Advice About Drumstick Thickness

An associate general counsel with Franklin Templeton Investments since 2015, John Hornbostel provides legal support for the company’s Solutions business, in addition to its Alternative Strategies. In his spare time, John Hornbostel enjoys listening to music. He also used to play drums. 

Novice drummers often underestimate the role of drumstick thickness in determining the type of music they can play. A number and letter acronym denote stick thickness. Thicker sticks are more durable but are also heavier. This precludes them from use for light music styles, such as jazz and pop.

For such styles of music, drummers should select 7A, 8D, or 5A sticks, each of which can achieve a lighter sound. The 5A sticks are the thickest of the three, meaning they are also used for pop and light rock music, such as indie and pop-rock.

Those who wish to play straight-ahead rock music should choose the 5B, whereas heavy metal drummers tend to prefer 2B sticks, as these sticks offer increased power and can withstand the hard and rapid drumming required of the genre.