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Parts Of A Drumstick (Easy Explainer Guide)

So, what are the parts of a drumstick?

There are six parts of a drumstick. The tip strikes the drum. The neck is the thinnest point. The taper is where a stick thickens and widens. The shoulder is the thickest end of the taper. The shaft is the main body of the stick. The butt is the part you hold.

When you first start playing the drums, it’s easy to assume that picking up a pair of drumsticks is the simplest part of learning to play the drum kit.

After all, aren’t different drumsticks pretty similar? And why do I have to learn about the parts of a stick? Isn’t it the drums that will really determine how you’ll sound?

Surprisingly, the pieces of wood that come between you and your drums can have a huge impact on your tone, feel and ability to play the music you love.

Drumstick anatomy can seem complex, but fortunately, there’s really not too much to learn.

This article will take you through everything you need to know, so you can sound like a seasoned expert wherever you go.

A great place to start is a quick overview of the entire drumstick.

Neil Larivee from the iconic drumstick company Vic Firth takes us through the various parts of a drumstick in the helpful video below.

He doesn’t mention the butt of the stick, but it’s such a common term that I decided to include it in this article.

[Drumstick Explainer Video]

Why learn about the parts of a drumstick?

Learning more about how a drumstick is designed is essential for finding the pair of sticks that suits you best.

If you’re a rock drummer, you’re going to need a pair of rock drumsticks that can compete with the volume and intensity of a loud band.

Yet, if you’re a jazz drummer, you’re going to need a pair of jazz sticks that give you a crisp, light touch on the drums.

Understanding the parts of a drumstick, and how they differ from stick to stick, is key to getting the right tools for the job.

First and foremost, it will allow you to make a more informed choice every time you visit the music shop.

You’ll be able to compare different brands, makes and models and understand more of the key differences between them.

What’s more, you’ll be able to speak a common language with other knowledgeable drummers, and this allows you to benefit from their experience.

So without further ado, let’s get into the nitty gritty of what makes each drumstick unique!

The Tip

this image shows you the difference between nylon tip sticks and wooden tip drum sticks — wooden vs nylon drum stick tips

The first and arguably the most important part of a drumstick is the tip.

The tip of a drumstick is the area of the stick that is most commonly going to be coming into contact with the drum.

As a result, the shape and style of the tip has the most direct impact on your sound.

Different shaped tips bring out different sounds from your drums.

Some produce a darker, warmer tone, whereas others are more defined, with a sharper and brighter sound.

Why do different tips produce different sounds?

Here’s the clever science bit: It’s all to do with how much of the surface area of the tip comes into contact with the drum.

Some stick tips are shaped so that only a tiny amount of the stick tip will actually touch the drum.

This produces a lot of higher overtones, producing a brighter sound which is more defined and more easily heard in the mix of the music.

On the other hand, some stick tips have a much wider surface touching the drum, increasing the number of lower overtones in the mix.

This extra surface area often provides a fuller, more rounded tone; while not as defined as the brighter stick tips, many drummers prefer this extra warmth to their drum sound.

Different Drumstick Tips

Here’s a breakdown of all the different drumstick tip types you’ll need to know.

Drum companies are always designing new variations for drumstick tips, however, most typically fall into a number of popular categories:

various drum stick tips including oval, acorn, drop, ball, barrel and nylon — types of drum stick tips

Ball: A ball shaped tip is a useful tip shape because it provides incredible consistency to your playing.

The tone you produce with this stick tip is likely to be very even and well-balanced.

Why? Because the amount of surface area that comes into contact with the drum you are playing is always the same.

This is because it has a perfect sphere shape (shown above), so whatever angle you hit the drum at, you’ll get the same amount of stick surface area coming into contact with the drum.

Pretty neat huh?

As a smaller stick tip, the ball shape provides a bright, light and crisp sound.

Oval: The oval tip is a really expressive stick shape, providing great variety in tone to the drummer who plays with them.

In contrast to tips like the ball shape, you have a lot of freedom with the sound you choose to generate every time you sit down to play.

You can play your drums at different angles to change up your tone pretty easily with this stick.

If you’re not sure what tone you like, try an oval stick.

You’ll have access to a wider range of overtones with this stick.

It’s a great stick shape to experiment with and unleash your creativity.

Acorn: Acorn tips typically have a large surface area that comes into contact with the drum.

This produces a fuller, fatter sound with a nice rounded mix of tones.

Simply put, the acorn tip is a heavy lifter in the world of drumstick tips, and it’s well worth having a pair of acorn tips in your stick bag.

The acorn tip is versatile enough to suit most musical styles and genres, and as a result is widely used by the top drumstick companies.

Drop/Teardrop: You’ll find this shape on the most popular drumsticks ever created (the Vic Firth’s American Classic 5As), and it’s easy to understand why.

Like the acorn tip, it has a large surface area coming into contact with the drum, providing a warm, full and highly desirable tone.

Like the acorn, you can use the teardrop in many musical situations, making it another top all-round choice.

A useful thing to know is that if you like the tone of a particular drum tip, you can customise that stick to the kind of music you play by changing the size of the stick.

So if you’re a fan of the teardrop shape but need a stick with a big more oomph for loud musical settings, you could choose a 5B stick over a 5A stick.

Barrel: The barrel tip is small and fat.

It provides a punchy sound favoured by some of the world’s top drummers.

Take a look at legendary drummer Steve Gadd rocking out with a pair of barrel tip drumsticks in this epic drum solo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EOTl-DLkuA

The barrel tip is great for producing a high-quality recording sound in the studio, and therefore is favoured by a great session drummer like Steve.

Nylon: While you’ll find wood tips on almost all drumsticks, there are alternatives that drummers sometimes prefer.

Whereas we’ve been focusing mostly on the shape of drumstick tips so far, choosing a different material for the stick tip has a significant impact on the overall sound.

Nylon tips produce a brighter sound than wood sticks on average for stick tips of the same size.

In particular, they are able to generate a sharp ‘ping’ sound from playing the cymbals.

This can help drummers be heard more clearly, particularly when playing in noisy environments.

Nylon tips also tend to break less easily and don’t wear down like wood tips do.

Editor’s Note: If you play heavier music such as rock or metal, you may find the tone of the snare drum and tom hits less pleasing, and even worse, the tips can fly off. You could try using some strong glue if this happens, but in my experience, wooden oval tips are the way to go for heavier styles just because the overall sound suits the styles better.

Can I hear an example of the differences between the tips?

You certainly can! Have a watch of this great video that provides real examples of different stick tips in action.

[How Drumstick Tips Can Affect Your Sound]

The Neck

The neck is the thinnest point of the entire drumstick. You’ll find this point just behind the tip of the stick, before the stick thickens and widens.

Thicker stick necks are more durable and likely to make your stick last longer, but this can make the stick feel clunky and unresponsive.

There was a time when drumstick necks would break regularly and the drumstick tips would just fly off, but the reliability of drumsticks has improved greatly over the years.

Most of the time, you don’t need to worry about this one point on the drumstick.

If you’re breaking your sticks a lot, you’ll probably want to choose a larger, thicker drum stick.

The Taper

The taper is where the stick thickens and widens, from the neck all the way up to the shoulder of the stick.

The design of this part of the stick has a big impact on the playability of the stick, giving a stick part of its unique feel when you strike the drum.

All drumsticks have a different “feel” to them.

Sticks that are thinner and longer are often described as highly responsive sticks.

Heavier and shorter sticks provide more power, but are stiffer and harder in the hands.

A shorter taper will favour a drummer who prefers to have more power and a longer taper will favour a drummer who prefers responsiveness.

There’s no right answer when it comes to choosing a style of taper that you like.

It’s likely that you’ll develop a personal preference depending on the music you play and your own playing technique on the drums.

The Shoulder

The shoulder of the stick can be found at the end of the taper, where the taper has reached its thickest point.

The location of the shoulder is determined by how long the taper is.

So the longer a taper is, the further away from the tip the shoulder is.

The shorter the taper is, the closer the shoulder is to the tip.

This part of the stick is mostly used for a single drum technique, which is to “crash” a cymbal.

Rather than playing on the top of a cymbal with the tip, we can get a much warmer and washier sound by striking the side of the cymbal with the shoulder of the stick.

In the video below, you’ll hear the difference that playing a cymbal with the shoulder of the stick produces.

The first time the drummer plays the cymbal, he uses the shoulder.

[Cymbal Soundcheck – Start video at 0:21]

Tip: When “crashing the cymbal with the shoulder of the stick, make sure to avoid hitting the edge of the cymbal at too sharp an angle.

The stick should never be at 90 degrees like this. Your drumstick (or cymbal!) is likely to break very quickly!

Here’s how your stick should look as you strike the cymbal with the shoulder.

drumstick striking the crash cymbal correctly — Hitting the crash with the shoulder of the stick

The tip of the stick never touches the cymbal, only the shoulder.

The Shaft/Body

The shaft or body is the main thick section that provides most of the weight to the drumstick.

The thickness and weight of this area will have a big impact on how the stick feels to play.

Thicker sticks, such as 2Bs and 5Bs, will deliver a huge amount of power thanks to their increased weight, but can be difficult to move around the kit.

Lighter sticks, such as 7As, are great for more complex and intricate drumming, but deliver less power.

There are two occasions in which the shaft of the stick comes into contact with the drum.

The first is when using the crosstick technique (shown below) which creates a rim-clicking sound, popular in jazz, ballads and music that requires less volume.

In the crosstick technique, the stick is turned around the opposite way to play.

The tip of the stick sits in the centre of the drum; the drummer then controls the stick with a light grip to knock the body/shaft against the rim.

Editor’s Note: You don’t have to switch the stick around, it just sounds cool if you do. If you are playing a piece that requires switching from normal snare to cross stick snare, don’t worry about swapping in the stick around to play the cross stick.

The other time that you would play with the body of the stick would be when playing a rimshot.

stick hitting the snare drum to create a rimshot — snare drum rimshot

When playing a rimshot, you strike the centre of the drum and the rim of the drum simultaneously.

This creates a much more powerful and defined sound, ideal for rock, metal and any genre that requires a punchier style of drumming.

The Butt

The final area of the stick is the butt end, where we will be holding the stick most of the time.

There’s no defined point at which the body of the stick becomes the butt, but we just think of the butt as the end of the stick that is the thickest.

Sometimes, drum companies will put a coloured grip or texture on the butt end to help drummers keep hold of the sticks during intense practice sessions and performances.

On occasion, drummers will turn their sticks around to play with the butt end instead of the tip, to get a heavier, fuller sound.

Some drummers go even further, adding a rimshot to the mix as well as using the butt.

They use the shaft of the stick on the rim while using the butt end to play the centre of the drum.

This creates a truly earth-shaking sound; it delivers even more power for drummers that need to be heard in the noisiest musical situations.

In conclusion

I hope you’ve enjoyed this introductory guide to the different parts of a drumstick.

My advice would be to get yourself down to your local music shop, and experience how the various types of drumsticks feel in reality.

You’ll be able to put this information to practical use and find the ideal pair of sticks that suits your playing style and the music you play – taking your drumming to the next level.

Check out this new drumming blog for more helpful guides: if you’ve ever wanted to learn how to read drum notation, the ‘how to read drum music’ guide is a great place to start.

Editors Note

My favourite pair of sticks are Vater 5A Wooden Tips

I play some heavy styles and I have found that it is the only 5A pair that doesn’t break. They are so reliable and they will go on and on if especially if you are playing with good technique and hitting the edge of cymbals with the thicker part of the stick (on the shoulder).

2 Minute Snare Drum Warm Up

It feels like we’ve all moved on with out lives after Nirvana, and then all of a sudden some kid reminds us what it used to be like listening to In Bloom, by slaying the drums along to the song and then we stick on the albums again! Let us not ever move on too far. Lest us forget.

Coincidentally (not!), I wrote this snare drum warm up this morning for my drum group. We went through it today without reading it but soon it will be a reading exercise. It has most of the basics needed for levels spanning grade 1-5. Lots of different subdivisions in here to practice. You could break up the warm up and just work on one line, or 4 bars, or 1 section at a time.

Free Downloads

PDF Download

Guitar Pro 7 Download

Here’s what page 2 looks like:

Paradiddle Exercises Moving Accents To Toms and Cymbals

The Paradiddle. The most popular drum rudiment.

So dramatic! Could be the flam actually.

I’ll never look at the paradiddle in the same way, after a student asked a sporadic question “who created the paradiddle?”. I replied quickly with “Jerry Paraddidle”. After some chuckles at the name and then the rest of the lesson passing, I had to admit at the end that it was a joke! I still don’t know who did, but I’m sure there is info out there.

But is the paradiddle boring?

Well yes and no. It’s how you look at it really. Practicing paradiddles can be boring if you focus on just repeating RLRRLRLL for 10 minutes with a metronome. However, when you look at it as a pattern to unlock a different path to the regular RLRLRLRL, then it’s more interesting because you can move the left and right hands onto different drum voices and make some interesting sounds.

The popularity of the paradiddle can also be limiting in the sense that it’s the go to rudiment. It’s important to keep an open mind with composing and to remember that you can make up your own patterns, in a similar way to the paradiddle, but different. Let’s take the idea of the paradiddle and make new rudiments, new patterns, new standards. Surely there’s other patterns we can be playing. OK let’s give it a go. RRLLLRLRRRL. Any good? Maybe it’s amazing played in an 11/8 time signature. I’ve not tried it, but do you get what I mean?

So anyway, let’s get onto the point of the post. This exercise sheet works with the popular paradiddle and shows how you can make practicing it interesting by moving the accents to toms and cymbals and making up different exercises with it.

The first 3 exercises are all seperate ideas, and then the 4th exercise combines all 3.

The paradiddle features in most of the Rockschool drum grades, so it’s not going away any time soon. You can work on these exercise at any level really, which is why I’ve specified a non specific ’60 to 120bpm’ as the speed. Basically, practice these with or without a metronome at what ever speed seems manageable and then try to increase it each time you go through it, or do it faster next time.

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PDF: Paradiddle Exercises Moving Accents To Toms and Cymbals

5 Ways to Improve your Drumming Speed

Photo Credit: Mark Latham

Guest Blog Post by: NetSoundsMusic.com

Playing drums requires a little bit more physical effort than many other instruments. While many instruments require correct breathing and fingering techniques, and some utilize pedals as well, drummers are constantly using their whole body, including not just fingers or hands, but the whole arms and both legs. This is why drumming for prolonged times is very draining, especially at higher speeds.

Certain genres of music have high tempos as a defining trait. Speed metal, techno, trap and some types of folk music require you to consistently play 16th notes (or even 32nd notes!) at very high BPMs. But even classic rock or chillstep songs can have faster passages, sometimes known as speed-bursts, or a very intricate drum solo that is hard to execute because of the combination of speed and unpredictable, almost pattern-less lines.

Getting up to speed is not exactly easy. It is required that you physically practice playing at higher speeds, that you understand how muscles work, and to mentally recognize, feel and hear the 16th notes even at very high speeds. It is definitely a steep learning curve.

So, where to start? How about relaxing a little bit first.

1) Learn to play slow and precise:

This is a tip that has been repeated so often that it has completed its route from being the most popular advice to being the most hated one. Yes, learning to play slow will not increase your speed directly, but that is not the point. The point is to hear the beat and to get accustomed.

By playing slow, we mostly mean playing at slower tempos. Keep in mind that while playing at slower tempos, you can still add in speed bursts in form of 16th or even 32nd notes. That means that at a lower BPM, you can still play faster than when you play a high BPM. 16th notes of a lower BPM are still faster than many 8th notes of a high BPM. The low BPM simply makes it easier to get into the whole speed-game and it enables you to actually feel what you’re playing.

2) Relax your muscles as much as possible:

The second reason why you are supposed to slow down at first is to learn to relax. At higher speeds, we tend to tense up, and tension slows us down. So, to be able to play fast, you need to learn to control your movement, breathing, and tension. This requires a lot of mental effort and will take some time to get accustomed to.

Playing relaxed doesn’t mean playing quietly or slowly, though. It means that you are simply not straining a much as you probably do right now.

3) Start off slow and increase the BPM:

This is another widely repeated advice that is not wrong and that it is helpful, but please keep in mind that this is only part of the whole learning process. Learning a song part at a lower BPM, then increasing it is going to help you track your movement and get the precision down before getting the speed under control.

You can even take songs that you know and “over practice” them to get them down properly. Many rock acts play their songs at higher tempos live, which is both a way to reduce the duration of the venue and fit in more songs, but also gives a certain kick to the songs that are increasing the unique feeling of a live concert. Practicing along recordings of live performances might be a good idea for you.

4) Practice smaller parts at high tempos:

While learning how to play a hard drum solo slowly and then working your way up the metronome, another way is to learn the solo part by part with very small segments played at the correct tempo.

This will help you get down the movements at the correct time and then all you have to do is put them together. This is very effective and becomes even more useful once you get better and playing fast because you will be able to learn and master solos this way much faster.

5) Practice speed bursts and double the amount of notes:

Another way to use lower BPMs is to practice speed bursts. Add to your patterns a small and short solo line or bridge that lasts only for one bar or even less. Or double the number of notes.

This can be done by simply doubling what you are playing. For example, instead of a single kick, you can either play with a double bass drum set very fast or use a double bass drum pedal to add a second kick to the first one.

You can also create more solo-like lines from time to time. Lastly, you could try to consistently add a cymbal throughout the whole song, essentially changing the 8th note feel to a 16th note feel, though doing this consistently might not be very musical and also very difficult to pull off.

6) Be comfortable with your gear (Bonus)

As mentioned in the beginning, being relaxed is very important. This includes being used to your gear. Make sure you find the correct type of sticks and the best throne that fits your needs.

Experiment with different drum setups and don’t be afraid to change up your layout. Getting two bass drums or a double kick pedal might seem like a big change, but everything can be learned and mastered. Some setups work better for faster styles than others, so make sure to check out and draw inspiration from jazz, prog, and metal drummers to see how they are dealing with faster parts.

Summary:

Learning to play fast cannot be done in a day, and mastering high BPMs can take a very long time. One thing that is sure is that it can be done with enough practice and patience. Try out different methods and don’t be afraid to search for inspiration out of your comfort zone. There are many different genres that utilize fast drum lines, so try expanding your musical repertoire. And should you get stuck, don’t panic.

Stagnation is a normal phase that we all go through from time to time and sometimes it can feel that you haven’t progressed in weeks or even months. But this will go away. Play fun songs that you are comfortable with and with each song, your brain and muscle memory will passively pick up certain details that will help you increase your speed later on.

Peter has a passion for music since he was 12 years old. Enjoying jamming and teaching, he runs Net Sounds Music, a space to learn and get involved with music.

The Role Of A Drum Throne For Correct Drumming Posture

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Guest Blog Post by Drum Helper

Lots of drummers are all too happy to play without much consideration for proper drumming posture. After all, it’s not as much fun to take a sensible and well thought out approach before wailing away at the drums!

However, it is very important. This is because injury prevention is the single best way to ensure you remain healthy, fit and active. Improper posture can cause back injuries, hypertension and poor mobility.

Not only is it important for promoting positive physical health, but also for improving performance. Playing the drums with correct form and posture will allow a drummer to play with greater fluidity and exercise better control behind the drum set.

Being able to play the drums comfortably will translate to how you perform for each rehearsal and performance.

The foundation of correct drumming posture lies with the drum throne and the height it is set at.

Drum Throne Height

This is the most overlooked aspect of maintaining a good drumming posture, and I see far too many drummers sitting at an incorrect height (in correlation to their own frame) whilst playing the drums.

The drum throne is required to be positioned according to a drummer’s own height. This means if you are 6 foot you will position yourself much higher than someone who is only 5 foot 5. Drum thrones have a large range of height adjustment so don’t be afraid to experiment and see what works best for you.

Frequently I see tall drummers sitting far too low down and because their legs are far more extended out and then find themselves having to reach further to play the toms and cymbals within the drum set.

As a general rule, you will want to have your knees sloping downwards at a slight angle. You will want your spine and lower back sitting above your knees. So this means avoiding having a 90-degree angle for your legs.

Being sat at the correct height means you can also comfortably reach all the drum set components whilst conserving energy.

Once the drum throne is a correct height, the pedals will be required to be positioned to exactly where the feet fall naturally. And the batter head of the snare drum should sitting around 1 or 2 inches above the knees.

Invest in a Supportive Drum Throne

Good quality drum thrones offer superior comfort and support to cheaper alternatives. Quality thrones feature high-density foam cushions that support weight evenly and retain its original mass and shape for years without warping, breaking, or become uneven over time.

The base of a good quality drum throne is far more stable compared to cheaper drum thrones and this is vital for good posture. Cheap stools wobble and make a drummer unbalanced and unstable around the pelvis area and this can pose a huge risk to injury.

There are high quality drum thrones available to suit all different levels of budgets. Even if you have a small budget, there are supportive and comfortable options to choose from.

Drum Throne Height Adjustment

Drum thrones across the board will all feature different height adjustment mechanisms to raise and lower the height of the stool accordingly. Here are the various types of height adjustment mechanisms found in drum thrones:

Nut & Bolt-Lock (Avoid)

This is a mechanism exclusively found in insufficient, low quality thrones that are to be avoided at all cost. Every single cheap stool will use this type of height adjustment and you can guarantee it will wobble and break. They provide terrible posture and have very limited height options.

Sliding Tube & Memory Lock:

This type of mechanical height adjustment is fairly straightforward. It’s the same as found in cymbal stands. You are easily able to loosen a clutch that rests underneath the seat and you are able to slide up or down the metal tube to your desired height.

Spindle Adjustment:

The threaded spindle adjustment is a popular mechanism for drum thrones. It is very simple to use, you are able to adjust the height with a single hand by spinning the seat top either clockwise or anticlockwise depending on if you would like to raise or lower the height. This is the easiest and most popular mechanism offering unlimited height adjustment.

Final Thoughts

A drum throne and its settings are sadly a very overlooked aspect of drumming that is, in my opinion, essential to allow a drummer to play at his best. And perhaps more importantly minimizing the risk of injury caused by poor posture.

Good drum thrones offer a wide range of adjustment, so I would encourage you to experiment with heights and seeing what works best. I find that more often than not the problems are with drummers sitting too low down as opposed to being higher up.

When raising the height of a drum throne you will also be required to raise the height of the drum set components including snare drum, hi hats and cymbals so you aren’t stooping lower to have to reach them.

I have personally found that sitting higher has improved my playing, allowed me to be more relaxed and has put less stress on my legs and shoulders.

And of course, develop good habits by remembering to sit up straight with your shoulders held back and relax your arms whilst you play.

Blurb

Gideon Waxman is a London based drummer with over 13 years experience, and is the drummer of metal outfit Familiar Spirit. You can find more of his tips at Drum Helper – a free online resource dedicated to helping drummers achieve more from their playing.

How to get good sounds from your cymbals when playing the drums

Photo Credit: Owen Byrne

Hi Hats

Beginners often play the hi hat too loud, and sometimes this is down to where they are hitting on the hi hat cymbals rather than how hard they are hitting. As a result, their playing sounds messy, and their sticks wear more quickly. If this is happening to you, it may be time to address your technique for playing the hi hats.

Regular hi hat sounds should be played using the tip of the stick on the top of the hi hat, half way between the edge and the bell, and range of dynamics can be played here. The left foot should press down quite a bit so that the sound is clean and tight. However, too much pressing down with the foot will give the sound a weird ringing noise, which doesn’t sound good, as well as being tiring pressing down with the left foot for long periods of time.

The area closer to the bell has a higher frequency tone, which is good for a brighter sound. This area is good for styles like soul funk, particularly for adding in open hi hats.

The edge of the hi hat should be reserved for accents or for more frequent use in heavy genres like hard rock and metal. Even in those styles though, variation between the top and edge are effective.

The edge of the hi hat should be played with the thick part of the drum stick, which is called the shoulder. This is the best part of the hi hat to get an open slushy sound – this is used most of the time in metal music and fairly often in rock too.

For most other styles, single open hi hats that close after are best played with the tip of the stick on the top of the hi hat. This gives a crisp clean sound. You will find that these compliment a drum groove nicely, and that playing an open hi hat on the edge is good for times when you want it to stand out more – for example if a band is playing some stabbed rhythms.

To get a nice sizzley jazz open hi hat sound, try hooking on a light chain on the top of the cymbal.

Finally, you need a good set of cymbals! For a good studio recording or live playing, an expensive set of cymbals will always be better. You can still sound good though by following the advice above, as long as you have a set of fairly heavy weighted cymbals, unlike the water thin style cymbals that come with some cheap beginners kits.

I will leave you with this thought: a well played set of cheap hi hats will always sound better than badly played top of the range hi hats.

Ride Cymbal

The ride cymbal can be pretty loud, so always try to lower your stick so that your strokes are fairly close to the ride cymbal – this should help keep the volume from getting out of control and also give you dynamic room at add accents on the ride or the bell when needed. Make sure to hit the ride half way between the edge and the bell with the tip of the stick – NOT the shoulder (keep that arm up!). Play the bell with the shoulder of the stick, or if you want a light bell sound, with the tip of the stick. You can crash the ride too when required. To get a nice sizzley jazz sound, try hooking on a light chain on the top of the cymbal (as pictured in the featured image).

Crash Cymbal

Always “Crash” using the shoulder of the drum stick, on the edge of the cymbal at about a 45 degree angle. Hitting it to the left or right of the middle will help prevent cymbal cracking. Strike with a glancing blow whilst also following through with your stick. Continue the motion left or right depending on where you are going to next. For example, if the cymbal is on the left hand side of the drum kit and you want to get to the ride cymbal next, hit the cymbal at the right of the middle and glance off to the right – you’ll arrive at the ride cymbal much quicker.

You can also play a crash cymbal like a ride cymbal, with the tip of the stick. For example, in Jazz this can provide opportunity for variation when there are a lot of ride based drum beats.

China and Splash Cymbals

Play these like you would play a crash cymbal.

Bell Cymbals

Like a huge bell from a ride cymbal, these really cut through any mix and are usually played with the tip of the stick or sometimes with the shoulder of the stick. Some players have them positioned upside down. There is no right or wrong way.

8 Technique Exercises for Accents and Ghost Notes

These snare drum or practice pad exercises are similar to drum rudiments. The drum exercises work on possible sticking and dynamic eventualities that you may encounter in drum beats and grooves, drum fills, and snare drum sheet music. The exercises also could be used as a warm up, especially from playing snare drum sheet music.

While beginners will be able to play these exercises at their level, advanced players should be aware of using Up Strokes, Tap Strokes, Down Strokes, and Full Strokes so that there is a greater continuity of volume and attack.

Accent Techniques – Down, Tap, Up, Full Strokes

When you play accents, you should ideally use 3 different stick strokes. These are tap stroke, up stroke, and down stroke.

Tap Stroke

You would play a tap stroke if you have just played a quiet note with that hand, and the next note with that hand is another unaccented note.

The tap stroke stick position should start about an inch or a few cms away from the snare drum. Move the stick straight down and hit the drum quietly, before coming straight back up and returning to the starting point.

Up Stroke

You would play a tap stroke if you have just played a quiet note with that hand, and the next note with that hand is an accent.

The up stroke should start in the tap position, and play a tap stroke, but instead of returning to the start position, the stick should end up much higher, somewhere between a 45 and 90 degree angle to the snare drum.

Down Stroke

You would play a Down stroke if you have just played an accent with that hand, and the next note with that hand is an unaccented note.

The stick position should start somewhere between a 45 and 90 degree angle to the snare drum. This stroke should be a loud stroke. Move the stick quickly to produce the loud stroke and finish in the starting position of the tap stroke.

The downstroke produces accents, which look like this: >

Full Stroke

You would play a Full stroke if you have just played an accent with that hand, and there is another accent to follow with that hand. The full stroke, which is played just like a down stroke, but instead of finishing in the tap position, the stick comes back to the starting position of the down stroke. So it plays a loud beat and comes straight back for another one.

Sixteenth Note Rhythms and Counting Exercise

These exercises should be played on the snare drum or a practice pad. The counting is shown below the notes. Every exercise is based on the first one, with notes taken away.

For example, on the second line, you can still coun’t the full “1 E + a”, but don’t hit the drum when you count the “E”.