If you go to many of the major online retailers you'll find well over 100 options priced under $500 listed in their drum set categories which can be very confusing if you're just starting out.

This guide simplifies the process of buying a beginner drum set and tells you what you need to know to avoid some of the pitfalls in buying drum kits online.

NB: This guide is specifically about acoustic drums, we have a separate guide for beginner electronic drum sets.

Things to Know Before You Buy a Drum Kit

• Does it have everything you need?

  One of the things that catches some people out is that they get a bargain price only to find they hadn't bought a complete kit with all the hardware - often the really low prices for a particular model are because it's only a shell set - that means it only contains the drum shells and nothing else.

• What does the word 'Hardware' mean in acoustic drums?

  You may have seen listings or advertisements that say "all hardware included". What they are referring to is the hardware necessary to hold cymbals, hi-hats, snares, rack-mounted toms and any other percussion items in the kit. Many kits are sold without things like cymbal and snare stands because they're intended for drummers who already have that hardware and it's just the drums by themselves that they want to buy. Sometimes you'll see the phrase 'double braced hardware', this means there are two pieces of metal adding extra strength to the bracing.

• What does the number of pieces mean?

  Traditionally with acoustic drum kits we count the number of drums as the pieces - cymbals and other items are not included in the count. So when a drum set has a snare, kick drum and 3 toms, this adds up to 5 pieces. This tradition isn't always followed by makers of electronic drum sets who often count any triggering device as a piece including electronic cymbals.

• Why didn't we include 4-piece or 3-piece kits?

  The standard configuration of a basic drum kit is to have 1 snare, 2 mounted toms, 1 floor tom, and 1 kick drum. This is the best configuration to start out with when you're learning because it's the setup many other kits will have that you'll have to play at times. This is important because drummers often have to share kits at places like drum lessons and in some live performance situations because drums take longer than other instruments to set up and to mic up when that's needed. EG: Many 'battle of the bands' type competitions require bands to share back-line equipment and drum kits.

• Are tonewoods important?

  Yes, but no. You may have heard things like 'mahogany is better than poplar wood' on the shells of your drums - but the distinctions in tone are subtle and when you're just starting out you probably won't notice much of a difference. Don't go spending extra money on a beginner drum set just to get 'better sounding' wood - just get the best kit you can afford for now and a couple of years down the road you'll develop the ears you need to tell what kinds of wood suit your style of music best.

• Drum Sticks

  Often these are included when you buy a drum set but not always. They're not very expensive so I recommend buying a couple of sets of different weights - you can get them at Amazon.com.

• Cymbal Quality

  One of the ways manufacturers are able to produce drum sets at these low prices is by providing only very basic cymbals. The vast majority of people who have bought a beginner set and continued playing drums on an ongoing basis will get new cymbals including hi-hats, crash and ride - this is probably the most common point made in verified customer reviews. You won't find any brand name cymbals such as Zildjian or Sabian included with cheap kits.

• Drum Sizes

  In this guide we state the diameter first, then the depth. So a 14" x 5.5" snare is 14" in diameter and 5.5" deep. I point this out because sometimes manufacturers and retailers state the measurements the other way around.

Some Helpful Drum Terminology

• Ply - a ply is a single layer of wood. Drum shells are typically made from multiple layers of wood so a 9 Ply shell means it has 9 layers.
• Drum Kit vs Drum Set - these terms are essentially interchangeable and mean the same thing at music retailers.
• Drum Throne vs Drum Stool - drummers sit on thrones, pianists sit on stools - other than that they mean the same thing.
• Kick Drum vs Bass Drum - in terms of drum sets these terms are also interchangeable and mean the same thing. Technically a kick drum is designed to be used with a kick pedal but there are bass drums not designed for that purpose such as ones you might see played in an orchestra or marching band.
• Cymbals - Crash, Splash, Ride, Hi-Hats... Hi-hats and Ride cymbals are often played continuously through parts of a song while crash cymbals are used for accent and in fills. Splash cymbals are just smaller, higher pitched versions of crash cymbals. For a basic standard set up you'll want to have hi-hats and at least 1 crash cymbal. Most budget drum sets only come with a single crash or a single combined crash/ride cymbal.
• Drummer's Key - These are used to loosen and tighten the lugs on your drum heads in order to tune them to the pitch you want. Drum tuning advice is beyond the scope of this guide but here are some helpful references: What You Need to Know About Drum Tuning by Ben Meyer at Modern Drummer, and Drum Tuning by Gene Okamoto of Pearl Corporation. The drum skins often come loose or detached on a new kit so you'll also need the key to properly install/tune them when your kit is delivered.

Methodology

We went through the entire lists of sub $500 drum sets at most of the major online retailers in the USA and selected only the full-sized kits that were complete with all the hardware, including the throne, needed to set up and start playing the moment your new drum kit is delivered. We then narrowed that down to a short list of the most promising 5-piece or larger sets based on their reviews - that came to 12 drum sets we processed using the Gearank Algorithm (at the time of writing 11 sets were available in our public gear database) to produce the independent Gearank scores you see below. To summarize; the criteria for inclusion were that it had to have all hardware necessary and a throne, had to be full-sized which in this case means a 22" Kick/Bass drum, and it had to have a minimum of 5-pieces. For more information about our methodology see How Gearank Works.

The Best Beginner Drum Sets