When should you use metal drumsticks?

 I had looked long and hard at metal drumsticks.

Made for warming up and building strength, aluminum sticks can be found in both solid and hollow varieties, in multiple weights and sizes. They should be approached with caution, and only by experienced drummers. Used with discretion they can be a part of a drummer’s conditioning. Used at too heavy a weight or too great a frequency, they can cause real and lasting damage to your hands.

Most aluminum drum sticks come in weights by ounces (usually 6, 8 or 10 ounces), and the weight of a lighter pair might surprise you.

I had an opportunity to buy a very affordable pair of lighter weight (4 ounce) sticks as part of a drum pad sale package, and figured that if they felt too heavy or otherwise wrong I could always find another home for them. To my surprise, they are nice way to carefully warm up at the beginning of a practice session. And they are plenty heavy enough for me.

I began by using the sticks on a softer rubber pad, playing slow, alternating strokes for a minute or less, then setting them aside and continuing with my regular sticks. Used sparingly — 2 to 3 times a week — they do help warm up my hands. If I feel comfortable, I will work my way up to ninety seconds over time.

My sticks were made in Taiwan and sold through an overseas wholesaler. I paid roughly ten dollars for my pair, and would guess that sold separately from the pad I got they’d go for less than twenty bucks a pair.

Other makes and models are made here in the US and sell for upwards of fifty to a hundred dollars a pair.

If you are a beginning drum student, avoid metal sticks and just keep practicing with regular sticks for a few years at least, especially if you are still growing. Check with your. Drum teacher and see what they recommend, and if they tell you to stay away from them, take their advice. Heavy warmup sticks are not for every drummer or every style of playing.