Drumsticks are specially designed sticks that are intended to strike the heads of percussion instruments like drums. Drumsticks are especially useful for hitting specific types of drums, especially during orchestral work, jazz music, rock band music and even marching band music. The most common drumsticks are made from oak, hickory, hard maple and ebony wood. Typical drum sticks are made to be 16.3 inches in length, and only 0.635 inches in diameter with a rounded tip. Drum sticks can be used by players of all experience levels and age groups, including beginners, intermediates, experts, advanced players and even professional drummers, though not all drumming requires the use of drumsticks. Most professional drummers are quite particular when it comes to the characteristics of their drumsticks, paying particular attention to the weight, the shape, the size, the balance, the grain and the density of the sticks that they buy and use. Thick and heavy sticks tend to be used to primarily play street drums in drum corps and in marching bands, and these sticks are regarded for providing high quality sound.

A typical or traditional drumstick has a tip, a shoulder, a shaft and a butt. The tip, which is also commonly referred to as a bead, is the topmost part of the drumstick, which is responsible for actually striking the head of the drum. Traditionally the tip of the drumstick is crafted from the same hard wood as the remainder of the stick, though there are also drum sticks that have plastic nylon tips depending on the sound that you are intending to create. Tips come in a variety of different shapes and sizes when it comes to drumsticks, including round tips, barrel tips, oval tips and acorn tips just to name a few. The area below the drumstick's head or tip is known as the shoulder. The shoulder is primarily used to strike the edge of a crash cymbal. The remaining part of the stick is the shaft, the part that is handled by the drummer, and the butt is the opposite of the tip, located at the very bottom of the drumstick.

Drum sticks always come available in pairs, and you can generally select from a wide and consistently growing range of colors and styles. Drum sticks come in metallic colors like metallic red, metallic black, metallic silver, metallic wine red, and metallic green and even metallic blue. Colorful sticks that have shiny metallic logos are excellent for many live performances. Some drummers prefer to simply play with natural wooden drum sticks, especially if they go through them quickly.

Electronic drum sticks have their own built in speakers and some offer pre recorded tunes. When these electronic drum sticks strike any time of surface, they create the unique, crashing sounds that are pre recorded. These electronic drum sticks make use of a LED (Light emitting Diode) that is placed at the tip of each stick, allowing you to create music even when you do not possess a full set of drums to play with. Electronic drumsticks are becoming increasingly popular among kids that are fond of the unique range of sounds that they produce.

Originally posted 2008-12-11 05:25:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Related Posts

• Ancient and Modern Drums Drums can be traced back to 6000 BC and have been used in almost every culture throughout history for a variety of purposes. Is it any wonder that the drums have such an appeal today? They've been used as a form of communication, a call to arms, and as important......
• Types of Drums Drums are percussive instruments that are most commonly constructed by stretching one of a couple of different types of membranes over the opening in a vessel. The most common property of the various different types of drums is the pitch that each drum offers. Drums are by far one of......
• Are Drums a Good Match for You? Some people know when they're still kids that they want to learn to play the drums.  Others seem to end up playing drums in the school band because they're just not interested in any of the other instruments. Some of them look so difficult with all those shiny keys and......
• Primer for Bass Drums The essential driving force behind a completed drum set is the bass drums. These are the heart of the drum set because all of the additional equipment is attached to them. The bass also provides what is essentially the underlying beat to your drumming rhythm. Your drum set needs to......
• The Drum Kit The percussionist in any musical group will have to his aide a number of percussive elements. This set of drums will have a variety of instruments including drums, cymbals, and any other instruments that the musical group will need. Different genres will require differing pieces of equipment. So what goes......

Related Websites

• A Review of The Golf Doc by Ed Palank When it comes to playing golf, many of us wonder just how dangerous it is. Statistics have shown that heart attacks frequently occur on the course and countless people, including celebrities die every year. This book by Ed Palank seeks to remedy this problem and provide golfers with tips......
• Introduction to the Bass Instrument The bass is also known as the double bass or the doghouse, and it is both the largest as well as the lowest pitch instrument in the violin family. Just like the violin, the double bass instrument evolved from the viol in Europe. Fine bass models are made out of......
• A History of Drums and Tribal Music Different styles of drums all have their own unique histories. African tribal music and the drums associated with it are completely unique to the other drum types that have been developed throughout the world. One example of an African tribal drum is the Djembe, a drum that has an extraordinary......
• Bongos and Congas If you are interested in making beats, then you should know that there are a wide variety of different types of drums out there that can make beautiful music. Two of the most intriguing drums from the family of drums are the bongo drums and the conga drums. The bongo......
• Acoustic Musical Instruments Glossary, pt 2 Bucking - Bucking is characterized by the cancellation of one frequency component or signal by another signal that has the equal amount of amplitude but an opposite polarity. Capo - Short for capotasto, a Capo is a moveable bar that is attached to the finger board of any fretted instrument......

Online Stores

• Doctor Autoharp & Zither String Acoustic Musical Instruments
• Chicago Cable Company Vintage Player Piano Acoustic Musical Instruments
• Florence Bouzouki/ Mandola String Acoustic Musical Instruments
• Schreiber Autoharp & Zither String Acoustic Musical Instruments
• Paul Hathway Bouzouki/ Mandola String Acoustic Musical Instruments

If you liked this article, vote for it on del.icio.us and stumbleupon.



Categories:

Drumsticks, Musical Instruments Drum

Tags:

acorn, age groups, crash cymbal, different shapes, drum corps, drum sticks, drumstick, ebony wood, hard maple, high quality sound, intermediates, jazz music, marching band music, marching bands, music rock, nylon tips, orchestral work, percussion instruments, professional drummers, shapes and sizes