justadrummer
Junior Member
I'm playing more gigs in small rooms and playing softer styles of music. After using Vic Firth 5a sticks for several years, I'm switching to Vic Firth 7a sticks. It's a bigger change than I gave it credit for.
I've been using the AJ fives also for quiet rehearsals and gigs. I love themYou could also try the AJ5 - super light stick but still 16" long.
I use 5A's (Zildjian) for everything, except when it's just too small a room, in which case I use AJ5's.
I also like the dry, woody stick sound of the tip.
I'm playing more gigs in small rooms and playing softer styles of music. After using Vic Firth 5a sticks for several years, I'm switching to Vic Firth 7a sticks. It's a bigger change than I gave it credit for.
Does no one just alter their technique? When the room is really quiet, I’ll go to brushes (if it’s musically feasible) , but other than that, I don’t change sticks, or heads, or tuning. My drums are wide open and soft or loud I want them to sound nice and full. So my volume control is in my hands and feet.
Yes. I can play ppp with enthusiasm. I've worked on it for years - or at least since 1978 when I heard the Chick Corea album, Friends. I was 11 or 12 then, and just discovered Steve Gadd the year before when my sister brought home Steely Dan's Aja, and lo and behold, I find Steve Gadd on this Chick Corea album too. If you want to hear a master play soft and cook at the same time, check that album out. I was in awe and inspired at the same time, and as I grew up playing for things like show choirs, I got to put a lot of that quiet cooking Steve Gadd stuff to use early on and actually gained a lot of work because I could cook underneath a choir without blowing them out. I know a lot of people here don't think they're that good enough and things seem impossible to learn - but I think it has everything to do with what you listen to. When you hear what the masters are capable of in a lot of musical contexts, you stop thinking things are impossible and do your best to emulate that.But what if you get carried away? You start the sing at ppp and finish at ff. Can you play ppp with enthusiasm? I guess it's something one can work on.
You could also try the AJ5 - super light stick but still 16" long.