downgrading my cymbals...

[teejcombos]

after a pretty bad mark for a musical performance today i've finally woken up to myself. i'm not good enough/developed enough/experienced enough to have the cymbals i do. i could go on about why, but, NO.

i'm gonna go back to sheet cymbals, maybe even brass. the planet z set i had was fun. i was considering pst3s amongst many other possibilities, because they're nice and cheap. does anyone have any suggestions? and also, anyone wanna buy some paiste rude white hi-hats or a sabian aa metal-x crash?
cheers

[harryconway]

I think you just had a bad day. Don't go back to lower grade equipment, instead, grow into the high grade equipment you own. You're at where you're at. Enjoy it.

[franklinj]

Whats the point of downgrading? Youre going to end up practicing, look around at all the shatty ZBTs and/ or Planet Zs/Solars and say "damn, THAT was a stupid move."

Who said that you need to be good to have good cymbals?

[teejcombos]

Whats the point of downgrading? Youre going to end up practicing, look around at all the shatty ZBTs and/ or Planet Zs/Solars and say "damn, THAT was a stupid move."

Who said that you need to be good to have good cymbals?

i don't really need expensive stuff to be happy playing the drums, well not anymore anyways. for a while having all of this expensive gear made me feel somewhat better. better about my playing and better about myself.
someone else could be doing a lot better things with them. i feel kind of guilty having them when i don't justifiably need them. and it's not like i really want them anymore either. i wanna just go back to the basics, and stay there for a while.

[Wavelength]

Good cymbals and drums will improve your touch greatly. Cheap cymbals tend to mask the player's bad technique with their overall crappiness, but good cymbals will sound very different if proper touch is applied. Stick with your good pies and your touch and ears will improve.

[cjl71178]

I agree with all of the guys. Stick with what you've got, I certainly wouldn't get rid of any of your cymbals...don't downgrade. I've had PLENTY of bad performances...but it only made me realize my mistakes, try to correct them and also try to better myself. Just hang in there.

[the.tree]

If you down grade put your old cymbals away in a closet or something, don't sell em you'll come out behind.

[Big_Philly]

I too agree that you shouldn't sell your high end cymbals for the reason of not being a high-end drummer. I think that, once you downgrade, you'll be sick of the low-end or mid-range stuff in less than a year...

[GRUNTERSDAD]

There was a thread some time back that asked if playing with newer/better equipment was any motivation to help your playing mood...Something to that effect, and no one ever said I'm not worthy of my equipment, so I'm going to downgrade. I know I always feel better when I add new stuff or rearrange stuff and I'm not sure where I am on the "worthy meter."

Keep your better stuff and if you feel better with lesser equipment, then fine, but keep the better stuff. It will only cost an arm and a leg to replace later. I havent seen any drum equipment, especially cymbals, go down in value,....ever.

[2sticks4strings]

Not to sound like a jerk but if your selling I might be interested in the Sabians. I also would not sell but if your mind is made up to sell, I am always looking for a good deal, hell I think I still have some ZBT's collecting dust somewhere.

[teejcombos]

it's an 18 incher in natural finish. where are you from? if you were from aussieland it'd make things easier. i actually paid retail for it because i didn't know any better at the time, so it was $475. it's still in prime condition.
but yeah, where are you from? i'm still selling a few of the cymbals which have been phased out due to my change of style, eg hard hitting. that's why i'm selling the metal-x, the rudes, and i'm considering contacting the one known as johan to get a ufip tiger ride reworked.

[drummerchick435]

I have ZBT's right now and they're a bunch of crap and they make me frustrated as to why I play the drums. What I'm trying to say is to at least keep your good cymbals.

[d.c.drummer]

Trust me, you'll grow into them. In addition, dont sell yourself short... According to you rational, nobody would be able to play JoJo Mayer's sig ride because there are very few human beings as good as him.

In a year or two, (which will be here before you know it, and you know that) your current cymbals wont be good enough for you. Dont let a bad day rob you of quality sound.

[teejcombos]

yeah, it was an awful day. that plus after closely analysing the situation i've come to the conclusion that my teacher is extreeeeeeemely biased. she claims i have no dynamic variation, when my dynamic variation is obvious. and she has the nerve to say that when this stupid bass player has absolutely no dynamic variation whatsoever, and he gets no criticism on the matter. that plus he royally screwed up one of his pieces, and it still scored way higher than mine. like, it was the worst out-of-time, out-of-key bass solo you could ever imagine.

[d.c.drummer]

yeah, it was an awful day. that plus after closely analysing the situation i've come to the conclusion that my teacher is extreeeeeeemely biased. she claims i have no dynamic variation, when my dynamic variation is obvious. and she has the nerve to say that when this stupid bass player has absolutely no dynamic variation whatsoever, and he gets no criticism on the matter. that plus he royally screwed up one of his pieces, and it still scored way higher than mine. like, it was the worst out-of-time, out-of-key bass solo you could ever imagine.

IT WAS ANOTHER PERSON?

To hell with them. I once showed a Steve Gadd vid to one of my drum mentors and he started crticizing it. To borrow from Jay-Z "get that dirt off your shoulders". NEVER let somebody demoralize you soo bad that you wanna sell your stuff.

[tamadrummer132]

u can send me your stuff...


naw that'd be mean.

now, if this wasnt some stupid crap just to get attention, then here is my advice
get over it... dont blow 300 bucks on crappy cymbals. Even beginners i tell to buy used cymbals isntead of crappy new ones. so.. bad day or you really do suck, dont sell your stuff

[Class A Drummer]

Downgrading will do you no good, and probabaly make you a worse drummer, because you wont like the sound as much and possibly not want to play as much.

I dont see the point of buying bad cymbals if you think you are bad. No matter how good you are, i belive that a person should always strive for the best sound they can get.

Also, what happens when you become an amazing drummer in a few years? You wont want to gig with bad cymabals then have to spend more money again.

Stick with the High end cymbals. Please. Do yourself, and you audience a favor!

[GRUNTERSDAD]

IT WAS ANOTHER PERSON?

To hell with them. I once showed a Steve Gadd vid to one of my drum mentors and he started crticizing it. To borrow from Jay-Z "get that dirt off your shoulders". NEVER let somebody demoralize you soo bad that you wanna sell your stuff.

Right on D.C. I can't believe a teacher would make you feel so bad about yourself. Must be more teachers around. That's not right.

[frank0072]

man, don't sell your stuff. My first kit (I only play for half a year) is a Tama Rockstar, wich is not a true 'beginner' set if you ask me, but I get to know it better all the time and I hope that in a few years I will be able to get the full potential out of it. Looking at my skills I am 'worthy' of playing a practice pad or a cheapassed Basix set or something like that, but I have the chance to learn to play the drums on something better, and I can grow into it. You can grow into your stuff too, you become better everytime you hit them, and as already said, in a few years you will fully use the potential of them. Just go for it

[furbeedog@gmail.com]

yeah man, if you think you don't have good technique or variation then the way to deal with is deifinitely not to sell them and buy cheaper cymbals that mask your shortcomings with their own. Two wrongs don't make a right. Having the cymbals that are very advanced will only force you to get better that much quicker. It's like weight-lifting, your muscles are forced to either grow or die, and i'm pretty sure your not looking to quit, so my advice is to keep on using the cymbals you've got because as a drummer you can't really get worse. You can have a bad day, or a bad week, or even a month, but if you keep on practicing and striving to get better, your gonna get better, period.

[BertTheDrummer]

One thing I can say is a bad teacher can and a lot of times will actually make you play worse rather than better. I had a really bad private teacher when I was in junior high that really harped on me about stuff I wasn't even doing and actually made me want to not practice or play anymore. I actually took multiple steps back rather than going forward, and my technique was really screwed up after that, took some time to correct all of what that teacher screwed up. After what you've described I'd prob suggest getting another private teacher.