Drummers: Stick Breakage

Factual Questions
1

Mods, please move this thread if GQ isn’t the right forum for this :slight_smile:

There’s gotta be some drummers around here … help me!

After years of being a bass player/guitarist/singer, I’ve decided to finally take up the drums - something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m teaching myself, using the drum kit at my church for practice. My skill level is coming along quite nicely, but there’s one problem: I’m breaking sticks left and right. I’ve got a box of 'em next to me - seven broken sticks. It might as well be ten, since I’ve got three more now-mateless sticks, each a different kind. I’ve been trying different sizes to find what I like the best, so the mismatched sticks are a 5A wood tip, a 5A nylon tip, and a 5B wood tip.

I’ve discovered that the expensive Vic Firth sticks break just as easily as the cheap store-brand generic sticks :wink:

Now, I know you probably can’t tell me what I’m doing wrong without watching me play, but perhaps you’ll have some suggestions anyway. My sticks are consistently breaking right below the tip, where the tip tapers back down to the barrel. To a certain extent this seems to be because the high-hat is really chewing up the sticks and weakening them, so I’m not too surprised when the tip breaks off in that condition. But I’ve broken three or four sticks that were almost brand new. In fact, the one I broke this morning was just purchased yesterday afternoon. It broke after less than any hour of playing. Right below the tip again. This was a 5B stick.

I’m pretty sure I’m not hitting the rims - I’ve been paying attention and watching for that. Well, I hit the rim when I play rim shots (rim-clicks?) on the snare on slow songs, but that’s with my left hand. It’s my right-hand stick that keeps breaking. I have a sneaking suspicion that the breaks may be coming when I’m playing the ride bell, since that seems to produce the sharpest impact, but I don’t think I’m hitting the bell that hard. Could I be holding the sticks wrong? Hitting the drums at the wrong angle? Maybe the sticks are breaking when I hit the crash cymbal? It’s hard to tell [bi]when** the break happens. When it’s just the tip snapping off, the weight difference is insignificant, so I don’t usually discover the break until I finish the song.

And how much should I expect to chew up the sticks on the high-hat? I’ve got a 5A stick on which the first four inches from the tip is worn down to pencil thickness. Maybe I need to work on my hat technique too.

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

2

I suspect you’re hitting the edges of the cymbals with that spot on the stick where they’re breaking, not playing on the surface of the cymbals with the tips. That is to say, the rim or edge of the cymbal is chopping into the stick at it’s weakest point. A valid playing technique, but not one you should be using by default. You’ll be getting more of a ringing sound than the usual cymbal sound, if so. Look at that part of a new stick after playing one song, pick one that uses a fair bit of hihat and ride, see if there are dents in it already.

Another possibility is you are just hitting too hard. Are you playing with a loud band and trying to make yourself heard?

3

Some breakage is expected, but not to the amount you speak of. how hard are you hitting the drum?

4

My guess is that Askance is right. You should mostly be using the tip, particularly on the hats and ride. If you must cut across crashes, go a little further up.

But sometimes new sticks last less than a song.

5

If you’re breaking 5’s with that frequency, something is wrong. I use 7a’s (always wood tip) and go months on them. The guys in bands I’ve played with also say I’m a “really hard hitter” which I’m actually not, I just hit effectively and my drums are quite bright.

Lemme guess, your hi-hat is relatively high (meaning your stick is much closer to a 90 degree angle with the cymbals than a 180 degree), you use cheaper sticks, and have a somewhat “loose” area where your stick lands.

There is a solution. First, understand that crap sticks are usually made from inferior wood, are poorly milled and almost never balanced.

Next time you buy sticks do this: buy a name brand stick (they use the best wood, have the best lathing, and best graining)

Only buy a balanced set of sticks. The sleeves they put sticks in at the manufacturer are almost detrimental. Oh, and BTW, nylon tips are a good way to get a crappy stick that will splinter. I go to the local megastore, ask for the size and description I want, and clear off one of the glass counters for testing.

Glass is usually a perfectly flat surface (for our purposes at least). Unsleeve all of the sticks and lay them out. Roll a stick, watch and listen. If it rattles, it’s unbalances, if it wobbles like a rolling bananna, more so. Balancing is important because your stick realigns itself as you’re playing, the heaviest part always ends up being on the bottom, and gets almost all the wear which results in a faster break.

So, pick the few that roll very smoothly with little or no rattle. Then look at the grain.

Picture the neck and tip of the stick. The more “layers” of wood you see, the better. Long, and sparse plys of wood make for easily splintered wood. The neck of your stick should have many closely spaced rings (sliced lengthwise).

I have used this system for years, and I rarely buy sticks (like a pair every 3 or 4 months). It sounds very complicated as I explain it, but it’s very simple if you see it in person. You would be an expert stick buyer in about 5 minutes if I were there.

Many, many drum store employees think that stick rollers are idiots, they happen to be idiots by way of ignorance. They gladly buy 100+ pairs a year, when I would buy less than 10.

Also, lower your hi-hat. There’s no need to have that much distance between your hat and your snare. Conservation of movement is your friend. You should be able to do everything you want to with 8" between your snare and hat.

I’ve sold lots and lots of cymbals to churches, and they tend to buy “value” cymbals. They suck lots. If your cymbal looks more like a penny than a gold necklace, there’s a reason. It has to do with brass content. Brass is bad. Brass is the “B” in B8 cymbals.

The other main cause for high stick breakage is the usage of rim shots (simultaneous striking of the drum head and the rim, maximizing the drum body’s ring).

I use rimshots almost exclusively with my snare stick, and yet I break fewer sticks than almost all other types of drummer. This was true even when I was in a metal band. 7a’s, in a metal band, for weeks. That is the stuff of legend.

I’ve spoken for much longer than is appropriate, so I’ll stop now.

6

By default, I’ve been striking the edge of the hat about 4" from the tip of the stick, with the stick at approximately a 45-degree angle. I mainly do this because it gives me that "kusssh"sound that I love so much, whereas using the tip of the stick on the top of the hat produces a “tok-tok-tok-tok” that I don’t like so well (except in certain places where that sound is called for). Obviously, this is going to chew up my sticks (there is a pile of sawdust on the floor under the hat), but I haven’t figured out yet how to get the sound I like any other way. It’s possible that my high-hat is too high, as somebody else mentioned. Perhaps some instructional videos (or lessons!) would be helpful?

That’s entirely possible. I’m playing along with a stereo, not a band. I don’t consider myself anywhere near “performance level” with my drumming skills yet. Bass guitar yes, drums no. From my perspective, I’m hitting hard enough to produce the sound I want; I’m not going out of my way to pound the crap out of the kit. In fact, since it’s not mine, I’m probably holding back more than if it was my own kit. Now, the drummer in my last band, he could pound the crap out of his kit. He didn’t break many sticks, though. But he’d been playing for more than 20 years. I’ve been at it for two months, with nobody to show me what to do.

On the ride, I use either the tip or the barrel, depending if I’m playing the surface or the bell. I’ll use either the tip or the barrel on the bell, depending on the desired sound. I don’t hit the bell all that hard, because it’s not necessary - the bell sound cuts through very well. For crashes, I hit with the neck, and follow through with the stroke. I try to hit the crash with the stick flat against the surface of the cymbal, but I’m not always successful and I sometimes end up hitting it edge on, which would naturally make the edge knife into the stick. It may be a good idea to adjust the crash so that it’s either lower, or tilted differently so that the edge isn’t such an easy target.

I’ll take a look at that. Where it is now, I mostly avoid getting my sticks tangled up when the snare stick comes up at the same time the hat stick comes down :wink: But the hat could probably be lower.

I’ve tried both the store brand sticks and Vic Firth sticks (my old drummer’s stick of choice), with the same ease of breakage.

No question about that, but it’s something I’m conscious of and have been working on.

I’ll take your advice about inspecting the merchandise the next time I buy sticks.

My pastor’s sons, who are the lead guitarist/vocalist and drummer in a very good band, recently mentioned that we really need new cymbals. The ride is actuall a 20" ride-crash, and the crash is a 16" medium ride-crash. I really have to smack the “crash” to get an actual “crash” out of it instead of a “tingssh”. Maybe some new cymbals are something I can provide when I have the finances. The church paid for some repairs to my bass amp when I was out of work a couple years ago, so it wouldn’t hurt me to return the favor :slight_smile: I would like to get maybe a 12" thin crash or splash so that whoever is playing the drums during the church service can actually get a “crash” out of it without it being way too loud.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions - anything else you have would be great!

7

I do voluntary work with a local organisation that hosts ‘battle of the bands’ concerts for teenage bands; my impression is that sticks are simply a consumable item; the drummers typically arrive with a new pair of sticks.
They only get a three song set; I’ve yet to see them break a stick in this time, but they very often don’t bother taking their sticks home with them, and they are usually rather battered at the end, even after this short use. OTOH, they are energetic teenage bands, so they might be turning it up to 11.

8

Ah. Three suggestions: 1. loosen the little rings that sit on top of the felt bits clamping the top cymbal. Give it some freedom to swing about. 2. When playing the hats closed, rest your foot on the pedal, don’t clamp down hard. 3. Tilt the bottom cymbal a bit using the little angled screw. It’s possible that your stand won’t have either 1 or 3, but 2 is the most important. I suppose you could look at the spring tension on your foot pedal too, but let’s not get too over the top.

You can get a great range of sounds from hi-hats by changing how firmly your foot is pressing down. Just play a bit of time and gradually go from really tightly shut (tok-tok) to all the way open (this is a nice thing to do leading up to a fill anyway). The fashion these days is to have your heel up, but it’s much easier to have your heel resting on the back of the pedal and slowly raise the ball of your foot.

9

You didn’t ask for this, but I’ll advise you to take lessons. Lord knows self-teaching can be a wonderful thing; I taught myself guitar for 12 years, but then when I started taking lessons I regretted the time I could have saved by taking lessons earlier. I’ll bet you can find out 10 bad habits you have in your first lesson. I have played with a whole bunch of drummers (even married one once). It is not normal to break a lot of sticks especially if you’re just learning and breaking them while practicing. I would recommend learning rudiments, basic stick control, reading (maybe reading won’t be important for you–do you read for any other instrument?) and lot of other stuff that isn’t nearly as fun as banging on a drum set :slight_smile: