Bell of the Ride Cymbal Technique

[Jeremy Bender]

I'm right-handed and was taught to play the bell of the cymbal palm-up, coming at it from the right side. I see a lot of people playing from the left side (palm down). Any advantage of one vs. the other?

[JeremyS]

I'm right-handed and was taught to play the bell of the cymbal palm-up, coming at it from the right side. I see a lot of people playing from the left side (palm down). Any advantage of one vs. the other?

I play it coming from the left, palm down. Just seems to be the comfortable way for me to play with how my set up is and that's definitely the most important thing.

[Fiery]

My ride cymbal is already pretty far to the right on a 5 piece kit, so I never found it too comfortable to reach all the way to the right of the bell to play from that position. Coming from the left side, I also find it a bit easier to hit the sweet spot of some tricky bells, and to hit it perpendicular to the surface of the bell.

[armilos]

it's true the only real diffrence is what's more comftrble to you, but in this case it's not true.
the big difrence betwin the two tequnics is that palm up will kill you wrist.
it's a less natural move for the joint, so it dameges it.

[Deathmetalconga]

I play open, left hand hats and ride, and I play palm-down and hitting the shoulder of the stick on the bell to produce the most spank.

[Delwrick]

I play palm down. Occasionally when I'm going back and forth between my crash and my ride though, I sometimes play palm up. It just feels natural.

On a side note, don't you hate it when you hit the bell, and the connection is so spot on that your stick just snaps?!

[wy yung]

I'm right-handed and was taught to play the bell of the cymbal palm-up, coming at it from the right side. I see a lot of people playing from the left side (palm down). Any advantage of one vs. the other?

There is no right or wrong way. I use French grip and German and American grips to play the cymbal. It depends on the sound you want to get at the time.

[sciomako]

Occasionally when I'm going back and forth between my crash and my ride though, I sometimes play palm up. It just feels natural.


I suppose you meant you had a crash at the right of your ride (and your kit is right-handed)?

[Pollyanna]

I'm using the tip of the stick around the middle of the bell in my quiet band. When I played RnR I'd use American grip (didn't know what the grip was called at the time) on the LH side of the bell, striking with the upper end of the stick shaft. The LHS was closer.

Love the bell. It's great when you get just the sound you're after, a bummer when you clip the #@$%!^& felt or wingnut!

[Boomka]

I largely play the left side simply because it's closer. Also, you don't have to worry about getting caught on the wing-nut/post on the way back to the left side of the kit.

[JT1]

I play palm down. Occasionally when I'm going back and forth between my crash and my ride though, I sometimes play palm up. It just feels natural.

On a side note, don't you hate it when you hit the bell, and the connection is so spot on that your stick just snaps?!

Haha yeah i have had this problem, you feel the resonance travel through the stick and snap! Mind you the sticks have always been quite old so it doesn't matter.

To answer the question, i play on the left (palm down) I've realised it is much easier and you don;t have to stretch as far.

[thelimpingtoad]

I switch... even in the same song I'll often find myself switching back and forth between phrases. i'm a little weird like that though...

the nice thing about cymbals is that theres so many different ways you can play them to produce so many different sounds. so you may find that playing on one side or the other will produce a slightly different sound.
If you can't seem to ever find a perfectly comfortable spot to play it... or you are having trouble hitting it or your bell isn't very big, another option is to get one of those bell cymbals (just a big cymbal bell) and mount that somewhere on your kit... i've always wanted to get one... just never made it a priority...

[JT1]

I switch... even in the same song I'll often find myself switching back and forth between phrases. i'm a little weird like that though...

the nice thing about cymbals is that theres so many different ways you can play them to produce so many different sounds. so you may find that playing on one side or the other will produce a slightly different sound.
If you can't seem to ever find a perfectly comfortable spot to play it... or you are having trouble hitting it or your bell isn't very big, another option is to get one of those bell cymbals (just a big cymbal bell) and mount that somewhere on your kit... i've always wanted to get one... just never made it a priority...

Yeah the Zilbell sounds awesome when struck, i even saw someone mount it upside down and it sounded incredible when played. I think Alchemy do one too. I was going to purchase one of them but i ended up going with the Zildjian Z Custom Megabell ride, oh man is it sweet!

[thelimpingtoad]

Yeah the Zilbell sounds awesome when struck, i even saw someone mount it upside down and it sounded incredible when played. I think Alchemy do one too. I was going to purchase one of them but i ended up going with the Zildjian Z Custom Megabell ride, oh man is it sweet!

A bunch of different companies make them... i think zildjians are like $60 but you can buy a wuhan or something for like $10-$20... and i think they sound just as good.

[Pat Petrillo]

Always left side of the bell, palm up..It's a natural, "up and down" motion that doesn't much differ from my playing the rest of the kit..

Good luck!

[denisri]

Hi
Left side..French,German or American. Denis

[Jeremy Bender]

Hi guys & thanks for the input. Playing from the left does allow me to 'lay' into it. Coming from the right allows me to 'pull' the sound out of the bell. Different feel for different times I guess.

[Ekim]

Always left side of the bell, palm up..It's a natural, "up and down" motion that doesn't much differ from my playing the rest of the kit..

Good luck!

???? Palm UP? How does that work? Can't say I've ever noticed that before.

[con struct]

I've always gone for the right side. No reason, I've just always done it that way.

[Pat Petrillo]

???? Palm UP? How does that work? Can't say I've ever noticed that before.


I mean "top of the hand"..or "hand flat"..sorry bout the confusion..;)