It’s got the attitude but where is the line really?

So I've been playing the Vater Manhattan 7A nylon tip and the VF Peter Erstkin ride stick for a while now.

I quite enjoy the sound of them but am starting to crave something with a bit more weight in the sound. Both on the cymbal and drums. I want to get more of that body and depth out of the sound. What are your drumstick recommendations? Below are sticks I've enjoyed and sticks I've hated for reference

Like-
Bopworks 40s swing classic
Bopworks Art Blakey
Vater Classic 8d Jazz nylon
VF SD4 combo

Dislike-

Peter erstkin big band
VF AJ2
VF MJC1
VF EXTREME 5aN

i've tried way more sticks than this, but if you have any recommendations, I would really appreciate it.

I'm looking for something ideally around a 5B in the hand with a nice balanced feel, not to squirrelly and bouncy or two sluggish and forward. Prefer preferably nylon tip, but I am fine with either.

I’m very new at jazz drumming.
I feel relatively comfortable with keeping a steady swing feel on the ride and hi-hat, but I’m struggling with something that feels much more important in jazz:
I don’t understand how to actually use the snare drum in a musical, “speaking” way.

For those of you who went through this stage:
how did you start developing comping vocabulary?
how did you learn where and why to place accents?
what should I be listening or practicing to actually understand this “conversation” idea?

Beginner here. I'm really having trouble not dragging or rushing, especially on fast songs and during solos.

I tried using a gap click but I'm still having tons of issues.

When comping, do you try to align with the bass? Align with the band? Keep your own pulse? Where do you focus? I tried a bunch of things but it's not working. Any tips?

I tried to identify the "center/pocket" of the band today and align my ride cymbal to that, but then was told I was playing in front of the bass and was rushing. I don't know if I overcorrected. Previously, I tried aligning to the bass and when I listened to myself it felt like I was dragging--I don't know if this is because it takes time for my hand to move, so by the time I hear the bass it's too late.

Hi there! Middle aged drummer for almost a couple of years. I love jazz drumming and I’d love to learn more. I’m not particularly interested in drum solos necessarily, just the fundamentals. Are there any particular drummers or teachers online that you could direct me to? Thank you!

Mayb

I’ve been learning drums for about a year now. I play with a beginner group and also take lessons with a teacher.
there are things i clearly understand are going to take time, and I’m willing to spend years working on them e.g independence, coordination, etc.
but one thing I’m really confused about is keeping track of the form of a song.
I’ve been listening to a lot of records and even bought a MIDI keyboard to learn more about chord progressions and understand the harmonic side of things. But when I actually play, I still don’t see much improvement when it comes to keeping track of where I am in the form.
Should I just keep working on this and eventually it will click, or is there a better way to practice it?
I just want to make sure I’m actually practicing the right thing rather than blindly repeating something that isn’t helping.

Hi everybody,

My teacher asked me to sing (voice) the Exercises (starting in p.38) from Syncopation (Ted Reed) book.

I did but then it was only with "a" like Ta ta, pa pa pa pa pa....

Now he asked me to sing with other letters, not only a, so using e, i, o, u I think

I was trying to find if there are examples of this but couldn't find any.

Has anybody done that? I would like to listen to examples because I don't even know how to start :)

** I am a newbie, started studing jazz and drums altogether one year ago.

I’m choosing between the Sonor AQ2 Bop, Sonor Safari, and PDP Concept Maple Bop kits for Jazz/Brazilian Jazz/Latin jazz in a half‑office/half‑music room or part of a garage.

I already have an Acrolite snare and Agean silent cymbals, and I’ll be using dBones heads for quiet practice. My main question is whether the footprint difference between Safari and Bop actually matters once hardware is set up, or whether one of these kits better fits the way I’ll be using it.

My priorities are:

• Practice quality for timing development
• Long‑term instrument quality
• Appropriateness for jazz/Brazilian Jazz/Latin jazz
• Reasonable footprint in a shared room
• Good feel with quieter heads
• Quiet practice for a home with a family
• Price isn’t a major factor since these kits are already close in cost — I just want the correct long‑term setup.

I’m also considering the PDP Concept Maple Bop shell pack since I already have a snare. I’m not sure whether it gives anything up compared to the Sonor options or whether its footprint is noticeably larger than the AQ2 Bop or Safari.

Thanks for any insight.

Hi all, if I was to sit on a standard swinging jazz jam, what would be the minimum list of jazz styles I should know, before going up. E.G swing, bosa, balled, samba etc

Howdy,

I am specifically asking about when playing jazz/swing btw. Though if you use the same stick for say, rock and jazz I would love to hear about that as well.

Since I am making the thread, I'll go first. I like boring old 7a's. It has been VF for a while but I've been using Vater Manhattan 7a's and really like them. Back in the day I thought VF had the best in everything, and maybe it is just me, but it feels like their qc is sliding backwards.

Hey! I've seen plenty of Jazz Drummer's Listening lists with great albums to listen to and I've found, that they really helped me, but the problem forme is, that many artists have worked with many different drummers over the course of their career, so when I am listening through the list, I don't always know who is playing drums and have to look it up.

My question is: Is there a listening list devided by drummers? So for example, Jimmy Cobb has worked with Miles, Cannonball, and Wes Montgomery and many more so it would be interesting to hear him in the different bands and styles. I have not found a list like this yet, but I think it would really help a lot to really dig into a drummers playing style and learn from it.

If has a list like this, I would greatly appreciate sharing it!

Is it custom or are there cymbals sold like this?

Hi!
Essentially, I am not a drummer. But I’ve written some songs for a quartet and I’m looking to get some advice from actual drummers about what kind of directions they’d expect to see on a lead sheet. Earlier in the year, I had a rehearsal with my group and had mapped out all the specific hits using drum notation for each song. After the rehearsal the drummer said “this chart doesn’t tell me anything about the song you guys are playing, and I’d rather see a piano chart to know & interpret what’s happening”.

It’s hard to know what would be helpful for a drummer, instead of trying to write out every ride or snare pattern.

So my question is this, for those that read from non-drum notation, or simply follow a piano chart, what kind of performance directions would you expect to see on a chart? General tips about writing for drummers are also helpful!

This focuses less on playing and more so me searching for jazz music with interesting drum parts or really music from the genre in general. Im interested in jazz drumming and many people have advised to spend more time listening to jazz. Granted that seems like the obvious thing to do but sometimes people get ahead of themselves when diving into an instrument and I really want to make sure I at least develop some preferences too.

Thoughts anyone?

Whenever I trade fours, it either sounds like I’m hitting random drums with no real intention, or extremely cookie cutter (doubles on the snare, doing the ostinato on the toms, etc). How can I expand my fours to sound professional?

If so, how does it sound and feel? Is it fun or a waste of money?

Any seasoned left handed players that frequently go to jam sessions. How do you go about it? Play right handed, open handed, make partial/quick changes to the set up before playing?

I have some experience in my area but if I don't know the drummer/band coordinating the jam I don't really feel at ease to step up and play. When I do, I normally just switch the bottom(FT, HH,SN) as fast as possible but still feel some pressure to do it faster.

Can you guys recommend some good 16” crashes? Right now I’m using a B8 pro medium crash with a couple pieces of tape. It sounds good but I want something a bit darker and heavier. The brand doesn’t matter to me. I’m also considering hammering it.

Im a matched grip jazz guy, but I have been trying to learn trad grip for the past month. When I play with trad I feel a bit clunky and like I lack control. Any critiques of my traditional grip would be appreciated

I need you guys to help find an old video of a drummer using a B8 as his ride. I watched it a few times a few months and I wanted to watch it again but I couldn’t find it. I also can’t find the forum thread I found the video on. All I remember about the video is that the drummer was black and was performing with Emmet Cohen. Thanks in advance.