How many sticks make a break for freedom when you're on a gig?!

R

Rockdrill

Active Member
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My current solution. I don't have sweaty hands when I play but I have a very light grip. It's not like it's every song but guaranteed at least a couple of times in a set a stick has decided it's had enough and goes flying. The only issue with my current solution for spare, easily accessible sticks is that from the audience perspective it looks like I have them growing out my head.
PS there are occasions where a stick leaves my hand intentionally but that's generally just when I want to get the guitarists attention.
 
I hope not to jinx it, but I don't remember dropping sticks at gigs.

Growing up in marching band, dropping your stick was one of the biggest "shame" things you could do. It was a sign of bad technique and "being rookie", so we did everything we could to prevent stick dropping.

I do some times drop sticks in practice, when I am learning new things or trying stuff that is faster than I am used to...but live, I don't attempt those kinds of things...I tend to play pretty well in control/conservative live.
 
I almost never loose a stick but it was maybe once a night 20yr ago. Sometimes more.
 
So, to put it in perspective, and I know I'm not the most technical drummer, and certainly no marching band experience, I've been playing seriously for 15 years but I'm quite busy on the kit, not in a Keith Moon way but more by way of adding nuances, especially with the jazz/groove trio.
Mostly french grip, and very light, and at least one stick is going airborne during a set. I've got so good at grabbing the spare I barely lose a beat. I do however lose more than that trying to get the guitarists attention when he's away with the fairies during an extended solo!
 
Damn..i wish I had a concrete solution. I'm a fairly aggressive player yet with a lighter grip. I've not experienced your situation. This so puzzles me. Let me think but you are definitely in the right place.
 
Bozozoid said:
Damn..i wish I had a concrete solution. I'm a fairly aggressive player yet with a lighter grip. I've not experienced your situation. This so puzzles me. Let me think but you are definitely in the right place.
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I noticed watching John Bonham that he actually has a light grip when sounding super loud with Led Zeppelin. Maybe you’re just doing the same thing!
 
Fortunately, I rarely drop sticks, and have never had a stick bag on my kit when playing live. ProMark gave me one of these back in the early '90s and it's been part of my kit ever since. I've never needed more than 2 pairs of sticks at easy reach.
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None really. I got the advice to practice holding down groove with just my right and just my left arm from some headliner drummer one night and took it to heart. Seems like once you're not afraid of it happening it kinda stops.
 
Perhaps not all stick dropping is the same? If you are dropping a stick due to a mis-executed cross-over, or because you weren't peripherally aware of the edge of your hihats and just missed. These things can be worked out through practice.

Or say you are going from an acoustic kit to an e-kit, or vice versa. Suddenly your high tom is a different height related to your snare, so there you go jamming the tip of your stick into your tom. It won't happen often, once you identify it and re-establish the muscle memory.

Are you playing primarily an E-kit? I have an E-kit similar in size to the one you have. The miniaturized feel of an E-kit, with its shorter reaches, means new opportunities to fumble around, that you might not experience on a full sized kit.
It sounds like from the reactions of the other members that you are just spontaneously dropping a stick while playing normally? Like here and there, like you never know what you'll be doing at the moment it happens?

Tough crowd in here anyway, lol. I occasionally drop a stick in the shed sometimes. It's usually me running into myself trying to layer fusiony patterns. Or when "transposing" new ideas between the acoustic and electronic kits.
Having a light grip is requisite for really opening up your playing. Having a light grip also mean yes, if anything unexpectedly interferes, makes contact with your stick, it's likely to be knocked loose from your grip. This is 100x more likely to happen playing busy music, rather than straight groovy grooves.

Crash cymbals can snatch sticks away too. Dropping sticks is frustrating :mad:, I wonder if this second "drop" was intentional, lol.

 
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It doesn't happen regularly, but it does happen. I always play with a stick cup of sticks ready for action.
I also play with a loose grip, and sometimes it gets away. :)
 
ColdFusion said:
Perhaps not all stick dropping is the same? If you are dropping a stick due to a mis-executed cross-over, or because you weren't peripherally aware of the edge of your hihats and just missed. These things can be worked out through practice.

Or say you are going from an acoustic kit to an e-kit, or vice versa. Suddenly your high tom is a different height related to your snare, so there you go jamming the tip of your stick into your tom. It won't happen often, once you identify it and re-establish the muscle memory.

Are you playing primarily an E-kit? I have an E-kit similar in size to the one you have. The miniaturized feel of an E-kit, with its shorter reaches, means new opportunities to fumble around, that you might not experience on a full sized kit.
It sounds like from the reactions of the other members that you are just spontaneously dropping a stick while playing normally? Like here and there, like you never know what you'll be doing at the moment it happens?

Tough crowd in here anyway, lol. I occasionally drop a stick in the shed sometimes. It's usually me running into myself trying to layer fusiony patterns. Or when "transposing" new ideas between the acoustic and electronic kits.
Having a light grip is requisite for really opening up your playing. Having a light grip also mean yes, if anything unexpectedly interferes, makes contact with your stick, it's likely to be knocked loose from your grip. This is 100x more likely to happen playing busy music, rather than straight groovy grooves.

Crash cymbals can snatch sticks away too. Dropping sticks is frustrating :mad:, I wonder if this second "drop" was intentional, lol.

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Yep, I am dropping sticks spontaneously while playing normally but it is mostly on the E kit, and mostly when I'm crossing across the kit from cymbals back to toms or hihat/snare. Could be because of the shorter reaches and the hardware is different (there's a lot of rubber! Cymbals, rims, which can catch), and it's mostly me catching on the hardware rather than stick clashes.
As I said, it's taken a long time to get comfortable on the E kit but I think the transformation is still ongoing.
 
Once per gig. Usually because I catch the tip under the ride or a rim.
 
I used to use grip tape, and I LOVED the stuff. However, the grip tape material from every company has gone WAAAAY down hill since covid. I don't know if materials are cheaper now OR if the stock is just old because it's been sitting off the coast of California in a shipping container for 6 months. I don't know, but the stuff is awful now. I get about 45 min. of playing in before it starts dissolving in my hands. You'll notice that these sticks look barely used; however, the tape is shot. I've tried Vater, Meinl, and Pro Mark. They are all terrible now. They used to be great.


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These days, I'm using these Vic Firth sticks. I bought a brick of them from Dennis at Long Island Drum Center, and so far they are holding up well! I've tried Zildjian Dips before, and they left blisters on my hands. The VF sticks have just enough grip but not so much that they will leave blisters.

www.sweetwater.com

Vic Firth American Classic Drumsticks with Vic Grip - Extreme 5A - Wood Tip

Wood Tip Drumsticks with 16.5" Length, .565" Diameter, and Vic Grip Coating - (1 pair)
www.sweetwater.com www.sweetwater.com
 
man, I tried the stick tape once, way back when it first came out, and my hands were a gummy, sticky mess after the show....never again. It reminded me of the grips on my golf clubs. I liked the feel, but the goo was just not worth it. Luckily my golf club grips don't get gooey like that
 
I usually only drop sticks when I misjudged the actual height a tom is setup and hit the side of it causing my stick to fly out of my hand. Normally my toms are setup in a way that the angle is not too steep but also not horizontal, basically trying to match the snare angle in order to facilitate transitioning from snare to toms. I also bought one of those two pair of sticks clip and had it for over 20 years. I've seen a lot of drummers put a pair of sticks in the back of their pants, Imagine the sticks smelling like ass after a sweaty gig...🤮
 
At a jam I'll put 1 stick in the double bracing of the hihat legs if the set doesn't have a provided stick bag to draw from nearby, or if I bring my own 3 sticks.
On my kit I just started putting a stick bag on the floor tom. It used to hang from the hihat stand so I can use the right hand to carry the beat.

I drop occasionally. Sometimes not at all.
 
In the shed it happens regularly. Outside of that, not really.
 
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