Anatomy of a Drumstick (Reprinted with permission.)

Wood

Wood type is key to a stick's response and durability. Maple makes a light, fast playing stick with the greatest amount of flex. Hickory has less flex and a more pronounced sound. It's more durable.

Tip Type

Tips are critical to the sound a stick makes on cymbals. Wood tips tend to emphasize lower tones on cymbals. Some players like them for their natural feel. Nylon tips are more durable with a brighter cymbal sound.

Tip Shape

Full tear drop tips produce a dark, rich cymbal sound (more lows). Barrel tips produce a broad sound and are great in the studio. Small round tips produce a brighter cymbal sound (more highs). Large round tips produce a "fatter" sound.

Stick Length

Length affects leverage—the longer the stick the greater the leverage. More leverage means more force behind each hit. Some drummers prefer shorter sticks for better control, but even really long sticks can have great control when they're balanced right. Diameter (Thickness) Thickness affects a stick's weight, strength and sound projection. Thicker sticks last longer and produce a greater sound. Thinner sticks are lighter and faster. Taper Taper of the neck affects the feel and behavior of a stick. A long taper provides more flex and a faster response. A short taper has less flex and gives the stick added strength. Stick Shoulder Shoulder location determines the sound a stick will produce on drum heads. It also acts as a fulcrum point, and its proper placement in relation to the thickness of the shaft provides optimum stick rebound.

Feel

A carefully designed stick will have the proper taper and shoulder relative to its length and weight, but other things influence response and feel—cymbal weight, drum heads, drumming posture, humidity, sunspot activity. Often, drummers prefer different sticks to deal with variations of these things. If you're just starting out, try getting used to a more standard stick on your kit. Try something like a 5A and then experiment with weight, length, thickness, shoulder and taper.

Volume

More Volume

Longer sticks give you more leverage to hit with more force. More force equals more volume. Heavier sticks also give you more volume. For real volume-addicts, tune both heads of a drum to the natural resonant frequency of the drum shell to get the most volume possible out of the drum. Of course, if you've taken volume this seriously, you should also make sure your sticks are pitch paired—like Vic Firth sticks.

Less Volume

For those not so volume obsessed, lighter sticks can actually be better for lighter-weight cymbals, giving them more definition and running less risk of damaging really light cymbals—like splashes.

Too Much One last word—always use ear protection when playing at high volume or for a long stretch of time. As a musician, your ears are your life.

Sound Terms

Overtones

Musical sound has two basic parts: primary tones that give things pitch and overtones that give an instrument its character. For a drum, conflicting overtones are what make it "ring" after the initial attack. Cymbals are a different story. They don't actually have a pitch, but rather a clump of primary tones called a "tessitura." This clump makes for intense overtones that give each cymbal it's own personality and turn some drummers into obsessive collectors of cool and weird cymbals.

Fat

"Fat" or "large" or sometimes "rich" usually describe cymbals (or even drums) that ring with a high content of pleasing overtones. If these overtones tend toward the lower frequencies, they are described as "warm" or "mellow". If they're on the higher frequency side, they'll be "bright." If the high-frequency overtones are too prominent or dissonant, they can be "harsh" as in "dude, your china is harshin' my mellow." Thicker, or heavier sticks tend to produce more overtones. Wood tips usually emphasize lower tones, nylon tips bring out the higher ones. One other thing, if sticks aren't pitch-matched, they can produce some unplanned overtones that you might not dig.

Wet

"Wet" is a lot like "fat" or "rich" and many people use them to say the same thing. A "wet" cymbal is one that has a lot of overtones compared to the primary tones (tessitura) of the cymbal. A "wet" cymbal is great for filling out a sound or blending with a mix, but a cymbal that's too wet might lose definition and not be heard. This is more of a problem for live performances than for recording. Heavier sticks produce cymbal sounds that are more "wet" as do sticks with tear-drop tips. Round tips give more definition on cymbals. Oh yeah, sound guys will sometimes use "wet" to mean the amount of effects (usually reverb) that they put on your drums. "Dry" means less reverb and more direct signal.

Punchy

"Punchy" sometimes means a short, resonant frequency right in the human hearing sweetspot, but for drums it can also mean sharp, crisp attack. A longer taper on a stick will give it more flex and a quicker attack. Lighter sticks can also add to quickness.