Drum Gloves

Adam Bourque

Senior Member
Well I decided, having the sweatiest drummer hands, I need some Drum Gloves. I play both traditional and match, which is why I would probable prefer the gloves with fingers still showing. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks!
-Adam
 
Seriously, branded drum gloves are a total rip off. If you must, buy golf gloves. They are thin enough to maintain some sort of feel over the stick, are far cheaper than dedicated drum gloves and are reasonably durable.....although they do wear through eventually.....nothing lasts forever.

If you don't want the fingers in them, cut 'em off. Although I think this pretty much negates the need for gloves as you should have far more "finger" in contact with the stick and less "hand". If you haven't, it may be time to rework how you're holding the stick.....you may find you don't need gloves at all.

I found golf gloves were the cheapest and best solution when I wore them for a while back in the 90's.....right up until I realised I looked like a wanker and ditched them never to return. ;-)
 
I've used baseball gloves as well. They work fine. The Zildjian gloves are very good too.
 
One my all-time fav drummers, Nigel Olsson, still wears gloves.

He had to have been the first, wearing them way back in the 1970s with Elton John. Not sure who may have preceded him? Any help?
 
I tried them for a while but stopped useing them. As PFOG mentiond golf gloves is an excellent choice. I tried the Zildjian and Ahead gloves as well. Between the two i thought the Zildjian gloves were more comfortable while the Ahead gloves were more durable.

Have you given any thought to trying stick tape? Ahead makes some great tape and also tennis racket tape works very well. Even with sweaty hands i've found stick tape works just as good as gloves IMO.
 
Well I decided, having the sweatiest drummer hands, I need some Drum Gloves. I play both traditional and match, which is why I would probable prefer the gloves with fingers still showing. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks!
-Adam

I have the opposite problem. I've had surgery for bi-lateral carpal tunnel syndrome and have hands that don't sweat at all. If I don't wear gloves I throw sticks all over the place and have the added benefit of horrific blisters through gripping the sticks too tightly while trying to hold on to them. I'd rather go back to the time when I didn't need them, but since I can't, I just have to live with it. I use meinl gloves by the way and they are fairly durable and less expensive than those from other brands.
 
Over the years, I have acquired some pretty extensive experience with gloves, dating back to the 70's probably before Elton's drummer. :)

First, let me just say that I really don't care what other people think about wearing gloves, just like I don't follow "top" drummers like some people do, so I say if something works for you, by all means use it! Although I haven't worn gloves in quite some time, I would probably still wear them myself, if it weren't so darned hard to find gloves that fit well, and more importantly, are designed in a manner conducive to drummer use. Here are some suggestions and some experience that I share in the hope that you find something useful, with the caveat that you share with me what you eventually find that works for you. ;-)

Fit - in my experience, if they don't fit almost like a second skin, they tend to develop "slack" due to stretch. This results in more blisters, more slippage and less feel from the material bunching up than without them.

Design - Some gloves designed by the majors have some serious flaws. One model I remember in particular were some Zildjians. In an effort to build in breathability, the backs were made with a synthetic material, not animal skin, like biking gloves often are. Trouble was that that material came too far toward the front side, and if you are the type to grip your stick with, or rock your stick onto, the side of your fingers, as the gloves stretched your stick would make contact with that material and WHOOSH, someone got a sharp stick in the eye. My advice in this regard when checking out gloves is to think about how close a non-animal skin is sewn to the "playing area", and look for extra animal-skin coverage.

Material - I found that some animal skins, or the process of them, seemed to retain their natural feel better than others. I never really investigated which ones, but I did notice it in the different gloves I used over the years. I remember one pair in particular (can't remember the brand, and after about 20 years, just threw them out about 3 weeks ago without checking, GRRRR) that fit like a 2nd skin, but the next time I'd pick them up they would be stiff and a bit mishapen. I would massage water into the skin and they would become pliable again, albeit they would be wet. But, contrary to what you would think, this water served to make them even more "grippy". I Ioved these gloves, and kept them for 20 years because I could never find any gloves quite as good, and when they eventually started breaking down, I gave up trying to find something good, and ended not wearing gloves any more because of that.

Thickness - I would try to find something as thin as possible, so you can maintain sensitivity and feel of the stick. In this regard, way back when, I indeed tried golf gloves and baseball gloves, but they were always too thick for my taste, and caused me to lose dynamics, just because those gloves actually made it harder for me to maintain control of the stick. I mean, even holding the stick, I found myself doing so like I would hold a bat or club. With that said, maybe glove technology has come a long way since I tried those types of gloves, I don't know.

I mention my experiences in hopes that they give you some things to think about that you might not have already thought of. Incidentally, I currently use Tourna Grip Original tennis racket wrap that I get from a sporting goods store. It comes either pre-cut or in rolls. The pre-cut stuff comes in packs of 3 strips, but you only need 1/2 a strip for each stick, so for $5 or so, you cover three pairs. The rolls are even cheaper. This stuff was actually specifically designed to be used wet, so if you have sweaty hands, this stuff is even better than the more expensive stuff made by drum companies for wrapping sticks. Below is a link, if you're so inclined. Note that I've always used the Original model of the stuff, not the XL, although there may be something to be said for the XL, I've just never tried it.

http://www.uniquesports.us/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=USP&Category_Code=TOUR

With all this said, if you ever do find a good glove, please share! ;-)
 
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