Gig Grips

I saw these back at NAMM and was interested in trying them out.  I’m the type of drummer who starts out a set at full speed with my playing and about two or three songs into the set I find myself holding on to my sticks for dear life because my hands get tired. Yes, I need to pace myself better, but when I saw these I thought maybe they would help a little. 

Basically, they’re a piece of rubberized plastic that fits over your sticks and forms a loop for your finger to fit through…simple and effective.  They are comfortable to use and don’t really get in the way while playing. I noticed I could relax my grip a little and still play without worrying about doing any unintentional stick tricks!

Although these are pretty cool, I feel that there are some drawbacks to them, mainly for the rock and metal guys. They don’t change out quickly. If you break a stick mid song you’re pretty much stuck until the end of the song, you can’t just drop the broken stick and get a fresh one. I think that these would work better for lighter players. I did see that they also work for traditional grip players too, you just use it with your thumb.

So for mainstream drummers I think these are a great product, for rock and metal drummers, not so much.

If these are for you, check ‘em out at www.giggrips.com.

Feel free to discuss!

Guerrilla Drum Making

This is for those who have always wanted to make their own drum but didn’t know the first thing about drum building. Guerrilla Drum Making is a step by step DVD for the amateur drum builder.  The main points of the DVD are finishes, how to prep the shell and how to do the finishes. 

They include:

Collage

Black satin stain

Veneer

Sunburst

Laminate

Working with acrylic shells

While it talks about drilling the shell and how to align the holes properly, it doesn't go into cutting bearing edges. That is still best left to the professionals, but I will say that on their webpage (www.guerrilladrummaking.com) they have a very comprehensive blog on building with MANY resources listed. They even have a gallery to post pictures of drums made by owners of the DVD! So don't just buy the DVD, utilize the webpage as well!

As a builder myself, I do some of the things in this DVD differently than they do but their methods still work and even with my personal drum building experience, I still managed to glean some new info from it!

So if you ever wanted to build your own drum I suggest that you pick up this DVD, it has a lot of great info and tips in it. I received an email a while back saying that there’s going to be a sequel! I’ll be picking that one up too!

Until next time!

Supernatural Cymbals

Supernatural Cymbals is one of many new cymbal companies that have popped up in the past few years, I had heard of them for a while before I saw their booth at NAMM 2010 and heard MANY good things about them so I thought I’d try them out…Man! Was I surprised with what got! 

For this review I chose the 13” Aura Hats, 22” Impact Power Bell Ride, 18 Aura Crash and 18” Prodigy Pro Crash. I have shot a video of each cymbal as well to check out!

Here are my findings…

13” Aura Hats: These are REALLY bright hats! I love them. To me personally, Sabian’s 13” HH Bright Hats set the standard for bright hats but these Supernatural’s surpass them easily. They are brighter and project very well. They have a very nice slosh to them when opened slightly and a nice sharp, bright “chick” when closed tightly. Score!

Next is the 22” Impact Power Bell Ride. This is a 22” monster with a bell that a blind man could hit with ease. Nice wash, but not too much. A ping that stands out from the wash and the music as well. The tone is perfect to the ear of this writer.

18” Prodigy Pro: This is a nice bright cymbal that cuts through the music very well. Nice tone and resonance, yet there is enough middle frequencies that it won’t get drowned out.  A great sounding cymbal that has the potential to have quite a bit of versatility.

18” Aura: This is a very bright cymbal, especially for an 18” cymbal. While it’s the same size as the Prodigy Pro, it’s noticeably brighter…I love bright cymbals…did I mention that already? It works great in combination with the Prodigy Pro bringing out the higher frequencies.

Overall, Supernatural Cymbals is going to give “The Big Three” a good run for their money. These are Turkish Cymbals in the true sense of the word with their own foundry actually in Turkey! I like these cymbals. They have my official stamp of approval!

There is going to be a giveaway for a Supernatural Splash cymbal! I’m just waiting on a cymbal to be shipped to me. Once it’s in my hands I will post the rules for entering the giveaway! In the meantime, enjoy the videos!

PJ