Types of Brushes. There's quite a variety of brushes on the market. There are wire brushes with varying degrees of both wire width and flexibility. There are plastic brushes of various weights and lengths. Right now, I prefer plastic brushes for most playing and wire brushes of medium width for ballads and more sensitive playing.
Experimentation is the key.
Obviously, coated heads are a must for brushes since friction is what makes much of the sound. New heads sometimes can be too rough, so what I usually do is run over a new head lightly with sandpaper to smooth out any rough spots. This lets the brushes glide evenly and smoothly over the head. Instead of writing out one or two basic brush beats, I will explain three important brush strokes for each hand. After mastering each one, you can combine different ones according to style and tempo.