can anyone list down the different type of drum sticks and their purpose like what is the standard sticks, thunder rods,handle brushes,Mallets and etc. thanks
There's drumsticks, that one doesn't need to be said. But besides western drumsticks, which have a "head" at the tip, there's sticks which are just simple straight things (like chopsticks). There's Chinese/Japanese/etc. drumsticks, and Latin American drumsticks. I'm sure you've seen them before. They're just simple rods that're the same width all the way. Usually, the asian drumsticks are fatter and heavier because traditionally, these are used on drums with very heavy real leather calf-skin, which need more power to play. Latin American music has a lot more metal objects, wood blocks, and the drums are more ringy and the music calls for thinner sticks.
Other common tools are:
Brushes- usually a handle with metal bristles sticking out of the end. There's variations with thicker wires or non-metal bristles or so on. It's originally designed just for softer playing, but because it gives a totally different sound and can be used for a lot of other techniques, such as sweeping. Thicker wires usually give more volume; other materials change the timbre.
Watch this video;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-0Ve059ThI it's one of my favourite brush showcases.
Rutes/Hotrods/Thunder rods/ etc. etc. etc.- all the same thing with different names. It's like a hybrid between brushes and sticks. A bundle of thin wooden rods held together, with a handle. It gives a more solid sound than brushes, but a different and slightly softer sound than sticks. You get a wetter, more organic sound since you have "many small sticks" falling together. Some have bigger but less rods, some have smaller but more rods. Bigger rods are supposed to be louder, but I don't have that much experience playing around with them.
There's variations with different materials, I prefer the plastic ones to wood because the thin wooden rods break really easily. Somehow, the feel of Vic Firth's plastic rutes are also a lot nicer than the wood ones I've played with also. There's also variations where instead of being put together as a bundle, it's spread out like a fan, like the brushes.
Mallets- There are many kinds of mallets. For practical purposes, I put them in three main categories, timpani mallets, unwound mallets and yarn/cord/wool-wrapped mallets.
Timpani mallets are usually wrapped with white felt or wool around a core. They usually have thicker handles. The other two have very thin handles and are usually used for mallet percussion (xylophones, etc.), suspended cymbals and whatever else you want to whack with it in the orchestra. They can also be used on drums, e.g. orchestra or marching toms are quite often hit with mallets. The sound is slightly more muted than with sticks.
Unwound mallets just have a solid ball of rubber, metal or plastic at the end; do note that some rubber tips are a lot softer. Wound mallets have a core that's wrapped with some kind of fibre material to give it a more mellow sound.
Now that they're all described, there's the usage to talk about. Because they're (mostly) not as hard as sticks, you can get legato (smooth) cymbal rolls on them. That's the most significant usage I can think of.
Besides that, when used for orchestra purposes, the hardness of the mallet will really change the brightness or mellowness of the timbre. It's like the difference between tapping a cymbal with your fingernail or the flesh part of your finger.
Do take note that not all mallets can be used for all instruments. For example, if you use a soft yarn mallet on a xylophone or glockenspiel, you're not likely to get much sound out of it since the xylophone is already a very dry instrument, and the soft yarn will cut out the ring of the glocks. But these mallets work very well on marimba, where you get a beautiful mellow tone because of the resonators- the marimba's keys are allowed to resonate. I personally like cord mallets a lot more than yarn.
Also, when selecting mallets, do take note of the handle. While some handles are hard like drumsticks (made from hard wood or plastic), some are very soft and flexible (made from rattan). The soft ones have a very different feeling while playing.
Hybrids- Some drumsticks have mallets or brushes on the rear end so you can flip them over for convenience.
Others- There's a lot of other fun things you can hit other things with. There's "Tangerines", you can look them up on this forum.
Overall, brushes and rutes have less bounce than drumsticks, while mallets depends a lot on the material. The weight balance is also different. Your hands may have to adapt a little.
I will tell you and share with you what i know to the best of my ability.
The teardrop stick - Its mostly an 'all-rounder' meaning it is suitable for any genre.
The ball tip - this is ONLY for jazz as it creates a soft sound. It cannot be used for heavy metal etc as the ball tip cant take so much pressure.
The stud tip - this is like the ball tip, but its squarish. This tip if for hard rock,
heavy stuff, as it creates a LOUD and CLEAR sound.
Nylon tip - More for jazz also as it gives a very crisp sound on the cymbals.
They come in teardrop tips, which can be played on rock etc.
They also come in Stud tip and ball tip.
The Nylon tip is for those who likes their cymbals to sound more
crisp.
Well, hope this helps
I don't like classifications like the ball tip being only for jazz.... I think you're thinking of the really small ball-shaped tips, which can also be used for very precise and clean orchestra work. The main reason why it isn't used so often is actually usually because it's easier to get a big sound from a larger tip, although the larger tip usually sacrifices some control. But there's large ball-shaped tips that are used for rock, Pearl's Shinya signature sticks come to my mind with 1cm large balls, and there's those used for marching drumline, such as Vic Firth's Jeff Queen signature stick, with even larger balls.
Some general rules for drumsticks that I'm pretty confident about:
1) Thickness of stick- determines how well you can grasp the stick. Some sticks are tapered, which changes the balance slightly and may be easier to grip, but these are uncommon.
2) Shape of stick- like I mentioned earlier, while most sticks are simple rods, some are tapered slightly: this means that the back end is a bit fatter than the front. It shifts the center of gravity, making it easier to bounce, and might be easier for you to grip (this is personal choice). But for all sticks, you'll notice that there's the "shoulder" of the stick (the part just behind the tip is narrow, but gets wider). That affects the balance of the stick- the taper is actually just as though the shoulder reaches the full length of the stick.
2) Weight of stick- usually, heavier sticks can get a bigger sound out of the drums and cymbals, but are harder to control. This means that when hitting the drum normally, you'll get a louder sound, and your upper limit is often greater, but if you try to play softer it becomes quite difficult to control how much strength you're using.
3) Shape of tip- There's really too many different shapes, but you can think of it this way: see how it touches the surface of the drum, and from there, see how wide the contact area is.
See the above diagram that I drew- you can see that for oval or square shapes, there's a lot of contact area. The ball shape has a little bit less, and the diamond shape has even less (although this kind of shape is really uncommon)
Try tapping the drum skin with your finger, as compared to with your palm. You'll notice that a larger surface hitting the drum skin gives a lower and more muted sound. This applies to sticks also, although it isn't as obvious a difference as with your hand. If you want me to explain the physics behind this go contact me (hahaha)
4) Size of tip- Smaller tips are usually more "articulate". This means that it's easier to get definition out of it, especially at lower volumes. It sounds cleaner and more defined. This doesn't mean that you can't get clean notes from large tips, it's just harder to do so.
And one last thing...
Nylon sticks actually sound more ringy, to my opinion. It's a slightly harder and "cleaner" surface than wood. The sound "opens up" more with a nylon stick usually. This may or may not be what you like.
Hope all this helps!
