Rock vs Fusion Drum Kit: Difference and Comparison

A drum kit is very important for every drummer, amateur or professional. Choosing the right drum kit for your band and practice is necessary. A drum kit is a set of instruments, like drums, sticks, etc.

Rock Drum Kits and Fusion Drum Kits are two of many types of drum kits. Knowing the difference between the two would help in choosing the right drum kit for practice according to an individual’s needs.

Key Takeaways

  1. A rock drum kit is designed for playing rock and heavy metal music and includes larger drums, thicker drumheads, and louder cymbals.
  2. A fusion drum kit is designed for playing jazz, funk, and pop music and includes smaller drums, thinner drumheads, and lighter cymbals.
  3. Rock drum kits produce louder and heavier sounds, while fusion drum kits produce lighter and more subtle sounds.

Rock Drum Kit vs Fusion Drum Kit

A rock drum kit is a huge, expensive, heavy kit containing drums, drum sticks, toms, and other drum setups. It is best suited for professional drummers. A fusion drum kit is a small, light, inexpensive drum set for amateurs. It is best suited for players who are interested in mastering multiple musical genres such as rock, jazz or funk.

Rock Drum Kit vs Fusion Drum Kit

A Rock Drum Kit is one the oldest drum kits and is preferred by people who want better sound and are mostly professionals. The kit has 3 toms that are 12”, 13” and 16” bass drums and 14” snare.

These rock drum kits occupy a lot of space as the drums that are included in these kits are huge.

A Fusion Drum Kit is newer than a rock drum kit. The word fusion itself means ‘mixture’, so this kit is a mixture of rock, jazz, etc. It is preferred by teenagers and young people to play for fun. These kits are smaller in size and easy to carry around in the back of a car’s trunk.

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Comparison Table

Parameters of comparison  Rock Drum Kit  Fusion Drum Kit 
Set up Easier to set up. Hard to set up. 
Weight It weighs more. It weighs less. 
Price Expensive. Inexpensive. 
Toms 12” 13” 16” 10” 12” 14” 
Preferred by Professionals Amateurs as well as professionals. 
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What is Rock Drum Kit?

A rock drum kit consists of a set of instruments like toms, drums, sticks, etc. An experienced drummer would prefer a rock drum kit over any other.

The drums of these kits make a loud noise, and it is easier to play smoothly. It depends, however, on the drummer which kit he wants to buy and practice on.

Rock drum kits are a little more expensive than the other kits, so the quality is also better. However, it depends on the company from which one buys a kit.

Anyone can play a rock drum kit, and even though rock drum kits are considered old, they are excellent to practice with. Even kids around the age of 6 or 7 can practice on rock drum kits.

Rock Drum Kits were very famous in the 1960s and 1970s as the rock music genre was at its peak during that time. Famous bands like Joy Division and The Beatles used rock drum kits.

These kits are still very versatile and popular even though it has been almost a century. The set consists of hit hats, snare drums, bass drums, sticks, etc. A fan of old rock music would prefer rock drum kits as these kits help recreate old songs exactly the way they sounded in the originals.

rock drum kit

What is Fusion Drum Kit?

A person who is a beginner or new to the drumming world should try practising on Fusion Drum Kits. These kits are a mixture of rock, jazz, funk, or any musical genre.

Any song can be practised on a fusion drum kit, and that is why it is popular among young drummers who play for fun or small gigs.

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Also used by professionals nowadays, fusion drum kits started gaining popularity pretty quickly. These kits are smaller in size and occupy less space. They are even easy to carry around. The equipment, however, is a little hard to adjust.

Teenagers and kids mostly prefer fusion drum kits to practice on, and they are nice for the latest genres of music. Good quality fusion drum kits can be bought at affordable prices at any music shop. These kits are also easy to practice with.

The people who travel for music performing gigs around their city or country regularly consider taking only fusion drum kits with them because of their lightweight and easy portability.

The features that are very notable in these kits are the bass drum, the toms, the cymbals, and the snare drum, as they are known to be the best infusion drum kits.

fusion drum kit

Main Differences Between Rock and Fusion Drum Kit 

  1. Rock drum kits were very famous during the old times, like in the 1960s and ’70s. However, fusion drum kits are very famous and most preferred in the present time. 
  2. Rock drum kits are heavy and larger, while fusion drum kits are comparably smaller in size and also lightweight. 
  3. Rock drum kits are famous among the people who want their music to sound like the rock music played in the 1970s, while fusion drum kits are famous among the younger generation of music. 
  4. Rock drum kits are used specifically for the rock genre. However, fusion drum kits are used for all types of genres. 
  5. It is easy to set up a rock drum kit, whereas it is a little time-consuming to set up a fusion drum kit. 
Difference Between Rock and Fusion Drum Kit
References
  1. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=etGGDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=Rock+drum+kit+&ots=Cb6Tt9vp6f&sig=WGwoMyG329-SEP6cn61qcpY_Eec
  2. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03007766.2012.681111
  3. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Gn_xWt8rxuIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Drum+kits&ots=5WeFgphZMz&sig=BWl_rcXOB9d1X1qEGL4LFM81zPA

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About Author

Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.