Get the Best Bang with the Best Electric Drumsticks

Recently ordered an electronic drum kit? Confused if you can start jamming right away with your normie, traditional drumsticks, or do you have to buy a dedicated one for your electronic drums? You'll find out soon enough.

More often than not, if you're buying an electronic drum kit, it'll come with a pair of drumsticks. But that may not always be the case.

Whether the kit you're buying comes with a pair or not, there actually are a few secrets, tips, and tricks about buying drumsticks for electronic drums that we're going to let you in on - to help you get better sound, let you get a better feel for your playing, and for the longevity of your kit.

Is There a Difference Between Drumsticks for Electronic Drums and Acoustic Drums?

Well, yes and no. Confused? Don't worry, we'll break it down for you. 

With acoustic drums, players are generally very careful with their drumsticks. One has to consider the correct balance, length, thickness, taper, tip, material, bounce, response, comfort, and polish, etc.

However, when it comes to electronic drums - all the aforementioned acoustic ingredients are required, and more. Also, if you have an electronic kit, you don't have to worry about forceful hits, the right shape, or a proper tip to create the right sound. After all, you're only playing pre-recorded samples through a module so you only particularly have to pay heed to your comfort and make sure that your stick hits the drumhead with a decent impact.

To break it down, you need to be extra careful when buying a drumstick for an electronic drum. Some drummers prefer getting that 'real'/'acoustic' feel when playing an electronic kit so you'll have to factor in a combination of the right drumhead with sticks to get it. 

Also, it goes a long way to be mindful about not damaging the drumheads on your electronic kit. Apart from this, you may want to think about the taper, length, and material of your drumsticks. 

To sum it up, yes you can use the same drumsticks for both acoustic and electronic kits but if you end up being too careless, you might damage your electronic kit.

What Do You Look For When Buying Electronic Drumsticks?

We didn't want you to be in the grey, scratching your head so allow us to make things a bit simpler. You need to start from:

Beaters/Rods/Brushes

Don't even think about it - using specific sticks like rods and beaters has no effect on the sound of your electronic kit.

Plus, using brushes on your electronic kit? That's almost like playing your acoustic guitar with a brush. So, any specific shapes, designs, beaters, rods, or brushes - avoid wasting your money on these because they aren't going to help you play like that lead guy from whiplash.

Length

Experimenting with different lengths of drumsticks goes a long way - especially if you're a beginner and starting out. If you have a long drumstick, its center of gravity will be weighted towards the tip. In other words, the balance will be inclined towards the front of the stick.

If you have a shorter stick, the center of gravity will be at the back end of the stick. So, normally, shorter sticks are usually more stable but longer ones have a sharper bounce.

If you're a beginner looking for the right drumsticks for an electronic drum, we suggest going with 16 inches in length.

Diameter

You want your drumsticks to feel snuggly in your hands, you don't want them to be hollow-ish in your palms. The latter one would be uncomfortable, cause you to grip them harder, and result in sweating.

We always suggest starting from 5A drumsticks - they're usually around 0.5" in diameter. Once you've used these, you can decide if these work for you. More often than not, these will work for you, and just in case they don't, you can always order new ones and adapt. 

Material

Most sticks are made from hickory and that's what you too are going to end up with at some point - which is great. 

However, there are drumsticks are made up of plastic and carbon fiber too. You don't want them since they're fairly stiff and will likely cause damage.

Taper

When it comes to electronic drums, you need to go with a stick with a medium taper - since that's a safe choice.

Confused? We'll explain.

The taper of your drumstick is the slightly thrashed, narrow part on the side of your stick that works around to balance your stick. With time, it gets thinner and has an impact on your playing. A long stick with a short taper will always make your stick fall towards the drum. 

So, if you're a loud drummer, go for a shorter taper. If you want a quick response and fast movement, you need your stick to be long-tapered. 

Tip

When you're playing an acoustic kit, you can immediately hear the difference in the sound with different shaped tips. However, that's not the case with electronic drums.

Instead, in electronic drums, what you need to be mindful of is to have some sort of nylon or rubber covering on your drumstick's tip. This is essential especially if you have mesh heads on your drums. A wooden tip will cause more wear to them than covered ones!