How to Purchase Fitting Steel Tongue Drum in 2021

Steel tongue drums have remained trendy only for the last fifteen years. Nevertheless, the technology of design and playing has progressed a lot. There appeared new ways to create the shape and sound of the tongue drums, and it’s not so complicated to learn how to manage this instrument today. You need to consider some aspects before you become a steel tongue drum player. They will allow you to purchase a reliable and multi-purpose item.

Tips to Choose the Best Steel Tongue Drum

Talking about the steel tongue drum, these instruments mostly differ in size, sounding (or settings), and construction. Some are more suitable for beginners, and others are designed for skilled players. Therefore, let’s discover what new features the tongue drums have.

Size

The size of the Steel Tongue Drum defines its sound and weight. The smallest instruments have about 6-8 inches in diameter. They are more lightweight. Such tongue drums are suitable for traveling and playing outside. You will get a more sonorous sound. However, small items are usually one-sided, so they don’t create deep tones.

Those tongue drums that are ten inches weigh a lot and are more suitable for home meditation. It may be challenging to go for a long walk with them. Despite this, they provide more extensive sound. It’s because they are often two-sided, which also allows you to try diverse settings on one instrument. The beginners can choose the size they like – it won’t affect their learning.

Sounding

Steel tongue drums can be based on various major or minor scales. In a short word, they can have a more positive and flexible sound or more calm and meditative one. It’s hard to say which one is more suitable for you. It’s better to listen to some tongue drums and then decide. I recommend you do this in a comfortable atmosphere and calm mood because if you are too cheery or exhausted, you may be unsatisfied with the instrument sounding when it arrives.

If you’re a beginner, you can also try a pentatonic steel tongue drum. It has only five notes (not seven, like the standard one) in different octaves. Thanks to this, the sound is more harmonious. Also, if it is your first steel tongue drum, you should get a pair of drumsticks. In some time, you will learn to play with your fingers too and create wonderful symphonies.

Construction and Design

When you decide which steel tongue drum design to choose, you should consider its color, covering, and the notes number. Actually, all of this depends on your preferences. If you’re a beginner, of course, it will be easier for you to play the instrument with eight or ten notes. However, a steel tongue drum doesn’t require any musical education. So, you can also purchase an instrument with more than eleven notes with no worries.

The covering can be matt or glazed. It also affects the steel tongue drum sounding, though not as much as its size. So, you can choose the covering according to your wishes.

Master Your Skills with Steel Tongue Drum

Many people think that it takes so much effort and time to learn to play a steel tongue drum. But this drum is one of the easiest instruments nowadays. Its sounding depends on your imagination and improvisation. If you choose the right option for yourself, all the doubts about your music skills will disappear.  You can be like Dan Fogelberg who tried it as well.

You need to decide which steel tongue drum type you want, how it should sound, and follow the tips above to make the best choice. Start playing the tank drum and get a very new experience.