussion spoons: Percussion spoons are a makeshift instrument related to castanets. Players hold the spoons like chopsticks, with concave sides facing out, and strike them sharply against their palms or knees.

• Wood block: A wood block is a single piece of wood struck with a stick to make a noise that sounds like "tock, tock." There are many synthetic blocks available and, while these are extremely durable, some may compromise sound quality. Woodblocks are available in many sizes and materials, but experts say a 9-inch size maple woodblock works best. Avoid woodblocks with two sides (high and low). To produce the best sound, use a hard rubber mallet on the woodblock, not a drumstick.

• Cabasa: Also known as an afuche, the cabasa is a loop of steel-ball chain wrapped around a wide cylinder fixed to a long, narrow wooden or plastic handle.

Find Percussion Instruments on eBay

Find Percussion Instruments on eBay

Once you know what type of Percussion instrument you want, go to the Musical Instruments portal, click Percussion, and start searching for items on eBay.

• Categories: The Categories list on the left side of each page will help you narrow down your listings by item type. You'll find links for Bells, Cymbals, Drums, and more.

• Keyword search: Search eBay listing titles for specific words. For example, if you want to find a carved djembe drum, type "djembe drum carved" (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Visit eBay's Search Tips page for more tips on searching with keywords.

If you can't find exactly what you want, shop eBay Stores, tell the eBay Community what you want by creating a post on Want It Now, or save a search on My eBay and eBay will email you when a match becomes available.

Buy Percussion Instruments With Confidence

Buy Percussion Instruments With Confidence

Before making your purchase, make sure you know exactly what you're buying, research your seller, and understand how eBay and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Carefully read the details in item listings.

• Figure delivery costs into your final price. If you spend a lot of money, make sure the seller will insure the item when it ships.

• If you want more information, ask by clicking the "Ask seller a question" link under the seller's profile.

• Always make sure to complete your transaction on eBay (with a bid, Buy It Now, or Best Offer). Transactions conducted outside of eBay are not covered by eBay protection programs.

• Never pay for your eBay item using instant cash wire transfer services through Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.

Know your seller

Research your seller so you feel positive and secure about every transaction.

• What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have?

• What do buyers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?

• Most top eBay sellers operate like retail stores and have return policies. Do they offer a money-back guarantee? What are the terms and conditions?

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event that a problem arises during your transaction, eBay and PayPal are there for you.

• Pay safely with PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. In fact, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorized payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to C$1,250.

• eBay Security & Resolution Centre: Visit the Security & Resolution Centre to learn how to protect your account and use eBay's quick and efficient resolution tools.