DIY drums: step-by-step instructions, device, tips. Nylon drumsticks are a joke, and only Drumsticks at home

Drumsticks are usually made from wood (beech, oak, maple, hornbeam, hazel, etc.) and some artificial materials(aluminum, polyurethane, carbon, etc.). Sometimes the tip is made artificial, but the “body” of the drumstick remains wooden. Currently, due to their high wear resistance, wooden sticks with nylon tips are becoming increasingly popular.

Drumstick structure:
  • the butt is the balance point;
  • the body of the stick is the grip area.

The shoulder (another name is the neck) is the tapering part. The length and shape of this section greatly influence the behavior and sound of the stick.

The tip is needed for impact. Happens different forms. In most cases it is made of wood.

How to choose drumsticks?

You need to start with the base - wood. There are three main types of wood that are used to make drumsticks:

  1. Maple is the lightest and has excellent flexibility. With sticks made from this wood, the musician will feel less impact from his hands.
  2. Walnut is most often used to make drumsticks. Has good flexibility and high level energy absorption.
  3. And finally, oak wood. Drumsticks made from this material rarely break, but the musician will feel the vibration much more during playing.

Once you have decided on the wood, you need to select the appropriate tip. There are two types of drumstick tips - wood or nylon. The most common are wooden tips that will become good choice for many types of games. The only disadvantage of wood is rapid wear and tear during active play. Nylon tips will last longer. They will also be useful when playing cymbals in cases where good rebound and bright sound are needed. When playing electronic, it is recommended to buy drumsticks with a nylon tip, since wooden ones can break and damage the mesh on the ped.

The tips also differ in shape. It is customary to distinguish four types:

  1. Round - reduces sound changes when playing at different angles. This is especially good for plates. This type of tips is very popular now.
  2. Cylindrical - give a diffuse and open sound.
  3. Pointed drumsticks produce a medium focused sound.
  4. The olive-shaped tips allow you to control the sound and area of ​​contact upon impact.

Next important parameter- this is the size of the sticks. Various manufacturers Drumsticks are referred to in different ways. But nevertheless, they are quite similar. There are three categories of sticks:

  1. 7a are light and thin drumsticks designed to produce a soft sound. Great for beginner drummers and jazz musicians.
  2. 5a are the most common drumsticks, medium in thickness. Good for rock music. You can play with them both quietly and loudly.
  3. 2b/5b are drumsticks that allow you to produce a louder sound. Excellent for metal.

Most famous manufacturers drum sticks: Stunner, Ruby Grip, Zildjian, Ahead, Cooperman, Sabian, Wincent, Tama, Balbex, Lutner, Vater, Pro Mark, Malletech and Vic Firth.

Hi all. I bought nylon drumsticks out of pure curiosity, what they are and what they are eaten with. Briefly: they correspond to size 5A, are slightly longer, but heavier than oak sticks; when playing, they bend and spring unpleasantly. Compared to wooden sticks, drums sound much quieter and muffled, but cymbals sound even louder due to the greater weight of nylon sticks. After each hit on the cymbal, decent dents remain on the sticks. Hardly suitable for anything other than training your hands on a drum pad

What are drumsticks made from? On sale there are both classic ones - wooden, and with nylon tips, and carbon, and hybrid, with replaceable shoulders and heads (Ahead). But somehow I haven’t come across nylon ones, so I became curious what kind of sticks they were and how they behave.

I ordered the most cheap option, which I found on Aliexpress, since I didn’t notice any visual difference with the more expensive ones. It took about a month for the package to reach me, without a tracking number, in a simple package, for which you don’t even need to sign for it at the post office. The packaging was simple, a bag and a couple of turns of bubble wrap.

This is what these sticks look like:

Comparison with Vic Firth 5A maple sticks. As you can see, the nylon sticks are slightly longer, although they are very similar in shoulder shape.

The head of the sticks is pointed, I would say, too pointed:





The handles of the sticks are corrugated, apparently so that they do not slip out of the hands. But for me it would be better if they were smooth; with such a surface you can rip the skin off your hands. If the wooden sticks are too smooth, I usually lightly sand them where the fine sander grips. sandpaper, and they no longer slide. They clearly overdid it with the corrugation.

Now about the sensations when playing with these sticks, and about the sound. The weight of the sticks is noticeably heavier than wooden ones, even oak ones of the same size 5A. The effect of “heaviness” when playing is also intensified, since the sticks are more elastic than wooden ones, they bend noticeably when swinging and spring back upon impact, even perhaps stronger than bamboo sticks, such as those in the review, and these are the most flexible sticks I’ve ever encountered.

The sound of hitting drums, compared to wooden sticks, is much quieter and muffled, apparently precisely because of their elasticity. But the sound of hitting the cymbals is even louder than that of wooden sticks, as I understand it, due to the greater weight of nylon ones. Therefore, when playing them, what strikes the eye, or rather, the ear, is the discrepancy between the volume of the drums and cymbals: the drums are too quiet, the cymbals are too loud. That is, you can’t play it quietly, like roots, or you need to additionally jam the cymbals. Maybe these sticks are indispensable in some exotic style, where the cymbals must be much louder than the drums, but I don’t know of one.

Here is a short video showing the difference in sound between wooden and nylon drumsticks. Unfortunately, it was done very spontaneously, without preparation, I did not think in advance what exactly to play so that the difference in the sound of the sticks would be most noticeable. Therefore, the demo video turned out shorter than planned, but I don’t have the opportunity to shoot a second take in the near future.

In the video, I didn’t knock powerfully, to put it mildly, since the installation is in a residential building, and I generally try not to play with sticks at home. With more dynamic playing, the drums would sound deeper and fuller, the snare would have less string crackle and more of a tom sound. But I think that the difference between the sound of wooden and nylon sticks can be understood, although in the recording the difference is less pronounced. The sound was recorded using a Zoom H4n recorder located on a tripod near the drummer's head.

As I said, I don't see any use for these sticks in drumming, primarily due to the discrepancy between the volume of the cymbals and the drums. You can get used to the elasticity of these sticks, but artificially forcing the feed in the drums and holding back when playing cymbals is too much. This is, of course, possible, but why?

The following photos show the dents that formed on the shoulders of the sticks after, one might say, ten seconds of playing while recording a video.



Even the most low-quality wooden sticks become covered with similar dents during much more dynamic playing. But with nylon ones, I just gently stroked the plates, and as a result, such dents. What would happen to them after an hour of playing in a heavy style, I’m afraid to even imagine; most likely they simply won’t last that hour. I don’t want to do such an experiment, because I’m thinking of trying to use these sticks to train my hands on a pad; they seem suitable for this.

To be honest, I’m a little sorry for the money spent on these sticks, since most likely I won’t find any use for them. I also regret that I didn’t buy sticks, for example, yellow or Green colour, that would be funny. It wouldn't change the essence, but they would be a little prettier.

Thank you for your attention.

I'm planning to buy +2 Add to favorites I liked the review +24 +36

A wonderful idea, according to psychologists, is to teach a child to music from the very beginning. early age. You can either purchase a drum at a toy store or make it yourself. A simple tin can and a little imagination can help you easily implement your plans.

Benefit or noise?

Many adults believe that a children's drum is of no use. It is simply a source of noise and accompanies the appearance of a headache. Nevertheless, the drum is very often entrusted to parents and their children in kindergarten to make. However, this does not happen for the additional workload of the baby and the parent on the weekend. Most often, a loud attribute is intended for performing at a matinee. And you can’t do without it.

Don't think that making this item is a waste of time. Who knows, maybe the child has acting abilities, and already in kindergarten he will decide on future profession. And such a craft will bring a lot of benefits, even if it is carried out at the request of a teacher from kindergarten.

What to make a tool from

In bulk necessary advice For making drums with your own hands at home, it is worth highlighting one not entirely serious recommendation. It is rather of a comic nature, but every joke has its own piece of truthful meaning. A homemade drum for a child can be used for something other than a matinee. It all depends on the imagination of the parents.

One has only to look around oneself, each person can notice several tin cans or packaging that is unlikely to be useful. From these materials you can make a drum for playing with your hands or special sticks.

Reasons for creating crafts

This question probably worries all adults. Every parent wants to find out the reasons for such a pastime with their child. There can be several examples of reasons for such an activity:

  • Getting closer to your child through joint activities.
  • An exciting start to the evening for the whole family.
  • Development of coordination of movements and sense of rhythm in the baby. After all, with a craft that was invented and created with your own hands, you can participate in an impromptu march.
  • The baby may not easily hit the drum with sticks, but try to reproduce an interesting favorite melody from a children's song or cartoon.
  • Drums played with hands can be an excellent option for keeping your little ones busy for some time. summer cottage.
  • Finally, the drum can become a weapon of revenge against annoying neighbors who constantly do repairs on Sunday mornings.

It is worth considering that an act of retaliation for neighboring apartments can occur without disturbing the peace of adults. To do this, residents of an apartment with a newly minted drummer need to buy earplugs or a pair of headphones in order to muffle the noise in the room.

Plastic bucket with lid

Not every adult knows how to make a drum with their own hands from a plastic country bucket. You can paint such a tool with simple paints; it can also be covered with ordinary colored paper. It all depends on the imagination of the little master. The lid on such a bucket should fit tightly. After all, the instrument will be damaged if top part the instrument will fly off at the most inopportune moment.

A drum made from a plastic bucket can simply be held in your hands, or you can hang it around your neck. This action is very simple to perform. The material has two holes from the handle on the sides. It is through them that you need to thread an improvised strap, securing it with knots.

Sticks for similar plastic tool can be selected from available materials. This role can easily be played by pencils or old felt-tip pens that are no longer used for drawing. So, things will be given a second life and the child will be satisfied. Kitchen brushes, which every housewife has, can also make interesting sounds.

A child can try out the sound of absolutely any object in the apartment and choose the most suitable one. You should not limit the imagination of a future musician or composer. Sometimes a child needs to be given freedom of action.

Paper product

A decorative drum for a little musician can be created from plain paper or cardboard. To do this, you need to cut out two circles of the same diameter. Their size can be any. Then a strip of paper is cut out, which will become the connecting element for the top and bottom of the instrument.

Paper design can be glued with glue or connected with tape. You can decorate the craft using paints or pencils, paste it with various paper illustrations, stickers, or cover it with bright satin fabric and sew funny pom-poms on the sides. Thus, a children's craft with their own hands will acquire its own individuality. This part of the work, undoubtedly, can be done by mother’s little assistant himself.

Almost any idea of ​​a little dreamer can and should be brought to life. And for this it is not at all necessary to go shopping and spend large sums. Do-it-yourself drums will not only look unusual and original, but will also not require much time to create.

Required tools and materials

The basis of crafts for children in in this case it will become simple tin can round shape. Among others necessary materials applies:

  • hole punch for leather fabric;
  • a small piece of brightly colored fabric (can be replaced with colored paper);
  • leather flap;
  • glue gun;
  • leatherette laces;
  • glue for fabric elements;
  • cotton wool

And also in the process of work it will be impossible to do without wooden sticks.

Making the tool step by step

First, you need to cut out a piece of suitable size from bright fabric and paste it over the jar. The fabric can be any. In its absence, the base is simply covered with colored paper, which is sold in any stationery store or supermarket.

A jar is placed on a piece of leather material and outlined. It is necessary to add 10 cm to the resulting diameter of the tool. Draw another circle.

Along the radius of the part, using a pencil, mark the areas where the holes will be located in the future. In any version of making a drum, make an indent of 1 cm from the edge with your own hands. Holes in the leather are made with a special hole punch.

A leatherette cord is threaded through the holes. It must subsequently be tightened tightly on one side of the jar. The same steps must be repeated when creating the bottom for making a drum with your own hands. The lace is also used for additional fixation of products diagonally. In this case, the element is threaded under the lacing, which is located at the top and bottom of the drum.

The final stage is making drum sticks by hand at home. To do this, a wooden stick is connected to a bead-knob. Glue a small cotton ball on top of the bead and wrap it with threads so that there are no empty spaces left. This is how a drumstick is made.

Instead of a total

It's so easy to create your own drums. Without a doubt, your little one will love this exciting activity. After all, a child can act as an apprentice at work. And creative activities with the whole family will not only contribute to the development of the child’s imagination, but will also have a beneficial effect on the child’s imagination and thinking. If a child strives to create things with his own hands, then this activity should be encouraged by adults, because spending time like this contributes to the development of children, strengthening various household skills, and simply brings joy.

Drumsticks are the most necessary accessory for playing various percussion instruments. They are usually made of wood, but are also found in maple, hazel, oak, hornbeam and beech.

In any music store you can look at different models this accessory. The number that is indicated on the stick is the marking of the thickness of the sticks, and the letter is the purpose of the sticks. For a novice drummer, as an example of how to make drumsticks yourself, sticks marked ‘’2B’’ will serve well. You can play with them in brass and symphony orchestras, as they technically develop the drummer very well.

Drumsticks are those musical objects that, in light of their diversity, often cause confusion for people who want to purchase them. The thing is that today there is no single principle for designating drumsticks. For example, in the case of some manufacturers, the name of drumsticks becomes clear only in the process of classification into musical styles - drumsticks for Rock, Jazz, etc. styles.

The ability to rotate drumsticks only has an indirect connection with the experience and skill of the drummer. But the acquired skills of how to twirl drumsticks correctly will definitely have a strong impression on people watching the musician. After all, in a psychological context, this is an indicator of fluency in the drum and a friendly attitude towards it.

As in any business, it is clear that this, first of all, requires practice. Learning how to spin drumsticks takes a little work. First you need to place your hand palms up. Then bend at the elbow, raise the hand to the chest (the fingers should not be tense, but rather free). Then you should hold the drumstick between the tip of your index finger and the pad of your thumb. The drummer must rest against the tips of the middle one, ring finger and the little finger into the drumstick. As for the center of gravity of the drumstick, it should be closer to the wrist, and not between the index and thumb.

In order to learn how to learn how to twist drumsticks, you need to continue the steps by doing the following - loosen the pressure with your index finger, pull the stick back a little and push hard with your middle finger. At the same time, you need to press all fingers except the thumb to the palm until thumb will not ‘go around’ while rotating the stick. If the fingers are in the original position, the stick will falter and thus the roll will not be completed.

The last thing to do is to release the stick to the starting position, closing your fingers at the end of the rotation, and then repeat. In general, learning such an inventive attitude towards drumsticks, if desired, is not difficult, and even fun.

Exclusive items always evoke the admiration of others and the pride of the owner. If you play a drum kit, make your own drums sticks will become your unique highlight.

Instructions

  1. Go to any music store and look at the models of drumsticks they sell. Pay attention to the markings. The numerical designation indicates the thickness sticks, and the letter one - about its purpose. If you are a beginner drummer, ask the dealer for a stick marked 2B and note its diameter and weight. Models with this marking are intended for playing in brass and symphony orchestras. They are very convenient and popular among beginning drummers developing their technique and production.
  2. Buy from the construction market wooden block. In principle, it will do american walnut, maple or oak, but it’s still better to buy a block of maple. This wood is light and sticks These are ideal for fast and quiet playing. When you become a superstar or a professional drumstick maker, make sticks from exotic woods such as bubinga or rosewood.
  3. Remember the 2B model you were looking at in the music store and cut out sticks approximately the same length and thickness. To do this, do bottom part sticks thickened - it will be a counterweight to the end sticks with head. Opposite thin end sticks, which is used to strike the drum, is called a "shoulder". The length and shape of this section affect the sound. Cut the stick so that it gradually becomes thinner towards the head. Then its sound will be more refined.
  4. head sticks make it Pointed or triangle-tipped. This is the most popular option and guarantees mid-focused sound.
  5. Process the cut out sticks sanding paper to remove roughness and protect your hands from possible splinters.
  6. If you want to hold more confidently and firmly sticks, buy special anti-slip tapes and wrap them around the bases of the sticks.