Drum Sticks - All youll ever need to know (Part 1)
Welcome to a series of articles that will be the most thorough examination of a subject that I feel is not touched upon nearly enough in the drum world, but which is more important, (especially in drum set playing) than any other I can think of. Drumstick selection. I have spent years in the search for the perfect drumstick and have studied intensely how the feel of certain weights, woods and densities can affect people’s drumming, so expect this to be totally anal, highlighting the pros and cons of certain sticks, no matter how petty and trivial. Drumsticks are quite literally the tools of our trade; you will never spend too long deciphering which stick is best for you. Guitarists have strings, string players have bows, horn players have mouthpieces, and drummers have sticks. None of these instruments work without their respective tools, so you’d better make sure you get it right…
Over the course of the articles I am going to examine what makes a drumstick playable, help you choose the right drumstick for your playing, help in how to select great sticks after you have found the perfect type for you, and break down some of the technical jargon that manufactures use.
First with the jargon…
Throw: This is the way in which the stick is quite literally ‘thrown’ from your hand. Often called the “down stroke”, this is the motion with which you strike the instrument. It is the most important thing you will ever do drum-wise, and it is affected by every single factor below.
Balance: The balance is of course, the point of equilibrium in the stick. If the balance of a stick is further down the shaft, it will feel heavier to throw. If it is nearer the tip, it will have more downward power (on the down stroke) but be harder to lift off the head/cymbal for fast players.
Bounce: This is how the stick reacts when it hits a surface. The more bounce a stick has after it has been thrown, the easier it is to play another stroke using less effort. If you have to work hard on the down stroke and the up stroke, playing will become more difficult and fatigue will kick in.
Weight: How heavy the stick is, affects how fast it can be thrown and how loud you play.
Length: The length is very important to the throw of the stick and the leverage of the stroke. The longer the stick, the greater reach it has, but a stick that is too long can affect balance and playability.
Shaft: The shaft is the thickest part of the stick that goes from the rounded butt to the taper. It is the longest part, and usually displays the manufacturers logo. The thickness of the shaft will affect the overall tone, weight and feel of the stick. It goes without saying that a thicker stick will be heavier and produce a louder sound, with lots of durability. A thinner stick will be easier to throw, be faster and plays with more ease.
Taper: The taper of a stick is the distance at which the stick begins to narrow from the shaft to the tip of the stick. The shorter the taper, the more durable the stick and heavier it is to throw, but longer tips have a faster speed and response with more flex at the price of a shorter lifespan.
Tip: This is one of the major factors in determining how a stick will sound, especially on cymbals. It is critical to take time to look at the tip, as this will have a massive effect on how that brand new £275 Zildjian ride will sound. A full teardrop tip will generally produce a sound that enhances the lows and mid range frequencies, it is the tip that you’ll find on most sticks including the Vic Firth American Classics. If it’s definition that you’re after, a small round tip (Vic Firth Peter Erskine signature model) will be the choice to make. They offer tight definition on cymbals with lots of high-end tone, whereas a large round tip (Vic Firth Billy Cobham signature model) will broaden that sound with more mids. A barrel tip (Vic Firth Red Dave Weckl signature model) will make the highs and lows come out, for a fatter sound. These tips are great for the studio. You can get hybrid tips and special tips, but they are all variations on these main types. Nylon tipped sticks are available in all shapes and sizes, but it matters far less what type of tip you have if it is coated with plastic. These offer bright highs and much definition. The downside is that they can come off, (if they do, almost every stick maker offers a replacement) and if they get nicked or scratched, they can scratch cymbals and heads, damaging their tone.
Shoulder: The shoulder of the stick is the part where the shaft ends and the taper begins. This is a great place to pick out accents with when playing on the bell of the ride cymbal.
Butt: The rump, backside, end, bottom, the rounded-bit-you-don’t-hit-things-with…you get the idea…
Wood: There are three types of wood that 98% of stick are made of. Hickory (the most popular), Oak (heavier than hickory and with the densest molecular pattern), and Maple (the tightest looking grain, but the lightest). Having a maple stick can be great if you have big hands and play jazz. It means that you can have a thicker stick that can be more comfortable to grip, but the lighter wood dictates that you can’t play with as much force and volume as you could with Hickory or Oak.
Finish: These range from the unfinished type to high gloss and everything in-between. If your hands sweat a lot, you might find that a glossy stick is too difficult to grip. A solution might be to try the Zildjian Dip Sticks. They are literally dipped butt-end into a material that coats the shaft in a tacky, black plastic, making the stick great to grip. The only problem these can rub and blister softer and younger hands, (but it’s better to do this to build up a resistance for years of future playing). Gregg Bissonette is an avid endorser of Gorilla Snot. It’s a small tub of paste that you rub into your palms like lotion. It makes the hands tacky allowing for improved grip of whatever you’re playing with.
Pitch: Personally I believe that this is the most under-rated, but possibly the most important parts of drumstick selection. There is no major stick company in the market place that doesn’t put sticks of the same pitch in matched-box packing. This is all very well, but unfortunately, this means you could end up with two bad sticks instead of one! Because I value this particular factor in drumsticks so much (and I think its importance is so undervalued) I am dedicating a whole chapter to it in a later chapter on stick selection.
Lets start with the obvious. It has been said a million times before, but there is absolutely no stick in the entire world that is suitable for every musical occasion. If there was, everybody would be playing it wouldn’t they? Just to use the old, marked cliché, you would not cut a tree down with a piece of glass paper, nor would you finish off a handcrafted statuette of the Virgin Mary with a chainsaw. It is about selecting the right tool for the job. It is impractical for a speed metal drummer to play with jazzy sticks with a round bead tip. For a start, they will break many sticks; the music will not sound as full and loud, and the small bead will dent the drumheads. If you play forcefully on a drum with small round tips, they will pit the head very easily. All the force from the throw is exerted on a tiny surface area. A more suitable tip would be a barrel or teardrop, which would spread the force of the blow over a wider area, making the strike louder, fatter and fuller whilst being less damaging to those brand new heads of yours
As well as choosing the right stick for the music, you need to listen to your body too. Each of us is physically different. Some people are short and fat, some are tall and skinny, not to mention palm size, finger size, and the rest. It is a universally acknowledged truth that EVERYONE has different hands and different mechanics when approaching a stroke. One of the priorities is picking a stick that suits your size and feels comfortable in your hands. If it does not feel comfortable, your mind is not on the playing, but rather on managing to work against something in order to create a sound. You wouldn’t sit on a bed of nails for a long drive, in the same way you wouldn’t approach a three hour covers gig with sticks you didn’t like to hold.
There has recently been a debate on the MikeDolbear.com forum about changing sticks depending on which genre of music you are playing. Some people are of the opinion that players change sticks to cover up shortcomings in technique. There are those who say people change to lighter sticks for jazz because they have no control and are unable to play quietly. To those people I say this; there is no how and no way, you can tell me people can play jazz convincingly with Vater Shredders or Zildjian Heavy Rock sticks. It is just impractical both for the players feel and the sound. I can only assume that these people are talking about drummers who change sticks from verse to chorus in a song because they are unable to play dynamically. That is something quite different. Sticks should not be changed because a drummer cannot play quietly or loudly. Learning correct technique, control, dynamics and touch for the type of music you play, should be paramount to anyone who is serious about the craft. In addition, no substitution of stick is going to help you play one genre any better than you would have before. It is simply that one stick is made with jazz playing in mind (so the stick is lighter, faster and easier to control) and another for rock (fatter, louder sticks). Rods (such as Pro Mark Hot Rods) should not be used because a drummer can’t play quietly with sticks, but instead to get different tones from instruments, and a different feel from their playing. A drummer can get some great sounds out of rods and other ‘specialist sticks’ (more about them in a later instalment) by playing on legs and other surfaces. It is all down to what suits the music. As usual however, there are no set rules to this. It should go without saying that a drummer ‘ought to learn correct technique’, but if a drummer would rather play hard with rods than softly with sticks, so be it…
Much more than technical and aural differences, changing weight of stick or the type of wood you are using changes attitudes towards the drums, it can offer inspiration to play certain genres of music. For me, picking up a pair of 7A’s inspires me to do something quiet and intricate with the ride cymbals. On the other hand, picking up some Zildjian Heavy Rock sticks makes me want to pound at the hi-hat and play a strong backbeat.
What are you looking for in a stick?
Here it is. The mathematical equation that makes perfect sense of the whole debacle.
Feel + Tone + Balance + Response = Great stick.
Sounds easy right? Wrong! Each one of these factors is a very critical part of how the stick will feel for you, but each one is affected by the tip, shaft, location of the shoulder, taper, and the type of wood you use. In very broad terms, there is no equation for the perfect stick, you need to get out there and try your own. Would you choose a pair of shoes without trying them on? Footwear that is too big for you hinders your ability to run and walk, similarly shoes that are too small will give you no balance and will hurt your feet.
Any good dealership has pads on the counter that lets you try the stick first (not on their equipment please…) so it’s worth going for an hour or so on a test run.
Next issue we’ll get started! I’ll cover stick selection, what you need to look for in a good pair and secrets on separating the good from the bad.
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