To answer the question bluntly – no, drums don’t have the same melodic notes as other instruments. Drums are rhythmic instruments that don’t follow the notes of a scale. They do have rhythmic notes that you can read, though.

However, different drums can be tuned to match varying notes. This means that you can tune a rack tom to the note of C if you wanted to. Not many drummers do this, but it doesn’t happen occasionally. This is especially true when drummers want to tune their toms in specific intervals compared to each other.

Some drummers believe that tuning your rack tom and floor tom a 4th or 5th apart produces the best overall sound. Other drummers will just tune their toms by ear to get the best-perceived sound to them.

Moving on from melodic notes, let’s look at the notes that are assigned to drums. When looking at a bar, a percussion clef will indicate that you’re reading drum music. Drum sheet music involves rhythms and notes that have been assigned to all the drums and cymbals.

All the notes are purely rhythmic and not melodic. The percussion clef doesn’t only include drum sheet music, though. It also includes other percussion instruments such as bongos, snare drums, and auxiliary percussion.

When reading drum notation, you need to know how subdivisions work together along with remembering all the placements of the drums on a bar line.

The unique thing about drumming is that you can learn and master the instrument without ever reading drum notation. However, being able to read drum notes is incredibly helpful when learning things. It’s also helpful when you need to play a song that you don’t know well. Reading the notes as the song plays stops you from needing to memorize all the parts.