Juan

I don't have a personal opinion, but my in-person teacher, a seasoned jazz and Latin jazz player made a strong statement about plastic tips being too harsh sounding on cymbals, and specially the ride, and that he would only use them on mesh heads. But hey, sound is such a personal thing and I'm sure not every ride sounds bad with those tips. considering you have to play all the kit with the same stick, I think this should be explored over the snare and HH at least.

Any references of jazz players using plastic tips? 

For me, besides changing the sound and feel, it makes no difference playing sticks from 7A to 5B, maple or hickory, wich is all the range I have covered. I have small hands and belive I would have issues with bigger and heavier sizes.

This calls for a recording (video please 🙂 )

first result I got, did not check it. hope it is useful

https://www.7drumcity.com/uploads/4/4/2/7/4427384/when_the_levee_breaks.pdf

Beautiful! Love how the song keeps its paused feel despite the fast tempo.

Hi Renee. Your struggles sound familiar. Your accuracy hitting the drums will improve as you accumulate practice time. But check for things that may be making you hit sticks more often. Like your position and that of the instruments. Make the moves slow looking at your hands, then faster and check if the trajectory is so close that makes it easy to hit sticks.

Speed is a common cause. On one hand moving our hands faster we are less accurate, and on the other we have less time to plan our moves and those doubts at the last moment rush us. So in each exercise try to start doing it slow enough to feel in complete control, and add speed gradually, not moving on until you are confident again. That is not a beginner thing to do, bit the common trade of practice.

1 hour ago, Julia said:

you have to play AND sing Billie Jean backwards. Video or it didn’t happen 😉

Warning! If he gets to do it, and he probably would, the laws of physics would reverse and there would no longer be a reaction for and action but an action for a reaction and we would have to unhit the drum to make them sound, or make drum sounds to make the sticks bounce 😱😂

6 hours ago, Bob said:

Shed Head Extraordinaire @chantale.

I believe there is some bias here. I wonder why. 

Yep, a more proper honorific treatment would be Lord Of Snares Bob. 🤘😁 And of course "DBD Legend"

One day I'll play Dreaming... when I do I'll probably roll over the floor laughing.

My first song was Thorn In My Side by Eurythmics, that happens to be played by Clem Burke, and he was the first drummer I searched online for.

I recommend Thorn In My Side to all beginner drummers that are up for a challenge, the only actually hard part is the HH 16th notes section before the outro, but you can cheat that. Here's my transcription if someone want's to give it a go.

ThornInMySide.pdf

Just watched the "Buena Vista Social Club" documentary and fell in love with the music and the story of this album. The music is just beautiful, and watching these people of over 90 years, that played from very young in the early 1900s, and lived their art through a revolution and unimaginably hard times was mind blowing. Their humbleness, generosity and joy for life and music, an inspiration.

Specially recommend for their percussion "Chan Chan", "El Cuarto de Tula" and "Candela". As an intemporal classic Bolero "Dos Gardenias", and for the clave "¿Y Tu Qué Has Hecho?"

Saw these offered in Amazon when looking for a replacement for my current pair. They are cheap, not the soft feel of VF, and the letters and engrabed with feels in the fingers and I yet have to decide if it's good or not. The fulcrum casually falls right on my name, I can feel where to place the thumb, and when looking down it is "IRON" I see, which I indulge in feeling inspired by. I still like the idea, but with a better looking finish.

Bought a pair of them for my nephew one year before I embarked myself into drumming. They are obviously fun and flashy, but never though about them as a training tool. Time to get my own pair.

1 hour ago, Otis said:

That part was a transition between two different grooves in the song "Malibu" by Hole (Courtney Love's band).

Just listened to the song and I could see what you mean. That transition must be really tricky. Good for you!

The main groove reminds me a lot to one of the first ones I learned on my own, found in a Spanish song "Allí Donde Solíamos Gritar" by Love of Lesbian, but at a slower tempo.  That one made me work long to learn it and even more to endure enough to play it through the hole song. I'll take the chance and add your song to my play along list.  

27 minutes ago, Julia said:

That mesh must be different from what Silentstrokes are made of if they can sand your sticks.  I have a towel on my snare for sound so maybe this is why my stick tips aren’t being sanded. 

Your sanded sticks are another sign of your hard work, dedication, and discipline 😎 

 

You are the kindest and sweetest 😘 

Took me a while to find it, but I remembered a post by @Joerg with a picture of his e-kit mesh head sanded stick. Here it is:

13 hours ago, Julia said:

Are maple sticks just for jazz?  

I believe they are better on the eKit too, a bit quieter on hard cymbals and less aggressive with mesh heads. I bought 7a and 5a together, but I use the 5as all the time, and I've noticed the tips have become significantly pointier from being sanded by the heads.

7 minutes ago, Sean said:

Juan maybe change your quote to.....We are what we repeatedly want. Excellence then is not practice but a purchase!

You read that?! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I tend to believe that as with sports gear, those details that are the difference between the winners and the rest at competition level, not only do not make me any better, but I don't even notice any difference 🤘😅

Saved a lot of money over the years on gear designed for top competition levels, that I would use recreationally. Except if it is pretty and I want it, I need it, I must have it 🤣

Nice and creative idea. I switched to maple maybe a year ago and I'm sticking to it.

I did not look for it, but ended having VF hickory 5a that I bought to use on the pad, other 5a that came with the e-kit that I thought to be maple but seems even lighter and softer now that, after the tips of those wore out, I bought VF 7a and 5a maple pairs to test both sizes. 

I got the maple 5as first and they immediately felt better on the kit that the originals. The weight felt weird at first and I thought it had a bad effect on my technique exercises, but soon got used to it. I was convinced to use hickory on the pad and maple on the kit. Then the 7as arrived... and I hated them from the very first moment. I felt like I was back on my early days, when the sticks bounced around on their own will.  But otherwise they were thin and light and felt good in my hands, so I decided that they were just showing me I had a weakness and resolved to work on it.

I alternated the 5as and 7as on the kit and still use them randomly, to not get too used to any of them, but I know now that the 7as are what my hands like most.

I also grab the hickory 5as for pad work and have a pair of 5aa in the kitchen to play with VF nylon tips on the counter while I'm cooking.

This happened without any intention, but now I have the idea that this changing sticks frequently is good to develop my hands, and I feel like it is being so, but... is this a mistake?