About Sizes

Drum kits vary in size from small jazz kits with a few key pieces to huge rock kits with dozens of drums, cymbals and percussion. Drums and cymbals sizes are usually listed in inches but many companies, stores and drummers also use centimetres. In North America drums are measured with the depth of the shell first and the diameter second. Most other places such as Asia, Australia, Europe and the UK list drums with the diameter followed by the shell depth.
For example, a snare drum can be listed as 5” x 14” (American) or 14” x 5” (Most other countries). This means that the drum is 5 inches deep and 14 inches across. The examples below use the European method