Does anybody use black tape at all on their lines? I'm posting this in bass because my line uses it on bass and i was wondering who else does.

i don't recall us ever using black but if had something to do w/ the theme im sure we would. my rookie year we taped the sticks in red and white for the christmas parade and then when we marched St. Patrick's Day Parade that year we taped them in green so. like i said i imagine if it had something to do w/ the theme we might but normally we just use white

we just do it black because it sticks out more against the white head.

makes sense i guess. i have no idea why we use white..tradition i suppose who knows

well we did use white, but we got a new instructor, im waiting to see how it works out this year with him.

An explanation I've heard, is, if you've got really freakin' sweet zones on the basses, like everyone plays in the center of the head, why not show it off? You can see the black on the white better. The reason most high school lines use white tape is because they don't necessarily all play in the center of the head. I know my freshman year I didn't always play in the center of the head. It's kinda like giving the awesome snareline a longer break than the bad tenorline or suttin, ya know? I'm not sayin the snarelines are always better or anythin' but I hope you catch my drift. It's to show off what ya got, if ya got it. And if not, then to make your basses play in the center of the head, otherwise everyone will know.

yeah we have a sophmore on 1, a sophmore on 2 a, a sophmore on 3, a freshman on 4 and a senior on 5. not too experianced so i guess the tape is for motivation.

Where did you get that gem from?

The only way that would even have a remote chance of being accurate is if every HS used a white top head, never changed playing zones and the staff was silly enough to have kids marching that can't find the center of a 13 or 14" inch circle.

I can see where he might think white tape against a white bass head could be used to hide. But we all know -- well, we almost all know -- that's not why it's used.

White tape is used on snares and tenors precisely because it is visible. It shows up bright in daylight and especially under lights, and it contrasts well to shadows and other colors (uniforms, etc.). Now, with this in mind, does it sound like we drummers would try to chicken out and hide when it comes to something as easy as simply holding the mallet in the middle of a bass head?

Now for some speculation... When it came time to tape bass mallets, what color tape do we already have laying around? White! It also looks good from a uniformity standpoint since it matches the snares and tenors. And since it's the same color as the felts, it looks good on the mallet, too.

When I was in high school, I experimented with a pair of practice mallets by dyeing the felt black. It actually turned out pretty well and was obviously visible against the head. I think the best part about it was that dirt on the mallet head was pretty much invisible. The black head with a white shaft was a nice visual effect, but it was simply too much work to dye every mallet. I also don't know how well the dye would've held up over time.

I actually was having this conversation with my father, when I was trying to explain that I needed him to buy me white tape. "Why white?" he asked only 5 thousand times, "We have red and black and green lying around here somewhere. Why does it have to be white?" Now I know what to tell him, haha.

The funny thing is, our basses still have black heads from indoor season, so the white tape makes it stand out even more.