Lighter sticks? That's the solution I have been using when practising in a small basement and it works a treat!!!

I usually play 5b and I now play 7a. It forces me to play lighter, as sticks are bloody expensive as you well know. Nobody's ears we're bleeding after yesterday's rehearsal. I will still gig with 5b unless I am in a small venue. Try it for kicks.

I use brushes alot in small bars that I play in. They can be effective if played right.

A set of Rute sticks will do the trick. My band does one acoustic number during the set, I use a set of rutes, play normally and the sticks take my drums volume way down.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&q=rute+drumsticks&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=12397989267901610242

John

If you feel like you "lose technique" when you play quiet, then you need to practice playing quiet. That's all there is to it. Only play with brushes or bundles of dowels when you want *that* sound.

I played this weekend with an acoustic group with 2 acoustic guitars, me on bass, and a drummer. I was the only one with an amp, and there was no PA system. The idea was to play quiet enough so that the two guitar players' vocals could be heard over the instruments. Simple enough, right? Well, the drummer showed up, and actually had a nice little Sonor bop kit. We were about to do a simple soundcheck, when the drummer plays a little bit...you know, to verify that the set up feels right. Man, if I didn't know there was a drum set on stage, I could have sworn his first snare hit was a gun shot! One of the guitarists said, "You're going to play quieter during the set, right?" To which the drummer replied, "What, you mean, like, with Hot Rods? Sorry, I left those at home..." DOH And, to top it off, he didn't bring any of the charts with him that he was sent. He went into this long story about how he can usually follow along pretty well without charts, but didn't know how he would hear the music since the guitarists didn't have amps. DOH He was dropped on the spot, right before downbeat. He left his kit set up and went to the bar next door, so I hopped onto it for a few tunes, playing kick and hats while I played bass. I got a nice little bonu$ for that, I'm assuming which came from the "drummer's" cut... :)

Thanks for the info guys, Bunnyman, I play pretty light sticks already and have various brushes and bast sticks. I think I will get some Rute sticks, thanks John. In the end I think practicing playing quieter might be the solution.

Go to the bottom of the page (and at least on my browser) I saw something that would NOT be suitable: Pro Mark Gnt Giant Sticks!!!

Somebody has a sense of humour.

In my last band, we had a fairly regular gig at a bar in a quiet neighborhood, that often got noise complaints. My solution was initially to use hot rods, which really didn't feel right for the up tempo British Invasion music we were playing, so I came up with a solution which worked pretty well for me. I had an old Tama Imperialstar kit that I'd converted the 18" floor tom to a kick drum. I took an old set of cotton bed sheets and cut out pieces to fit each drum. I put these over each of the batter heads, and then secured the hoops over top the heads, and sheet material to secure, and then trimmed the excess material from under the hoops. It looked tidy, and deadened the sound quite considerably. Not quite the snappin', boomin' sound I preferred, but I was able to play with my regular technique, but at a quieter volume. Actually didn't sound too bad.

Or you could that!!!