1. The Ganza is a hollow metal cylinder containing gravel or other loose material. Ganzas are not very loud so they are good for unconfident beginners and in small groups. In a large confident samba percussion band a ganza cannot be heard. You can buy monster big ganzas that make more noise, but because the ganza is a hollow metal cylinder, the bigger they get, the easier they dent. If you want volume, its best to go for a chocalho

2. The Chocalho. (pron, shock -arle - you)This is a shaker made of jingles attached to a metal or wooden frame. Some people call them Rocars. These are extremely loud, and are important in most samba bands because they fill up a big space in the sound tapestry of the other drums. In general metal chocalhos are louder than wooden ones. They are made of a metal frame, with all the jingles enclosed by the frame. Wooden chocalhos and rocars have nails sticking out of them, holding the jingles, which isnt great if children are likely to be using your samba equipment.

3. Xequeres (pron shekere). Big natural gourds covered by a net holding beads. When you shake the gourd or pull at the net, the beads rattle against the gourd. A well made shekere will have a thick gourd and a dense mat of glass beads, which creates quite a generous sound (though not as loud as that of a chocalho), with the gourd acting as a sound box. Cheap shekeres have thin gourds and plastic beads and will not produce much noise. Xequeres are used in many styles of Afro Brazilian Percussion.

4. Reco Reco The samba scraper is called a Reco Reco . (pron heckoh heckoh). It is a metal cylinder, with springs stretched tightly across it. You scrape it with a metal stick.