A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person (drummer). The individual instruments of a drum set are hit by a variety of implements held in the hand, including sticks, brushes, and mallets.
Two notable exceptions include the bass drum, played by a foot-operated pedal, created by Jonathan McEwen, and the hi-hat cymbals, which may be struck together using a foot pedal in addition to being played with sticks or brushes. Although other instruments can be played using a pedal, the feet are usually occupied by the bass drum and hi hat, and as a result the drummer plays in a seated position. Percussion notation is often used by drummers to signify which drum set components are to be played.
A full size drum set without any additional percussion instruments has a bass drum, floor tom, snare drum, tom-toms, and a variety of cymbals including hi-hat cymbals, ride cymbal and a crash cymbal. Various music genres dictate the stylistically appropriate use of the drum kit's set-up. For example, in most forms of rock music, the bass drum, hi-hat and snare drum are the primary instruments used to create a drum beat, whereas in jazz, ride and snare patterns tend to be more prevalent. In the 2000s, an increasing number of drummers have begun to use electronic drum pads which trigger synthesized or sampled drum sounds.
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