- Hmmmmmmm
What type of stick should I use?
How do I choose my drum sticks?
(drum sticks clinking together)
Hey everyone, it's Jared from Drumeo,
and today I'm gonna talk about
how to choose drum sticks.
Especially as a new drummer, this can be
something that's very daunting.
You walk into a music store and you see a massive rack
of drum sticks, how do you know what to choose?
You just started drumming, right?
Even myself, who's been drumming for over 20 years now,
I still struggle sometimes choosing the right drum stick.
Do I use, you know, the Stanley Randolph Signature stick,
the Promark FireGrain, the Vater Rock,
do I use the Drumeo custom stick, hmm?
Do I use the 85A Vic Firth, do I use the Regal Tip 8A,
I mean, there's so many different options out there,
how do we as drummers choose?
Now, the real story is that it's all personal preference.
It all comes down to trying different things
and figuring out what you like.
But in this video, I'm gonna give you some basic principles
so you can walk into that music store,
actually, having an understanding
about how the sizing chart works.
So there's numbers with drum sticks,
there's twos, fives, sevens, eights,
and all these different numbers, there's the 55A.
And what those numbers essentially mean is the lower numbers
are the heavier and thicker sticks.
The higher numbers are the lighter and thinner sticks.
So you have an Regal Tip 8A, it's going
to be lighter than a Vic Firth 5B.
Now what does the A and the B mean?
Well the A and the B essentially means within that number,
there is a different thickness.
So the 5A's are thinner than 5B's,
5A's are thinner and lighter than 5B's.
Then you'll have sticks with
something like 5A barrel.
Now the barrel is referring to the tip of the stick.
And when it comes to the tips of the sticks,
drummers always are wondering about nylon tip or wood tip,
and it really comes down to what sound you prefer.
So when you play a nylon tip drum stick on a cymbal,
generally, you get a more defined and consistent sound.
You'll even notice, I believe, on this barrel tip,
there's some inconsistencies even when you feel
the top of the barrel, there's some fuzziness
and stuff like that, so when you play a cymbal,
if you hit it in that one specific spot,
it might change the sound of that cymbal.
Whereas, if you hit it with a nylon tip,
it's gonna give you a really nice consistent sound,
but it's gonna be a different feeling.
Same with wood tips, when you play
the cymbals with wood tips, you're gonna get
more inconsistency, but I believe when you play
the drums with those wood tips,
they're gonna sound really, really great.
So if it's between nylon tip and wood tip,
that is a very personal preference,
but think about the music you're playing,
if you're playing something that needs nice, bright
cymbal sounds and nice consistent cymbal sounds
all the time then you might want
to try out some nylon tipped sticks.
Personally, I prefer wood tip,
and I prefer the acorn tip sticks.
See, you see this is an acorn tipped stick.
Then you also have the barrel tip,
everyone has their own preference.
Now once you find your perfect stick,
how do you actually know it's a good set?
A lot of companies are getting better
when it comes to their technology,
and they really are pairing up great sticks,
nice and straight without any inconsistencies.
But once you do find that pair that you like,
here's what you can do to, kind of,
check to be sure that it's sounding good.
So one thing I like to do is I like to take the stick
that I find and just roll it on a flat surface.
If you see it, kind of, hoppin',
then it means the stick could have a little bit
of a curve in it and it's not perfectly straight.
You can't always see that by looking down
the stick because it's too short.
Another thing I like to do is I like to get a practice pad
and take two sticks that are the same,
so here we've got the Drumeo custom sticks.
Take two sticks that came in a set, and tap them
on a similar surface with the exact same surface,
and listen for the resonance that they make.
Don't hold the stick to tight, but just tap them
on the surface nice and loosely, listen
to the vibration and the sound that the stick is making,
and then if they're way off pitch,
then you know one stick is likely
a lot heavier than the other one.
And some drummers are more picky than others,
but I like to have similar weighted sticks.
And like I said, with new technology these days,
companies are getting so great at
pitch matching their drum sticks
and making sure that they're perfectly straight.
So that is some information on how to choose drum sticks.
So now I want to hear from you,
leave a comment below, and tell me
what type of sticks that you use.
Go ahead, leave that comment below,
and I'll see you in the next video.
(upbeat music)