Smooth and well-finished wooden drumsticks are super appealing to look at, but they just do not have the best stick grip you would want. Hence, taping sticks can increase their durability and your comfort.
You can choose many types of tape for your drumsticks, and many drummers will have a favored tape. You can get them in different colors too, although most drummers will prefer white tapes as it looks better with the stick.
Out of all the tapes that you could choose from, electrical tape is probably the best, and it often has a wide range of color options, so if you do want to add a little uniqueness to your drumsticks, you can do so.
It's also easy wrapping, good for extra durability, and is often very cash friendly. Most are about ¾” wide, and you can get matte or glossy finishes to them. You should be wary of glossy finishes though as they can melt or slip when too hot.
Duct tape is often used as well, however, it is a bit bulkier, so it is not as favored as electrical tape is. If you wrap with duct tape it will often bulk up the stick too much, and it is so sticky that if the tape gets stuck to itself, you will have to start all over again.
The tapes that are best avoided are probably washi tape and masking tape. Washi tape is very dry textured and can make your sticks fly out of your hands when you don’t expect it, and masking tape is basically a combination of washi tape, and duct tape, and it poses some of the same issues you would find in both of these.
Most drummers will use electrical tape, as it is the best aesthetically, makes for easy wrapping and is durable too.
How do you apply grip tape to drumsticks?
It is super easy to tape your drumsticks. To break it down for you, here are some simple steps to follow;
- Hold the drumstick by the tip and apply your tape to the butt of the stick.
- Turn your stick 360 degrees to wrap the tape around the stick completely.
- Using just one hand to hold the stick and the other hand to hold the tape, slowly turn the drumstick so that the tape winds onto it. Continue to do this until you reach the grip, you may wish to reach just above the grip, whichever way this will work out fine.
If you want to play with wrapped drumsticks, do not forget to practice with wrapped drumsticks too. Your sticks will be much heavier when wrapped, so you want to get accustomed to the weight.
How do you tape a bass drum mallet?
If you play a bass drum in a marching band, you may want to tape your sticks as chances are you will be hitting that drum hard. You will not want the stick flying out of your hands, or breaking too easily, taping helps this.
You can either tape the whole stick from the head to the butt, leaving very little wood exposed, this will leave your stick feeling heavier, but it will also keep the balance feeling more even. Whether you choose to do this is up to you and how much extra weight on your stick you can bear.
You could only tape the playing zone. This means taping the part of your stick that will take the most beating. This varies from drummer to drummer, some will tape from the shoulder to the head, others will only tape where the sticks hit the rim, others may tape further down the body to where your fingers are.
Use the same method to tape as other drumsticks, but when it comes to marching band mallets and sticks, where you place the tape is up to you as a musician.
Why do drummers put tape on their drums?
When you are learning to play drums, you may notice that some drummers will put tape on their drum heads. This may seem weird at first, but there is a very valid reason for this.
The primary reason that drummers apply tape to the surface of their drum head is for the reduction of over tones or sustain. Putting tape on their drum heads is also better for studio recordings too, as it will reduce the volume of the drums slightly.
Putting tape over drum heads is one of many solutions for controlling over tones, however, there are other solutions to this problem aside from this.
You will often see tape on a snare drum. This drum being taped is often down to the preferred tastes of the drummer. Some drummers do not like how the overtones of the snare sound.
Duct tape is often a good solution for getting rid of this ‘twangy’ kind of sound that is produced when you hit towards the edges of the snare. Overtones are often heard more towards the edges of a snare and this is why if you see tape on a snare, it is often toward the edges.
Some drummers will also tape their rack toms. This isn’t down to a twangy sound, like that produced by a snare, but it is more due to how much resonance they can produce. This resonance can make them sound much more legato.
In order to fix this, some drummers will use duct tape, placement on toms varies from drummer to drummer though. Obviously the more tape you place on the drum the less resonance you will have, however, you will also have less volume too.
Do keep in mind that you should not go placing tape on a bass drum, if you want to create this dulling effect with a bass drum you can simply place a pillow or a blanket inside it.
In fact, it is almost famously known that they have a lot of sustain, and that a good fix is to simply pop a pillow in there. Some bass drums won’t need this though, depending on the bass drum, how it is designed and built it may already have a cut sustain.
Why do drummers put tape on their drumsticks?
While we know that drummers tape drums to dampen some unwanted sounds, the use for taping drumsticks is totally different. It doesn’t really have anything to do with sound.
Taping drumsticks is most popular amongst marching-band circles, or for drummers who hit their instruments hard, a heavy rock drummer may do this for example.
Taping a stick will make sure that the drummer keeps a good grip on the stick despite how hard they are hitting their drums. It will also provide extra cushioning, which helps you be more comfortable, and also prevents the stick from breaking into pieces as easily.
Taping sticks is done to help increase the durability of a stick, although it's not going to work miracles. It does help to keep a good grip though, while smooth, glamorous, beautifully-finished sticks may look amazing and stylish, they won’t have the absolute best grip you could wish for.
Before you tape your sticks though, it is good to note that you should buy quality drumsticks from the start, doing so means you won’t have to replace them as often, whether you are taping them or not.