A Guide to the Instruments

		Claves Whether you’re "Livin’ La Vida Loca" with Ricky Martin, or doing the "Conga" by Gloria Estefan, the claves are featured in all forms of Cuban and Latin music ... but they also appear elsewhere, like Radiohead’s "Paranoid Android."
		Cowbell You just can’t listen to "Don’t Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult, "Mississippi Queen" by Mountain, or Grand Funk Railroad’s "We’re an American Band" without a little more cowbell!
		Drum Sticks It seems like every good rock song begins with the drummer counting off with sticks, but why stop until the song does?
		Egg Shakers These are the Tube Shaker's kiddy cousins, so popular with youth music classes. Egg shakers are a great rhythm instrument due to their crisp sound.
		Hand Clap Queen’s mega-hit "Another One Bites the Dust" is a great song to practice your chops on. Whatever your taste in music, from Mellencamp ( "Jack and Diane") to Coldplay ( "Strawberry Swing," "Cemeteries of London"), hand claps are the basic form of expression.
		Maracas A classic percussion instrument of Central and South America. Did you know that Bo Diddley wrote the song "Bring It to Jerome" about his maraca player? The Chakachas used them in "Jungle Fever," The Rolling Stones in "Time Waits for No One," and Modest Mouse features them in "Worms Vs. Birds."
		Rim Shot Rim shots are a snare drum technique in which the head and rim are struck simultaneously with one stick creating a distinctly sharp sound. They take practice to do well on a real snare but you can hit them every time with Cowbell Plus. They make great accent notes on your favorite rock tune.
		Rim Tap A softer variation of the Rim Shot where only the rim is hit. While it is usually quieter, it still can drive a tune.
		Sleigh Bells Sure, there is always "Jingle Bells," but "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (Elmo & Patsy) is way more fun! "Jingle Bell Rock" (Bobby Helms) and Bruce Springsteen’s version of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" are also fun choices. But what about something more recent? Say, Radiohead's "Airbag," maybe?
		Snare Drum Bang away! (Say no more, squire.)
		Tambourine The belly dancer at your favorite Moroccan restaurant may look at you funny as you’re shaking your iPhone, but do it anyway! Need something to practice with? We can recommend "Green Tamborine" by The Lemon Pipers, as well as countless mid-tempo pop tunes.
		Triangle Is the triangle in need of some modern rock cred? Well get this: The Foo Fighters played a 20 second Triangle solo in front of 85,000 people at Wembley Stadium in June, 2008. But somehow, I don’t hear it playing a role in "The Pretender."
		Tube Shaker If you ever listen to Bossa Nova then you have to play the Tube shaker. I think it’s a law. For any other genre of music it is optional, but highly encouraged.
		Vibraslap This one's all about getting a real good buzz on. Among current bands, Cake has got to be the most vibraslap-crazed around. Just check out this article that illustrates their vibraslap obsession. You can try playing vibraslap along with Cake's "Never There" or the start of Ozzy Ozbourne's Crazy Train, but we also like using it in unexpected places, like Tomita's version of "Mars" from Holtz' "The Planets."
		Woodblock Looking for an alternative to cowbell? How about More Woodblock!?!?