[tamamamama]

I would suggest tilting your cymbals down toward you some, but not to where it's uncomfortable. Makes a HUGE difference in stick life. Beautiful kit, btw

[drum_ritual]

When I first started playing drums, I would shred sticks like it was going out of style. In fact, I thought that it was normal to do so. Now, many years later, I hardly ever break sticks thanks to improved technique. I think we all know that rimshots do cause increased wear on sticks. As was mentioned in another post, playing the edge of the hihat can slowly shred sticks over time. I've also found that the stress of pinging on the ride cymbal can cause slowly-growing fractures in sticks. I think that most of us have learned by now that a drummer needn't pound the hell out of the drums/cymbals in order to get the right sound. Then again, some accents should be played with a fierceness and that's when stick failures occur.

One other thing that should be mentioned is choosing quality drumsticks. It's important to look the sticks over before buying them. Even well-known and trusted brands (Vic Firth comes to mind) sell sticks that are just waiting to break. Look at the wood grain and make sure that it runs the length of the stick. Wood grain that runs diagonal to the stick is a sign that the stick will never last. I've seen plenty of packages of sticks where one stick is perfect but the other has inappropriate wood grain characteristics. Personally, I think that quality control should have caught them before leaving the factory but I digress. Sometimes (almost always), you have to mix and match sticks. If a music store has a problem with you doing this then I would go somewhere else or at least talk to the manager. I've never been to a store where this was a problem, though.

Stick failures happen. Usually at the worst possible time. Sometimes it's the stick. Sometimes it's your technique. Sometimes it's just time that the stick finally breaks. Even great sticks have to die at some point. Brings a tear to my eye.

[drum_ritual]

Forgot to mention--painted/dark stained drumsticks are not your friend. If you can't clearly see the woodgrain then how could you possibly know whether or not the stick will hold up? We would all like to think that stick manufacturers are sticklers (no pun intended) for quality control and they would never ship defective sticks from the factory--especially expensive signature-series sticks that are often stained or painted. However, the sad reality (based on my personal experience) is that about 50% of sticks are defective. Example: my brother got me a pair of Zildjian Trilok Gurtu artist series sticks with dark-stained finish and soft rubberized grip as a gift. These are fairly expensive sticks. Well, unfortunately they broke (literally) within 5 seconds of playing. Crap. The fracture indicated that the sticks had wood grain that ran diagonal to the stick.

	Zildjian Cymbals Shop for Zildjian Cymbals at Musician's Friend

[slingerland59]

Interesting thread. I absolutely love rimshots and I've got NewBeat hi-hats with a pretty heavy top cymbal, so I expect sticks to break. It's not a big deal. You have to learn how to pick up a new stick mid-riff. But I do examine my sticks (hickory) before I buy them, to check for weight, straightness and grain to minimize breakage. And I check the wood tips. I lose more sticks to chipped tips than clean breaks.
I like the earlier comment about getting a PA system. I've always thought that would be a good idea. I've just never been in the tax bracket to afford it. Maybe some day!

[xxvenom13xx]

I'd just rather not have to keep switching sticks, man. But then again, even when I play metal, I usually don't have to. I've broken the most sticks playing marching music...of course, with the thickest pairs of sticks. Ah the irony.

[docROCKER]

i would agree. i have a pair of vic firth 2Bs and i have had them for a few years now and even if i hit the rim really hard, they stay ok. i would agree with the first comment; its also about how you play the drum, for example if you hit your drum with with your whole arm, you might break it, but using your wrist, you would be ok

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[S.A.L.]

Sticks break.
Milk spills.
I will not sacrifice the sound my snare makes when the stick hits the rim in tandem with the head.
It cost to sound pretty.

[HBdrummer1]

So much good advice from all... I wish I could have accessed information like this 40+ years ago when I first started playing so I didn't have to learn the expensive way, but I did learn... I use cymbals, a lot of them, for aesthetics I like to keep them flatter, but I keep them lower so I can come down on them and not across the edge (but it does happen occasionally). Because of some physical limitations I sit low so I do angle the drums, but just enough to miss the rims. Everything is mic'd so I get a big sound without having to kill my sticks or the drums to be heard, so I don't have to be a hard hitter either. The only thing that chews anything up for me now is my hats and the occasional oops... I still keep wood sticks around but went to the Ahead alloy sticks over a year ago, I play no less than two hours daily and only replace the sleeve's every couple months or so. I've read reviews of these sticks where people are breaking them, how hard do you have to hit to break an aluminum stick?? I can't remember the last time I cracked a cymbal, and my heads seem to last indefinitely now. No stick will last forever but proper techniques and equipment setup can keep the stick budget to a minimum along with everything else.

	Ahead Drumsticks Shop for Ahead Drumsticks at Musician's Friend

[ACE.PACE]

Great Advice everyone!
I used to break sticks all the time and i thought a more expensive stick would help with them breaking. Like quality=price type of thing. but i soon came to find out i was wrong lol
Technique is the biggest factor in stick life!
or course rim shots, cymbal angles, tom angles, and quality of sticks are all factors but you'll definately see the biggest longevity change in your sticks after proper form is accomplished.
It's not how hard you hit it, it's how well you hit it
Cheers

[Gus]

I want mine to last longer...

I currently have my crash tilted towards me steep, and I never do rim shots, though...

I like my ride flat, and my hats about two and a half inches lower the longer DW rod... I try to hit my ride and hats on the top rather then hitting the edge...
My snare and toms are all basically level, though I try and prevent rim shots by tilting my snare to the left, I also hit all my drums in the middle...

Any Ideas with out changing it drastically?

P.S. my friend broke 3 or marching sticks in one show!

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