how do peope find playing gigs without hand protection? maybe my hands are just weak but i always manage to rip my skin apart during a gig, just the brutality of it i guess and the great feeling of playing a gig, i have started using fingerless leather gloves but its hard to move your fingers in them.

I was just wondering how others cope and if this happens to anyone else? maybe im just a weener?

when i used to drum i put tennis grip round the bottom which helped a lot, i reckon over time your skin will get used to it tho, its up to you whether you can be arsed having sore hands for months on end haha

Our drummer used gloves I think. He got some right bad blisters during a gig once and he could hardly play. We sounded right gash.

just keeep ripping your skin up! eventually it becomes hard and numb!

it depends how much meat you have on your fingers. When i was drumming constantly i had to wear gloves as i'm quite thin, so it's easy for the stick to just, damage your skin cos there's nothing to absorb the shock of hitting stuff. If you've got fat fingers with meat on you have no problem, using gloves then is just more for comfort and so the stick doesnt go into peoples colons, although some sticks cause you to drop them more hmmm

i dunno, eat cake.

theres 3 things i know of to do to stop blistering and ripping,

firstly technique and grip position have a large bearing on whether you'll get blisters, make sure you are creating a good fulcrum between either the first or second finger and thumb, the remaining fingers should just be "cradling" the stick not gripping, this can cause blisters etc.

Secondly, as people say playing untill you develope some calouses/hard skin. I used to suffer from severe problems in my early days but since ive improved my technique and played more I dont find it a major problem.

and lastly you can use grip tapes or gloves. I personally do not like gloves as i like to feel in complete control of the stick however i did use some grip tapes. the pro mark stick wrapp is pretty comfortable and good on grip although its a bit pricey. I also used the vater grip tape for a while its pretty usefull but i found slipped off eventually with all my sweat

find what combination of these helps you best and just keep playing , good luck

cheers guys, i think ill buy some thinish gloves or something.

I don't tend to suffer from blisters any more, certainly not as much as I used to. I think a lot of it is down to technique though as sekhmet said.

I've never tried using gloves or grip tape, but I use Zildjian DIP sticks which have a rubber coating on the bottom half where you hold it, which helps me with my grip so I don't lose as many sticks as I used to
I think this must help with reducing blisters too, although if you get a tear in the rubber blisters appear super quick which can be pretty nasty.

The only downside wih these sticks is they're really quite hard to get hold of, I ended up having to order in 12 pairs from America about a year and a half ago, took more than 6 months to arrive, Was worth the wait though

Happy drumming!

check out this stuff, you can wrap it round your hands and sticks so no damage occurs, i got mine the other day and it really works! totally reccomended stuff



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I haven't drummed properly for almost a year due to being at university

I suppose I occasionally got sore hands, but I don't remember it being a big problem.

One comment I would make though is that I found those gimmicky plastic coated sticks to be a really bad idea. Not only does the rubbery layer not actually help grip very much, but it also makes blisters very common, and it usually peels off before long anyway.

I think Zildjian do them - best to avoid Zildjian sticks entirely though in my view, not very good at all.

James wrote:One comment I would make though is that I found those gimmicky plastic coated sticks to be a really bad idea. Not only does the rubbery layer not actually help grip very much, but it also makes blisters very common, and it usually peels off before long anyway.

I think Zildjian do them - best to avoid Zildjian sticks entirely though in my view, not very good at all.

Read my post above James

I swear by those sticks, they really help with grip and I don't get blisters anymore. I'd highly recommend using them

I think sticks do play a major part, for rehearsals i'd use shitty Stagg nylon tipped and they'd tear my hands to shit so i got some Ahead gloves which did the trick nicely. For gigs i use Pro Mark Lombardo Signature sticks coz i like 'em heavy.

Creeping_Dave wrote:Read my post above James

I swear by those sticks, they really help with grip and I don't get blisters anymore. I'd highly recommend using them

Well, whatever works for you!

I just found the rubber grip rubbed badly, whether ripped or not!

ive always found those zildjian sticks to be bad for blistering too, not to mention all zildjian sticks ive used break like balsa wood!

Yeah, the wood they use is really shitty too! I like Vic Firth sticks.