Blisters: How do YOU deal with them?

[gumplunger]

I'm starting to get a nasty blister on the inside of my thumb, just wondering how everyone else takes care of their blister problems.

 

[crankz1]

Not much you can do about them, other than tape um up with bandage tape and keep playin.
That's what I used to do back in the day.
After time your hands will get calluses and blisters will be few and far between.
Though if you don't want callused hands and don't want to constantly tape up blisters .... you may want to look into a pair of drumming gloves.
Personally, I can't stand playing with gloves.

 

[Consul]

I play drums at a reasonable volume (the neighbors couldn't hear me, to give you an idea), and never hit the drums too hard. I also discard my sticks once the polish has completely worn off the handle. I've never had a blister form from playing.

 

[ragata]

I just used duct tape. But I don't really get blisters anymore - they usually stop emerging after you've had a few.

 

[Brad_C]

My hands are one big callus.

 

[detuned6]

I don't get to play drums very often, but if i do play a few days in a row, I would get blisters. So now I use zildjian gloves and ahead re-usable stick wrap. And bingo, no blisters.

 

[Lanny Cox]

I don't really play drums that often, but when I do I sometimes get a blister on the side of my index finger. It's mostly when I use my drummer's dipped stick, the rubber on them chafes my finger. Not a big deal though, it's kinda calloused now, and if it gets really bad I just stop for a bit.

 

[Tim Brown]

Well, not to be an ass, but Blisters are the problems of someone who isn't holding the stick properly. I haven't had a blister from playing drums in close to 20 years - and those were caused from using a pair of sticks that were "dipped" in that black rubber stuff.

If you've got a blister, the odds are that you are holding the stick way too tight - and my exhibit A are these guys who don't play getting them. The sticks should be really loose in your hands, in fact they should almost fall out of your hands.

As for callouses: Those are something guitar players get.
I have a pair of drumsticks in my hands for at least an hour a day, 7 days a week, and I don't have a single callous on my fingers or hands.

Learn & Practice with good form and you will quit having those problems.





Tim

 

[Tim Brown]

I don't really play drums that often, but when I do I sometimes get a blister on the side of my index finger. It's mostly when I use my drummer's dipped stick, the rubber on them chafes my finger. Not a big deal though, it's kinda calloused now, and if it gets really bad I just stop for a bit.

BINGO!!!

I had the same problem 20 years ago. That's a gimmick that doesn't work. Drummers don't need gloves, or dipped sticks, they need to learn the Moeller Technique so that they know how to hold the sticks correctly.





Tim

 

[gumplunger]

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Brad_C]

Well, not to be an ass, but Blisters are the problems of someone who isn't holding the stick properly. I haven't had a blister from playing drums in close to 20 years - and those were caused from using a pair of sticks that were "dipped" in that black rubber stuff.

If you've got a blister, the odds are that you are holding the stick way too tight - and my exhibit A are these guys who don't play getting them. The sticks should be really loose in your hands, in fact they should almost fall out of your hands.

As for callouses: Those are something guitar players get.
I have a pair of drumsticks in my hands for at least an hour a day, 7 days a week, and I don't have a single callous on my fingers or hands.

Learn & Practice with good form and you will quit having those problems.





Tim

I play for 3 hours a day 7 days a week and I do have callouses. Also you have to find a perfect ballance between tightness and loseness. To lose and the longer your playing you will have no controll. You most likely heave callouses but you don't realize it. I have them from playing 4 mallet marimba alot cause of the awkward way your have to hold your mallets.

 

[Tim Brown]

I play for 3 hours a day 7 days a week and I do have callouses. Also you have to find a perfect ballance between tightness and loseness. To lose and the longer your playing you will have no controll. You most likely heave callouses but you don't realize it. I have them from playing 4 mallet marimba alot cause of the awkward way your have to hold your mallets.

With the 4 mallets I could see having the callouses. When I was studying in school, 4 mallets was a pain to get used to, and it was never confortable to me.
My hands are about as smooth and soft as a baby's butt, not that I'm Michael Jackson .

It's probably from the Moeller technique, because you do tend to use a lot more wrist action in it, and I also tend to control/maneuver the sticks with my fingers, where a lot of guys will actually have more room for the stick to move, I keep my fingers on the stick virtually all of the time...sort of like "tracking" the sticks with my fingers.... it's hard to explain.

The guys that I've known who had callouses tended to hold the sticks tight, and the also used more of the "tip" and "nail" of their thumbs on the sticks rather holding it farther back in the thumb socket.

 

[Milkman]

I play for 3 hours a day 7 days a week and I do have callouses. Also you have to find a perfect ballance between tightness and loseness. To lose and the longer your playing you will have no controll. You most likely heave callouses but you don't realize it. I have them from playing 4 mallet marimba alot cause of the awkward way your have to hold your mallets.

Yo Brad,

Ditto on the marimba thing. I used to get killer blisters on the inside of my fingers from the mallets rubbing up against them (in the cross grip) and now I'm quite calloused. I've never really had blisters playing drums though.

Milkman

 

[zed32]

i've been playing at least an hour a day for the past 4 weeks now and i haven't had any problems with blisters. the interesting thing is that i naturally have always held the sticks very loosely like how Tim describes, it's always been very comfortable for me,a nd even though i dont use a tight grip, i hardly ever drop a stick unless i do something really boneheaded. another thing that's kinda funny is that i used to practice "rudiments" without even knowing what they were, haha. like when i first started drumming i would sit there and bang on the snare for a half hour doing paradiddles and shit before i even knew what a paradiddle was!

i got the most blisters from playing bass after going a long time without playing. i'd get stupid blisters on my right fingertips, and i'd usually wrap em up like crakz said. my left fingertips are all callused from guitar playing. but yeah i don't use dipped sticks or anything, so i've never suffered any irritation on my hands from playing drums.

 

[drummerdude666]

I play every day, if im practicing or teaching drums or playing in a band.

I play using the Moeller Technique and I play it correctly..........But i still get blisters. I AM playing correctly and I do hold the stick properlly before anybody asks. But i still get them.

The way i help prevent them is drum tape. Vater make it, you can either wrap it around your sticks.........or what i do is wrap it around my fingers. Only one part of one finger. I always get blisters on the bottom third (closest to my palm) on my index fingers.

By wrapping the tape around it stops me getting blisters. I now use it constantly whenever i play drums and always have some in very part of my drum cases. I don't know what causes it, nobody can quite figure out why i get them, becuase technically i shouldn't be getting them.

 

[Brad_C]

The other thing is your name a percussion instrument I have played it so you can imagine where my callouses came from.

 

[mikeh]

I have to agree that bisters are an indication of technique problems (likely holding the sticks too hard).

I've gigged for a long time and at times have played anywhere from 2 to 7 nights a week, at reasonbly loud volume - and I never get blisters.

I did get blisters when I was in my teens, but it was a direct result of poor technique!

Obviously, one has to play though the pain and blisters (until the technique problem is corrected) - and the best option would likely be a band aid, held on with duct tape. Although, that could actually cause another blister!

 

[Gregggor]

I agree it's technique and feel. I was getting, really bad blisters and then they would split, Friggn hurt. So, I got gloves. It helped, but I couldn't get used to them, and messed with my feel. Then I graduated to taping medical wrap around fingers. (That thin light gauze material.) Now, it's just bare hands.

In addition, getting used to your stick control, and held with less grip. And tada! - No more painful blisters/ callusues (sp?) And I found out, with a little slack in your hands, and not holding so the sticks so tight, I got much louder. (In my opinion.) I know these comments don't help the pain in your fingers right now, but it's just advice. Try gloves, Try tape. I know Matt Cameron uses gloves. Lars Ulrich. uses tape. Your decision. It does get better and the pain goes away.
Now, I'm new to Bass and my fingers are friggin sore, but they're getting used to it. So, it's an all new set of pains. damn. I think Nerf should come out with a line of strings.

 

[Anders]

i used to get blisters too, and i taped them up. but now i dont get them anymore, i think my techniqe have improved, and i feel like its easier to play faster and harder now that i play more relaxed and controlled in a way.. its cool to see that im improving as a drummer, and i would recomend to everyone that get blisters to just tape em up and keep practicing, theyl soon be gone forever. i wouldnt recomend drum gloves for anyone they are so fuckin haggard.

 

[firby]

Play Congas instead!

HA!