How to Pick the Best Drum Sticks

Video Transcript

"Alright, we have covered where to find a drum set, where to find a teacher, where to practice, and I just went over some of the basics for your first gig. That is just the basics. You are going to learn so much more once you go out there and do it yourself. That is just the tip of the ice berg basically. Kind of back pedaling here, let?s get to sticks because sticks are not just sticks. There are all sorts of different kinds of sticks out there and when it all comes down to it you are going to have your own style just by picking up a pair, seeing if you like it, if you don't you will try something different. I will just go over some of the basics of the sticks. I use Vic Firth 5A Nylons. You are going to see these markings on sticks, 5a, 7A, all these different things. What it boils down to is basically, the lower the number the heavier the stick. And the lettering on the right changes with each stick brand. So you can not really rely on any overall universal system. What I do is just kind of ignore the second letter because the last one stands for nylon which means these sticks have a plastic nylon tip. They are the weight of five, the A could mean many different things, and then N is for nylon. These are kind of a medium weight, I would say medium to lighter stick is kind of what I like to use. There is Vic Firth. You can buy Zildjian sticks. There is Promark. And of course they all offer the nylon tip or the wood tip. I choose the nylon tip because basically, I get a much more crisp sound. Like , if I were to hit the bell of the cymbal I would get a lot more crisp sound out of it and also when doing high hat tricks. The sound just seems to cut through a lot better with a nylon tip as opposed to wood. So that is just kind of what I prefer. Other people will say wood is better and it all boils down to, once again, just pick up a pair of sticks and play with it and see what you like. But also do not just limit yourself to one pair. I use these. They are just a general pair that I like; it is a good weight for me. But also if I am going to play a song that requires kind of a heavier, more hard- hitting beat I might pick up a heavier pair of sticks. Or if I am going to do something really light, like a Latin groove or something, I might go with some size 7 sticks. Something a lot lighter that will give me a lot more versatility and a lot more speed. So basically, just pick up a pair of sticks. You might like Promark or Zildjian. Also, another thing that some sticks offer are Zildjian have a stick called the anti-vib and for me like I said I have arthritis that sometimes it flares up and it really kills the wrist. They are kind of nice because they take out a lot of the shock of the stick. They are really nice. Takes out about I would say 60 percent of the vibration which is nice, but they do not last that long. They are not as strong as just a regular pair of sticks so it is kind of a trade off. Once again, pick up a pair of sticks, see what you like and just go from there. One more thing, about drum sticks. They are not all wood. There is actually a brand called Ahead and I am sure there are other brands you can get were it is actually a steel drumstick. The handle is steel and there is a steel rod that goes up the middle of it and that is covered by a plastic sheath. Then you just play with those until the sheath gets beaten up enough to the point where you have to just replace the plastic and then you would keep the rest of the stick. You would just keep replacing the plastic sheath. Or you can stick with wood. One advantage when it comes to the steel drumstick is that it does reduce the vibration a lot and you do not have to deal with the sticks breaking, obviously because it just chips off. But the one thing you need to really watch out for if you chose to use those is to really watch the plastic to make sure that it is not cut so much that you are hitting the inside of that steel rod. That is why I choose not to use those anymore because I have run into that where I have not been paying attention and I would be hitting a cymbal basically with that steel rod and you could imagine what kind of damage that would do to your hardware. So really watch out for that if you are going to choose to use those."