How to Choose Drumsticks for Drums: 5 Steps

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

If you want to play drums, you need drumsticks, but which type? There are a variety of elements to consider when it comes to choosing a drumstick set. Take the following factors into consideration when purchasing.

Steps

Step 1. Choose the right wood

Drum sticks are typically made of maple, walnut or oak wood, each of which gives different sensations and sounds. This is due to how the wood transmits and absorbs vibrations and the degree of flexibility of the stick.

• Walnut wood is a common, very rounded drumstick wood.
• Maple wood is a lighter and more flexible wood.
• Oak wood is the densest, but it carries more vibrations. Chopsticks made from this wood tend to be more durable.

Step 2. Choose suitable tips

The tips of the sticks are what make the real difference in sound.

• Plastic spikes are deadly for dishes. These sticks give the drums their distinctive sound.

  

• The wooden tips (the most common), give deeper, more traditional sounds, suitable for jazz and retro rock genres. However, these sticks do not cause the cymbals to vibrate too much, producing slightly darker sounds.

  

Step 3. Choose the thickness

Thickness also affects the sound. The higher number represents thinner rods, but the actual thickness varies from brand to brand.

• The 7As are thinner and lighter. These sticks produce more band sounds, although they are rarely used for drumming, which involves the use of heavier sticks. These sticks are often used by early jazz students.
• The 5As are slightly heavier than the 7As. These sticks are suitable for Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, but are versatile enough to be used in any genre of music.
• The 5Bs are heavier and denser. Often used in rock.
• The 2Bs are particularly heavy, often used in Heavy Metal.

Step 4. Choose the brand

There are many producers of good chopsticks, certainly too many to be compared in this article. Maybe you could take an example from your favorite artists when choosing sticks. Here are the most famous chopsticks, with their testimonials.

• Ahead (Lars Ulrich, Rick Allen)

  

• Promark (Joey Jordison, Mike Portnoy)

  

• Vater (Chad Smith, David Silveria)

  

• Vic Firth (John Dolmayan, Vinnie Paul)

  

• Zildjian (Dave Grohl, Travis Barker)

  

Step 5. Try them out

Especially if you are choosing a new wand type, size or brand that you have never used before, ask to try them out. Try them, without exaggerating, on a studio pad, so that if you choose something else, the sticks remain in sales condition. But try them enough to get an idea of the weight, flexibility, and balance of the wand.

Advice

• Always keep spare chopsticks on hand. Most shops that stock drum sticks also sell drum sticks that can be affixed to various drum pieces. Get a pair to keep your drumsticks close at hand.
• When playing in a small acoustic show, try bamboo or birch cane sticks. These sticks have a more vigorous sound than the brushes, but always playing at discrete volumes. Whatever thickness you choose (these also exist in various thicknesses) don't play too loud because they break easily.
• If you've been wondering how some Jazz drummers get that snare and cackle rolling sound, get yourself a pair of brushes. The brushes have thin retractable metal wires used to produce very muffled sounds, completely different from those produced by a stick.
• As always, when playing drums, wear hearing protection such as ear plugs. Drums, especially the snare drum, which was invented to be played in battle, are particularly loud and can damage your hearing, being so close to your ears. Without a doubt, you will want to be able to listen to music, or even simple conversation, even when you are 80! Many drummers begin to notice hearing loss around the age of 50, beginning, too late, to wear protectors during concerts and rehearsals. Don't make the same mistake!
• Once in a while, introduce something new to your set. For example, Zildjian offers new rubber cores that absorb vibrations.
• Most likely, in your life as a drummer, you will change a lot of sticks. If you can't make up your mind, try all kinds. Sooner or later you will find the ones that suit you.
• If you are a Metal drummer, try the 5Bs.
• If you want to give your rhythm section a more orchestral sound, try wrapping the part of the stick you use for the cymbals with hockey tape. This way you will have less attack on the cymbals, but more or less the same amount of sustain, resulting in a crescendo. The difference in which you change the envelope (i.e. attack and sustain) depends on how much tape you use.
• Depending on the genre of music you play, you may decide to use more than one type of stick.
• Also, start with a very large pair of sticks (2A or larger) to gain strength in the arm and then move on to a lighter pair when playing in a concert. Eventually, you will be able to completely get rid of heavy drumsticks.
• Remember that playing heavy music will cause your drumsticks to cause calluses and sores on your hands. Buy non-adhesive tape to reduce vibrations. You will be able to play much longer and without hurting yourself.
• If you play in a band, ask the instructor, conductor or leader if you should use a specific type of drumstick.
• Once you find your type of drumsticks, buy a nice pack. It is worth it.
• Don't limit yourself to just woods. If you like to go heavy and break sticks very often, first make sure you play correctly, and then, after making sure you are actually using the correct technique, try graphite sticks. These sticks, however, are not for everyone and have a different sound.

Warnings

• Pay attention to the shape! Breaking the sticks often indicates that you may be performing the technique incorrectly. Also, many drummers who don't follow the correct technique develop wrist problems.
• Crooked sticks don't sound good. Make sure your chopsticks are straight. To notice when the sticks are crooked, roll them on a flat surface and watch them roll. If the tip goes up and down, the chopsticks are not good.
• Be very careful not to spread sticks everywhere when breaking a wand.
• Make sure you position the battery so that, should the worst happen (a broken wand), the tip doesn't fly off hitting someone in the audience. Someone could get very hurt! Your band members, however, will have to defend themselves.