Thumb Thang  Getting a live shaker sound into what you are playing has generally meant giving something up. Hold one and that hand is doing nothing else. Attach one to a stick and you kill the rebound that makes the stick work. That was the problem Ed Bettinelli was trying to solve when he developed the Thumb Thang, a small wearable shaker that straps to your finger while leaving the hand free to play normally. Bettinelli handed me one at the Music City Drum Show in Nashville, so I decided to give it a try for this month’s Product Close-Up. Construction  The Thumb Thang is a compact molded shell divided into three separate chambers, each filled with small glass beads. Bettinelli says the separate chambers were important to the design because they keep the fill from collecting on one side as your hand rotates, helping the unit stay balanced through different grip positions. He experimented with […]

September 2026 Issue