Drumsticks, brushes, and mallets are the connection between you and your drum set. Finding the best drumsticks can make a world of difference in being at one with your drums.
The Best Wood Tip Drum Sticks | The Best Wood Tip Drum Sticks Product Image | Product Title | *GEARANK | **Sources | Check Prices |
96 | 600+ | ||||
96 | 400+ |
The Best Wood Tip Drum Sticks | The Best Wood Tip Drum Sticks Product Image | Product Title | *GEARANK | **Sources | Check Prices |
96 | 15900+ | ||||
92 | 5400+ |
The Best Nylon Tip Drum Sticks | The Best Nylon Tip Drum Sticks Product Image | Product Title | *GEARANK | **Sources | Check Prices |
96 | 1100+ | ||||
96 | 500+ |
The Best Drum Brushes | The Best Drum Brushes Product Image | Product Title | *GEARANK | **Sources | Check Prices |
91 | 180+ | ||||
93 | 500+ |
The Best Wood Tip Drum Sticks | The Best Wood Tip Drum Sticks Product Image | Product Title | *GEARANK | **Sources | Check Prices |
93 | 300+ |
*Gearank = Rating score out of 100.
**Sources = Number of gear owner and user opinions analyzed for these product Gearank Ratings.
Research Process: How Gearank Works
As a drummer who’s tried everything from wooden spoons to actual drumsticks (yes, I once used spoons in a pinch…donโt ask), I understand how finding the right sticks can be a game-changer. Itโs not just about hitting the drums; itโs about linking with your instrument in a way that feels just right.
The sheer amount of choices means there’s something perfect for everyone, so get excited. This guide to the best drumsticks, mallets, and brushes on the market today is here to help. The items selected have high approval and satisfaction ratings, as demonstrated by the Gearank rating system.
We’ve done the hard part of whittling down your options so you can focus on playing and practicing. So buckle up, fellow drummers, take a deep breath and dive into the world of the best drumsticks.
The Best Wood Tip Drum Sticks
I love drumming. That love extends to the interface between my hands and the instrument: the sticks. Like guitar strings, drumsticks are affordable enough to obtain different models and satiate my curiosity. I’ve tried all kinds. From gargantuan marching sticks to light jazz sticks, orchestral 5B’s, and even heavy stainless steel practice sticks at one time!
This familiar old model of good quality drum sticks has accompanied me on the stage many times. Unfortunately, sticks never last forever and my original copy is now obliterated after a few rehearsals and rock shows.
My main experiences with drums are Highschool Marching Band, Rock Bands and Orchestra Pit for Musical Theatre, I see these cool drum sticks able to fulfill highschool marching band and rock situations quite handily.
The SDCs feature a unique curvature along the holding area of the sticks. This provides a uniquely satisfying grip that prevents any slippage without resorting to friction-based rubber solutions that can tear up the hands. It’s subtle enough to still feel close enough to regular sticks, so you won’t have to adjust your technique.
Danny Carey is an excellent drummer who plays loud complex music with his band Tool. If you’ve never listened to them and like cerebral, heavy, dark, and loud music, they are one of the best.
I can see why he designed this tool (no pun intended) in this way. It has very good reach for far-away drums and cymbals, reassuring leverage to loud backbeats. In no way do these sticks sacrifice their ability to play a drum kit intricately and with dynamics but they do make you want to play louder every time.
On the drumset, it beckons me to bash – make my worst impression of John Bonham or pretend I’m in Rage Against The Machine. I see these sticks being perfect for players who want to alternate between highschool marching band then play rock gigs after school.
I do appreciate the craftsmanship and thought put into these sticks, I wouldn’t main them unless I specialized in heavy forms of music such as heavy metal or outdoor mega concerts.
On a more critical note, these aren’t the longest-lasting big drumsticks I have tried. Although they invite you to rip on the drums, after a few shows they succumb to fraying and get pulverized at the contact point with the drum rims.
This gentle giant showing signs of pitting just after 30 minutes of “light test” use. These are not the most durable big sticks I’ve used.
Mad props to Danny Carey and the Vic Firth designers, this is a beast of a drumstick made for a beast of a musician.
The SDC are a great feeling set of wooden drumsticks. These sticks make a loud, articulate sound with good definition on the ride cymbal when playing with the bead. Super loud backbeats are a cinch as well although they do tend to fray quite easily.
If you mostly play loud genres, give your hands a rare treat with the Vic Firth SDC. These are some of the best drum sticks for rock music. I give this a 94 out of 100.
In addition to this drum stick review, I’ve also written a review of the Vic Firth High Fidelity Ear Plugs.
- Tip Material: Hickory
- Weight: 4.8 oz
- Diameter: 0.630″
- Length: 16 1/2″
- Taper: Short
Buddy Rich was known for his virtuosic speed, power and technique. His are made in a modified 5A drum stick with a uniquely large blended drum tip, neck, and shoulder providing added weight for enhanced power and durability.
The long taper on these sticks also gives them a great balance and rebound response. They are dense and extremely durable, have an oval tip, feel fast and light, and are especially good for buzz and double-stroke rolls. The white paint finish also looks pretty cool.
While these are good quality drum sticks, I found the glossy finish of the sticks to be slippery for my sweaty hands. If your palms don’t well up too much, this shouldn’t be a problem.
These are good drumsticks for Big Band playing and other styles of jazz. If you’re a fan of the legendary Buddy Rich, these wooden sticks are an obvious choice among the best drumstick brands.
- Tip Material: Hickory
- Weight: 3.2 oz
- Diameter: 0.590″
- Length: 16.31″
- Taper: Long
Best Drumsticks For Beginners
If you’re just starting out then I strongly recommend starting with these wooden drumsticks. They are used by professional drummers such as Daniel Glass, so they’re not designed purely for beginners, but they have just the right weight and feel when you’re starting out.
Vic Firth’s American Classic Wood 5A Drum Sticks are made from hickory, a dense and tough wood known for its durability. Hickory is of medium weight, being roughly 10% heavier than maple but 10% lighter than oak. Because of their hickory construction, this 5a drum stick pair is a great fit if you’re looking for a versatile yet durable pair of wooden drumsticks.
The tips are deeply back-cut, which gives them a very articulate and bright cymbal response. They also have a medium taper, giving them a very balanced feel. Even better, because of the taper they can produce plenty of volume without sacrificing control over your dynamics and positioning. I could certainly appreciate how it bounces off snare drums when playing ghost notes as well.
Because of the material used, the taper, and the back-cut tips, Vic Firth’s 5As are a great starting point for best drumsticks for beginners. The design of these cool drumsticks are very easy to control, which makes it easier for drummers who are just getting their start to get a handle on different techniques.
I personally love the Vic Firth 5A’s, and I’m sure that there are thousands of us out there. These, along with the 5B’s from Vic Firth are among the best drumsticks for beginners out there. In the middle ground of drumsticks, in terms of dimensions, you can quickly gauge your preference for big or small sticks.
That’s not to say these are sticks to be grown out of. My bandmate Lem Belaro, who is a platinum-selling drummer and songwriter, refuses to change from his Vic Firth 5A’s, saying any other drumsticks give him nasty callouses. With these sticks, he can still play with power, and they hold up for many, many gigs – Lem is a powerful and hard-hitting rock drummer, by the way.
Because wood is an organic material that varies from season to season or even just from the part of the tree used, there will be 5A’s denser, lighter, and everything in between. Consider this when buying a pair of 5A wooden drumsticks.
The Vic Firth American Classic 5A is a great set of sticks for those who want balanced weight and strength, landing a special mention in this list for its ubiquity and renown.
- Tip Material: Hickory
- Weight: 2.1 oz
- Diameter: 0.565โ
- Length: 16โ
- Taper: Medium
Here, I’d like to showcase the best drumming sticks in terms of affordability.
While ARLX is not a known brand, it shines by providing an entry-level option for beginners. We’ll be talking about its specs and why you should consider this as an option for professionals.
The ARLX 5A Maple Drumsticks take the qualities of more expensive brands and make an affordable version. I could compare it to the Vic Firth American Classic 5A but in a much cheaper sense.
These drumming sticks make a great practice drumstick with a good feel and bounce to cover any genre. Due to its lighter weight, it makes it decent to play dynamically as well. However, if there are genres this 5a drumstick excels at, it would be hard rock and metal.
It’s made of North American maple and is durable enough to withstand the rigors of practice and gigging. While the surface is slip-resistant, some might find that the sticks might be a bit “beefy” for people with smaller hands.
The downside is that, compared to known brands, this doesn’t last super long. For professionals, they’re really good as a spare without putting a hole in your pocket. For beginners, it does the job well enough.
The competition for affordable but long-lasting drumsticks will depend on the playing style, of course. However, even the best drumming sticks will eventually break. Among the best drumstick for beginner players, the ARLX-5A Maple Drumsticks has got you covered as an affordable alternative.
- Tip Material: Maple
- Weight: 4.8 oz
- Diameter: Not Specified
- Length: 16.50″
- Taper: Short
The Best Nylon Tip Drum Sticks
Nylon-tipped drumsticks have a brighter sound on cymbals and last longer than wood ones. They also have a slightly different response and feel than wood-tipped sticks.
Another thing worth mentioning is that they are also known to be the best drumsticks for electronic drums.
Low-quality nylon-tipped sticks tend to have their tips fly off at inopportune times. Whether you have electronic drums or normal ones, we’ve listed the best drumstick brands with nylon tips below.
The 5A Extreme drumsticks are of the 5A size with a 1/2โณ more length, providing extra reach and power. As popular as the 5A’s are, some of you might discover that you prefer a slightly longer version without changing too much from the original. These cool drumsticks provide that extra reach while retaining the positive qualities of the American Classic 5A’s.
The nylon tips of these sticks are durable, never fly off, and resist chipping a lot more than wood. They also sound brighter on cymbals.
These good drumsticks have a very comfortable drum stick size and weight. The extra 1/2″ of length makes all the difference in terms of reaching far away cymbals and drums while providing just a bit of extra leverage and power.
Like the 5A’s and some other hickory-made sticks, due to wood inconsistencies, it’s possible to get a weight, density, and durability variant under the same model that is less than ideal. This is normal, and you should keep that in mind. Buy more than one pair or select them in person if you can.
Also, nylon tips are not for everyone. They might be more durable and brighter on cymbals, but their rebound and impact feel differ slightly from wooden tips and can feel a bit weird to someone (like me) who’s been playing wood tips all their life… they’ll take a bit of getting used to.
In addition, this is among the best drumsticks for electronic drums because nylon tips don’t have sharp edges. This is in contrast with wooden drumsticks that tend to snag in between the mesh heads.
I see these as cool drumsticks for people who want to switch back and forth between louder and softer forms of music without changing their stick model. The nylon tips will ensure the beads last a bit longer while retaining a bright cymbal sound throughout their lifespan.
These are great for those who love the 5A’s but need a little bit more reach and power. It might be worth having a pair in your stick bag to compliment your regular 5A’s for that rare occasion needing extra volume or reach.
- Tip Material: Nylon
- Weight: 3.2 oz
- Diameter: 0.565″
- Length: 16.5″
- Taper: Medium
The Lars Ulrich Signature sticks are made of aluminum. They have replaceable covers and tips over an alloy core.
The manufacturer says this gives these synthetic sticks 50 percent less shock and 5 percent more rebound when compared to wooden drumsticks. I’ll take their word about the precision of the figures for this because it didn’t occur to me to do the measurement, but the general idea is true.
These sticks are highly customizable, have a unique feel, and have interchangeable parts, unlike regular wooden drumsticks. They are not disposable, and you won’t break them like wood sticks. As an unfortunate tradeoff, these feel heavier than wooden drumsticks.
Also, they are more expensive than their wooden counterparts – fortunately, metal sticks don’t break unless you really try.
If you can afford the extra price for modern technology and play primarily heavy types of music, these might be the sticks for you.
- Tip Material: Nylon
- Weight: 2.29 oz
- Diameter: 0.595″
- Length: 16 1/4″
- Taper: Long
The Best Drum Brushes
Drum brushes are used for softer playing at low volumes. While distinct from typical drummer sticks, they’re an important part of every drummer’s tool kit. They’re the best drumsticks for jazz, pop, and even Latin music and more, the only real limit is your imagination!
Vater Percussion instruments are widely used by notable drummers such as Mark Alfred from Riverdance and Mona Tavakoli, a favorite of mine who played with Jason Mraz’s band.
The Vater VWTW is one of those drum brushes that have a well-balanced handling and quality metal bristle that’s meant for quiet and dynamic playing.
The 5A-sized wooden grip has a natural feel to it. Compared to normal wooden drumsticks, I’d say roughly it feels 65-70% like drumsticks. Of course, it’s in no way a quieter version of the 5a or 7a drumsticks.
Snare brushes sound buttery, and the attack is snappy but a bit soft. It enables playing dynamically, but for louder volumes, you have to play a bit heavier in loud passages. It’s not retractable so you’ll have to depend on your technique.
It also has a metal rivet at the butt end for cymbal scrapes.
Overall, this wire brush is a treat to play with, and we highly recommend the Vater VWTW Drum and Percussion Brushes.
- Tip Material: Wire
- Weight: 1.6 oz
- Diameter: Not Specified
- Length: Not Specified
Steve Gadd is arguably one of the most sought-after session drummers in the world, having played in the studio for a diverse range of musicians such as Simon & Garfunkel, Steely Dan, Eric Clapton, and James Taylor. So it’s only fitting that his signature Vic Firth brush is doing well in the market.
He is my personal favorite drummer, and I’m delighted that these made it onto our list.
An interesting feature of this brush set is that the wire is actually angled, which helps to keep your brushes from snagging on (fresh) coated drum heads. Essentially, they angled the wire only in the last ยพโ of the playing end of the brush, so you still get the same feel as a normal set of brushes without having to worry about snags. Even better, you still retain a traditional tone.
This also gives the brushes a smooth and buttery sweep. My old drum teacher used to teach us to bend the ends of the brushes by retracting them slightly and then stepping on them! Vic Firth and Steve Gadd chose to do this old drummer’s trick for you, making sure you get the perfect angle right out of the factory every time.
I appreciate the angled brush ends, which allow for creamy and never-ending legato sweeps that would be harder to get with regular brushes. There are also no questions about quality, in fact these brushes are bursting in quality from their bristles, rubber-coated handles, to their adjustability.
They also use rubber handles that help prevent your hand from slipping off the handle while playing.
I am very happy with my Steve Gadd brushes, they remind me of my favorite player and never fail to inspire me to play with attention and care. One minor gripe is that the angled part of the brushes made it hard for the wires to retract completely into the handle for storing in my stick bag. Leaving the bristles slightly out opens these to damage and can snag the insides of your stick bag. Not good because stick bags and brushes can be quite expensive to replace.
If you’re looking for nothing less than the best wire brushes for drums, then get these from Steve Gadd and Vic Firth, a masterful pairing of two legends in the percussion universe.
- Tip Material: Wire
- Weight: Not Specified
- Diameter: 0.530โ
- Length: Not Specified
The Best Drum Mallets
Mallets expand your tonal range by allowing for a softer attack than sticks but provide more impact than brushes. They also bring out the pitch note of your drums more and are the tools of choice for convincing cymbal swells.
The T1 General timpani mallets are made from hand-selected maple shafts and high-quality felts that provide a great response and feel. They are perfect for all-around playing and are capable of producing a rich yet rhythmic sound, not just for Timpanists.
You are able to get great floor tom tones, and I’m pleased with the build quality of these mallets. The high-quality felt material used in the beaters I would describe as not too hard or soft. It provides an extremely versatile mallet experience that most drumset players (such as myself) can appreciate and use to great effectiveness.
Vic Firth himself was quite the accomplished Timpanist and this can be felt in the build quality and balance of these mallets.
Mallets can be a pricey investment, especially if mallets are rarely needed in your repertoire. But these mallets quickly make up for the cost the moment you pull them out and use them to get a sound that only mallets can produce. Unlike some models that double-up as drumsticks on the butt end, these are purely meant to be used as mallets albeit very good ones.
If you need all-around mallets for melodic tom passages to cymbal swells, these are a highly-rated mallets that deserve a place in your stick bag.
- Tip Material: Felt
- Weight: 1.44 oz
- Diameter:1. 5″
- Length: 14. 5″
- Taper: Medium
Things to Consider When Buying The Best Drumsticks
If you’re looking to learn more about drum sticks, check out the sections below. We answer the question – what are the best drumsticks – by discussing what goes into a stick’s design, what they mean for your sound, and how to choose a stick based on how you play.
Weight
As a general rule, the heavier the stick, the louder your drums and cymbals are going to be, though this does come at the expense of some dynamic range (the amount of volume you can get between soft and loud). Lighter sticks have a greater dynamic range and a brighter tone.
Maple is the lightest wood commonly used for drum sticks, though it tends to wear out the fastest. Hickory sticks are much stronger, and roughly 10% heavier than maple. Oak, roughly 10% more dense than hickory, is the heaviest commonly used drum stick wood.
Length and Diameter
Length is arguably one of the most important factors of a drum stick, because it has a huge effect on how your sticks feel to play. The longer a stick is, the more reach and leverage you have. More reach makes it easier to hit different pieces of your kit, and the extra leverage means that your stick will require less effort to hit hard.
With that being said, the benefits of a longer stick depend on how you play. If you like to have more control over your volume, you may prefer a shorter stick. Likewise, if you play with a more minimalist kit you may find that the extra length of longer drum sticks just gets in your way.
Diameter, or how thick a drum stick is, impacts its weight, durability, and its volume. Thicker sticks can be shorter while still having good volume. However, thinner sticks that aren’t so heavy it becomes unwieldy.
Taper
Taper is the difference between a stick’s thickness at its point and at its end. A long taper gives you a stick with more flex (so you can hit harder with less effort) and a faster response. A short taper gives you more volume, but it will feel heavier and take more effort to play. A medium taper is the middle ground between the two.
Tip Material
Drum sticks have two commonly used tip materials: nylon and wood tips. Wood is the most common material, and is generally considered to have a warm and responsive tone as well as great articulation. Nylon has a brighter tone and more durability, though this does come at the expense of the articulation associated with wood tipped drum sticks.
Tip Shape
The tip shape of your drumstick dictates the surface area that hits your drums or cymbals thus highly influencing the sound you produce. Wider tips, like barrel-shaped ones, provide a thicker sound. While narrower ones, like those with a teardrop tip, result in thinner, more focused timbres. Oval tips, round-shaped tips, and ball tips allow for subtle variety to the timbre.
Why You Should Get Multiple Sets of Drumming Sticks
A reality of life as a drummer is that eventually, you’re going to break a drum stick. Even the perfect stick can fly out of your hand at the worst possible time (like in the middle of a solo). Because of this, it’s important that you have multiple sets of drum sticks to hand while playing. This is especially true for hard hitters like metal drummers, but regardless of musical style – if you play drums – you ought to have back up drumsticks.
Think about it this way. Imagine you finally get some time to practice. You warm up for a few minutes, collect whatever practice materials you use, and get ready to spend some time with your instrument. Then, as soon as you start really playing, your drum stick breaks. If you have a spare, you can get right back into practice. If not, then you’re going to be pretty (understandably) upset.
Even worse, if you don’t bring spares to a gig you could potentially disrupt an entire performance in the event that you break or drop one. It’s generally recommended that for a gig, you bring at least five pairs of extra drum sticks (so six in total).
Thankfully, drum sticks are affordable, so the situations above are avoidable. Just be sure that if you’re playing, you always have spares close at hand.
Different sticks work for different situations. Some drummers like to practice with heavier sticks to build strength and lighter sticks on the gig for speed and added endurance.
It’s good to have different kinds of mallets and brushes (metal or thin sticks bound) in your stick bag too, as those tones cannot be replicated by sticks. If you play multiple genres, it is not unheard of to use different sticks for different styles of music. There are also plenty of different Types of Drums that require different sticks.
Best Drumsticks Selection Methodology
The first edition was published in 2017.
There are a large number of options on the market so we ended up with 56 different sets of sticks, brushes, and mallets on our short-list for analysis – you can see them in the Music Gear Database
We collected feedback from over 64,000 sources that included ratings, reviews, videos and forum discussions about each set, including the latest data. We then selected the highest rated options in each category above to recommend. For more information about our methods, please see How Gearank Works.
About the Author and Contributors
Here are the key people and sources involved in this guideโs production โ click on linked names for information about their music industry backgrounds.
Lead Author & Researcher
Contributors
Allen Articulo: Supplemental Writing
Alexander Briones: Supplemental writing and Editing.
Jason Horton: Editing and Illustrating.
Media / Image Credit
Main/Top Image: Compiled using photographs of the Vic Firth Steve Gadd Wire Brush, Ahead Signature Series Lars Ulrich, and Vic Firth American Classic 5A
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3 responses
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As a result of compiling our recommended list for the August 2022 Edition, the following sets were removed due to being out-ranked by the sets above:
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Publication of our May 2021 Edition resulted in the following sticks coming off the recommended list above, but you can still see our analysis of them:
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As a result of our February 2020 update the following came off our recommended list above, but you can still read about them:
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