Playing with I cymbal only

A

aboylikedave

Senior Member
Having played on a tiny tiny stage the other night I 'd like to get into using just 1 crash/ride when I need to. Fortunately my ride - Sabian HH Classic 20" is highly crashable.

Obviously I'll experiment myself but does anyone have any advice on actually playing with one cymbal? Instead of hitting two cymbals one ofter the other do you just hit one cymbal twice? Or do you attempt to hit it in different ways to simulate the effect of two cymbals?

All ideas appreciated!
 
Hey,
I'm a new guy on the block here but have been playing for over 40 years.
I used to do a segment of certain gigs with a hi-hat & snare so I know it takes some discipline to do...I also had to use one cymbal stand (room consideration) on a few gigs and I put a splash upside down on top of the ride which was also crashable to a point. So if you don't need to use the bell that's an option for some more sounds/colors. I think you answered the most important question and the answer is having the right cymbal, not only a cymbal you like but a cymbal the band likes too :)
 
Next time you are playing with your band try crashing the same cymbal at different times when the band is playing different notes. Notice the effect it has on the overall cymbal sound in the mix ;-) One cymbal amy be just fine

Also an option might be to get a cymbal stacker and place you favorite crash on the same stand


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aboylikedave said:
Having played on a tiny tiny stage the other night I 'd like to get into using just 1 crash/ride when I need to. Fortunately my ride - Sabian HH Classic 20" is highly crashable.

Obviously I'll experiment myself but does anyone have any advice on actually playing with one cymbal? Instead of hitting two cymbals one ofter the other do you just hit one cymbal twice? Or do you attempt to hit it in different ways to simulate the effect of two cymbals?

All ideas appreciated!
Click to expand...

You can certianly hit the cymbal twice as you described. Try hitting the cymbal underneath for the first crash and then from the top for the second crash. It's a swooping motion with the stick. It sounds cool and is a great visual when perfected.
 
I used to do home recordings with only a kick, snare, and hats. Crashes are sometimes overrated.
 
aboylikedave said:
Having played on a tiny tiny stage the other night I 'd like to get into using just 1 crash/ride when I need to. Fortunately my ride - Sabian HH Classic 20" is highly crashable.

Obviously I'll experiment myself but does anyone have any advice on actually playing with one cymbal? Instead of hitting two cymbals one ofter the other do you just hit one cymbal twice? Or do you attempt to hit it in different ways to simulate the effect of two cymbals?

All ideas appreciated!
Click to expand...

My favourite ''one-cymbalist'' is Leon Parker. I don't know the style you play in gigs, but he is definetly good example how to get a lot of different sounds from one ride(even no hihat).

Check out this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uu4asv7xTc

and

http://drummerworld.com/m3u/leonparkerallmylife.m3u

And I agree that all band should love your cymbals sound in the mix.
 
I have always been a crash heavy player, but lately I'm really digging on cutting the amount of crashes I do by like 90%. It's like I'm just discovering it, and it's a whole new world to explore. Like right after you do that sweet figure at the end of a section (I like that term better than fill) I think it sounds great if you skip the crash and go right to the beat. So my advise is to think differently, change the way you crash when only using one.
 
I love using 1 cymbal. The best way to work it is by working out how many sounds you could possibly get from one cymbal.

Different parts of the stick - tip, shaft, but
Different parts of the cymbal - side, bell, middle etc etc

You can get loads of different sounds from one cymbal.
 
I think it would be better to just use hi hats instead of a crash or a ride because you can play the hats like a ride cymbal if you open them up alot... i guess. Also, i think you can just get alot more sounds out of hi hats.
 
Interesting repsonses, but just to clarify, I was meaning using 1 cymbal as a crash/ride in addition to hi hats.

I'm also thinking primarily of a pop/rock/soul/funk setting.
 
aboylikedave said:
Interesting repsonses, but just to clarify, I was meaning using 1 cymbal as a crash/ride in addition to hi hats.

I'm also thinking primarily of a pop/rock/soul/funk setting.
Click to expand...


I have a cymbal that covers that type of musical ground and it's a med. weight 2325g 21" Istanbul Agop SE Jazz ride that has some meat on the bone tone wise for a good projecting woody stick click, very musical bell with a responsive deep but relatively quick crash sound. Added 2 rivets to it a while back too for some extra color that works great in a one cymbal {along with hats} situation.

I've done countless gigs in the past with just this type of character of ride and a pair of hats when covering things other than acoustic jazz situations when they come up sometimes on small stages with a larger {and louder} group of musicians.
 
I would never play like that. The least cymbals i would ever use is crash-ride plus another crash. It is not a technical thing, its just that i love to hit the accents with kick and two crashes. And i do it for massive accents, therefore with just one crash that would be impossible.
 
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