Drum Live! Drummers Community - Drum Solo Artist

Drummers who play a lot spend a fair amount of money on sticks.  One question I have posed to me a lot is “how do I find the right stick for me?”.

I believe that choosing sticks is perhaps the most personal choice drummers make…..and today….more than ever before……. there is a plethora of  brands, sizes, materials, diameters, tapers, tips, and weights.  Choosing what your favorite drummer uses; or what is advertised as the current rage may not result in finding a stick that “does it” best for you.

Here are my basic recommendations for choosing some sticks that will work best for your playing situations.

1.    The stick must be comfortable for your grip.  This will be a combination of the diameter, length, and the resulting balance….and it will be unique to the physical characteristics of your hands.  If it just doesn’t feel right to YOU, then it probably isn’t.

2.    The stick must be controllable for the volume level ranges needed for your playing….and neither too light nor too heavy for your individual feel preferences.  This is one reason there are so many models out there.

3.    The taper and tip should produce the sound textures you want to get from your drums and cymbals.  Depending on the design it may be bright, dark, or somewhere in-between?

4.    Realize that is normal for professional drummers to use different model sticks for playing different styles of music.

Here is a nice short and easy-to-comprehend summary of the way different drum stick designs suit different aspects of a drummer’s performance needs.  Perhaps it will help you better understand how to find a stick with the right combination of design features for your performance needs.

http://www.vater.com/stickselect/stickselect.cfm

Tags: Sticks

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