The post by DrumsPlus got me thinking about how important it is to find a stick size and "stick" with it. I know many players are conditioned towards using different sizes for varying volume situations. It is possible to cover all bases with one stick.

Me, I use a Pro-Mark wood tip 2B. My hands by most standards are very large so a stick that I can grab onto and be comfortable with would logically be on the larger scale. With this increased control and "feeling of oneness" with the stick, this allows me to go anywhere dynamically. Volume control is not in the size of the sticks but rather the touch you employ. Hey, I know guys who insist on 11A "combo" model (chopsticks) and proceed to beat the living crap out of the drums.

Too small a stick can cause you to tense up, grip too tightly, tendonitis, etc. Too large a stick can cause you to strain your wrists in pushing all that extra weight.

Just some food for thought.








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BillRayDrums wrote:

The post by DrumsPlus got me thinking about how important it is to find a stick size and "stick" with it. I know many players are conditioned towards using different sizes for varying volume situations. It is possible to cover all bases with one stick.

I've always felt the same way pretty much. I'm down to one type of stick now, for most applications.
I do, however, still like the sound of mallets and monster brushes now and then, so that'd be the exception, but I haven't really felt the need to switch out sticks for quite a while now.








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About 2 years ago, I switched from using Regal Jazz wood tips to VF 8D wood tip. I found that I was having difficulty maintaining a relaxed grip with the Jazz's. The 8D's are the same length but ever so slightly thicker. Made all the difference in the world.

When I'm playing jazz, though, I use thicker sticks. I like the feel of the Erskine Ride stick. Though it's got the beef of a 5B, the taper and small tip make it play very light. I also like to use SD2's in other jazz situations because I like the sound of the round tip and maple stick on my cymbals at times.

Of course, in another few years it's entirely possible that my stick preference may change again. Time will tell.








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Yeah, I tried the small stick thing for a while, using Vic 7A's, then up to 5A's, and now 5B's. I'm thinking about trying some 2B's now because my marching sticks are really comfortable to hold.

About using small sticks and playing really hard. I know a guy who uses 8D sticks and used to go through five pair a gig. His reasoning is that the lighter weight is better for his wrists. On day at the drum shop while we were both playing on the same practice pad on the counter I asked him one day how he played so hard with such little sticks. He answered me with, "how do you play so quietly with such big sticks?" I was using a pair of ProMark corp sticks and playing the same low volume he was. This topic just brought that memory back up.








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Billy plays those (2B) clubs with all that finesse. Wow. I started w/5A switched to 2B and then a few "rock" sizes. I've been playing 5B For 15 years and it's the last thing I'm gonna mess with right now.

I blast with 2b's and play lighter stuff with my new Gadd signatures.








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BillRayDrums wrote:

The post by DrumsPlus got me thinking about how important it is to find a stick size and "stick" with it. I know many players are conditioned towards using different sizes for varying volume situations. It is possible to cover all bases with one stick.

Me, I use a Pro-Mark wood tip 2B. My hands by most standards are very large so a stick that I can grab onto and be comfortable with would logically be on the larger scale. With this increased control and "feeling of oneness" with the stick, this allows me to go anywhere dynamically. Volume control is not in the size of the sticks but rather the touch you employ. Hey, I know guys who insist on 11A "combo" model (chopsticks) and proceed to beat the living crap out of the drums.

Too small a stick can cause you to tense up, grip too tightly, tendonitis, etc. Too large a stick can cause you to strain your wrists in pushing all that extra weight.

Just some food for thought.

I use the cheap Sound Percussion sticks, size 5B. I like the larger sticks as well, but as you said "Too large a stick can cause you to strain your wrists" makes sense. After afew songs my wrists get real tired and i have a hard to time using the same amount of energy as in the beginning of the set. I realize the large sticks are more than likely the cause but whenever I get a hold of a smaller stick it always seems that it has no power behind it, even if I hit harder (which I dont really want to do)








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I play 5As always. Right now I'm sticking with Zildjian's Super 5A's. Before I found those I bounced around a lot between companies. They're pretty much 5A's that are slightly longer with much bigger tips.

I used the Thomas Lang stick because I'm used to holding Marching sticks but to me its just to much stick for drum set so I have been using Vic Firth 7A Nylons but I might go to the 5As.








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sgarrett had a good point with his story thats kinda like me

i mean for 10yrs of my life i was doing nothing but marching sticks
hell the drumset was the last thing on my mind.

but once i got out for some reason i just wanted to take heavy sticks
and throw them out the window so i went to promark 2b's great sticks
but just not the weight i wanted still felt to heavy
so i downgraded to vic firth 5a extrems and that was the stick
for me it just felt so right. granted i by a brick every 5 months
but they just work the best for me. maybe because i have smaller hands
but they just fit the best.

Sam wrote:

I used the Thomas Lang stick because I'm used to holding Marching sticks but to me its just to much stick for drum set so I have been using Vic Firth 7A Nylons but I might go to the 5As.

Going from the Langs to 7A's a quite a big jump! I generally stick with the Regal Tip 5BX Nylon, the X model is a bit longer than their regular 5B and their Bernie Dresel model. I like the finish on Regal Tip so that's the first brand I go for.

After using the red stained Dave Weckl sticks for several years, I found myself on the road not being able to get anything but standard sizes from small town music stores one too many times. So I started using VF 5a's. That lasted about a year, I missed the extra reach of the Weckl sticks. So now I'm back to using those but I try to keep a good stock of them since most mom and pop places don't carry them.








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SmellsLikeIan wrote:

After using the red stained Dave Weckl sticks for several years, I found myself on the road not being able to get anything but standard sizes from small town music stores one too many times. So I started using VF 5a's. That lasted about a year, I missed the extra reach of the Weckl sticks. So now I'm back to using those but I try to keep a good stock of them since most mom and pop places don't carry them.

That's EXACTLY one of the factors that made me arrive at the 2B conclusion. If anything, you can find 2Bs anywhere. Before that I was into the Pro-Mark 740's (The Evelyn Glynnie model) rarer than hen's teeth!








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I've never been 100% happy with sticks.. I tend to play one kind for a while, then switch it up.

I'm using Buddy rich Sig sticks at the mo. They're quite weighty, nice and rounded on the tip and seriously resiliant as well.. which is good!

One day VF will design the "Rob Crisp" signiture stick and I bet after a couple of months I won't like that much anymore either








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Vatter 5b nylon tips for me kinda like Goldy-lox not too big not too small..but yeah still not perfect.








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