Heavier sticks for practicing?

Does anyone use heavier sticks for practicing? Any experience with those Dom Famularo VF Practice sticks? :-)

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I've been using heavy sticks on a pad or pillow for a few months now. (I'm not sure if it helps, though.) I use one of the Vic Firth Dennis DeLuca models. It's kind of a dark brown with a "taj mahal" tip, and I guess it's made of laminated birch, which makes them feel about 3 times as heavy as any other marching stick I've tried. They're not cheap, either...about $30/pr. retail!!

Dom's Pad Stick is made out of maple, which would actually make it lighter. Check out "Dom's Cyberlessons" at vicfirth.com. He says that the lighter stick helps stretch out the muscles better, but I haven't tried it.

Incidentally, there is also a clip on the VF website that absolutely floored me: Jim Chapin demonstrating the Moeller stroke!

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Absolutely.

I spent years practicing doubles with Pro Mark DC-10's. They're drum-corps sticks. Its like baseball players in the on-deck circle with those weights on their bats. After swinging that thing for a while a regular bat feels a lot lighter. Same type a deal.
I'm a big believer in that.

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webmaster, www.houseofdrumming.com

[This message has been edited by Steve Holmes (edited March 16, 2002).]

The only caution I would bring up is that with using heavir sitcks to practice you develop the muscles in the hands and wrists to a much higher degree. What I mean is that the muscles form and develop favoring the heavier stick and so as you switch to a lighter stick you loose some sensitivity. Another thing is that one gets used to putting extra energy to get a heavier stick to move but as you switch to the lighter sitck you still exert that much energy and therefore may tend to over exert your hand and wrist muscles.

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Yeah I sorta agree with this cat. I've been playing outta one of Wanamaker's Snare book at college with Ralph Hardimon Vic Firth Marching Sticks. They're great, but when I picked up my smaller sticks I felt like a caveman swinging a club. It was like I had lost something.

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Any experience with those Real Feel practice pads?

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I understand what you guys are saying and I've experenced it myself. However I do believe it is only temporary. If what you were saying is true then one may only feel comfortable playing on a kit from then on using those bigger sticks. Thats unlikely.

Unless you've spent your whole drumming life playing with those sticks I cant see some hard-core practice time with them having the ability to over ride already existing muscle memory developed from practicing with regular sticks.

Moreover I actually think by building muscle you increase your ability to control the stick overall, including finess, touch, whatever. Its just more horses under the hood. What you do with them is your decision.

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webmaster, www.houseofdrumming.com

[This message has been edited by Steve Holmes (edited March 18, 2002).]