Tombaks with adjustable tuning have been produced experimentally but the head tension is normally fixed prior to performance with careful attention to the temperature and humidity.

Typically, two or three clearly contrasting timbres (through varying finger placement or clacking of a ring against the drum shell) are played in an antiphonal style.

The tombak was not considered a virtuoso solo instrument until the pioneering work of Hossein Tehrāni in the 1950s, as well as innovations of Nasser Farhangfar and others.

Farhangfar Nasser (1947–1997) revolutionized the principles of accompaniment, often away much of the melody without ever interfering, he drew on many styles of play of Zarb-e zourkhâné (especially that of Morshed Moradi) that accompanies Varzesh-e Pahlavani (ورزش پهلوانی), traditional martial gymnastics practiced in Zurkhaneh ("house of strength") and motrebs (popular musicians playing accents in a particular way).

Modern players open new perspectives amount to the game of Tombak, as Madjid Khaladj, Jamshid Mohebbi, Morteza Aayan, Mohammad Akhavan, Dariush Zargari, Navid Afghah, Farbod Yadollahi, Dariush Es'haghi, Ahmad Mostanbet, Sahab Torbati, Khâvarzamini Pedram, Siamak Barghi, Pezhham Akhavass, and Pejman Haddadi.