How do you get more cowbell into your playing?

nitrokid

Member
Hi,
I have 3 cowbells and one off them is foot mounted one by the snare and the other by the ride. I never seem to be able to get any off them into my grooves or fills.
Can anybody help!
 
Ah yes, an age old question ... what is the meaning of life ... how can I slip in a bit of cowbell?

Probably best to think of the songs with famous cowbell lines ... http://www.cracked.com/article_15639_the-only-prescription-top-10-cowbell-songs.html

They missed Purple's You Fool No One http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R-voFL4ZL8

and Thorazine Shuffle by Govt Mule http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4s4hW-oGZ0

From there, you can try to work out why the drummer and/or band decided on cowbell - it probably wasn't "how can we add more cowbell?" :)
 
Hey all...this is my first post, although I've been visiting this site for years because it's probably the best site ever. Anyway...the groove at the end of this video (1:56) is a nice "throwback" cowbell groove, like those old school hip hop samples (I'm thinking "Peter Piper" by Run DMC). http://youtu.be/wmm-DHaNAkg
 
Hi,
I have 3 cowbells and one off them is foot mounted one by the snare and the other by the ride. I never seem to be able to get any off them into my grooves or fills.
Can anybody help!

Does the music you play require cowbell to the extent that you have three of them?!

If you're simply looking for a way to integrate your gear into songs whether they need those sounds or not, I highly recommend against that approach. That's like bringing a China cymbal, and inventing places to use it in every song. You're not going to be a very popular drummer if you do. Or should I say, you're not going to be a very employed drummer if you do.

Anyway, tell us more about why the music you're playing needs cowbell.

BTW, one of my favorite rock cowbell things is Procol Harum's "Power Failure" :)

http://youtu.be/LPBc2Iv9A40 (fun solo at 1:56!)

Bermuda
 
Check out some latin styles.

Exactly! Not that the cowbell isn't made for rock drumming i has it's places, Get some Songo, Nanigo, Mambo, Guaguanco grooves going you"ll find tons of times to use them. with Latin you have so many rhythmic patterns like the claves and cascara that scream for cowbells, blocks and all sorts of stuff.

I didn't feel a need for other percussions until I started learning latin.
 
Does the music you play require cowbell to the extent that you have three of them?!

If you're simply looking for a way to integrate your gear into songs whether they need those sounds or not, I highly recommend against that approach. That's like bringing a China cymbal, and inventing places to use it in every song. You're not going to be a very popular drummer if you do. Or should I say, you're not going to be a very employed drummer if you do.

Anyway, tell us more about why the music you're playing needs cowbell.

BTW, one of my favorite rock cowbell things is Procol Harum's "Power Failure" :)

http://youtu.be/LPBc2Iv9A40 (fun solo at 1:56!)

Bermuda
another great CB tune by them was "Whiskey Train".

Keep Swattin'
Bonzolead
 
I just picked up a double bass set and was working on simple triplet rolls (right hand, right bass, left bass, left hand, right bass. left bass) when I realized a cowbell would fit in perfectly here.....so I went and got one.

Mix in a cowbell just about anywhere and it sounds great.
 
Hi,
I have 3 cowbells and one off them is foot mounted one by the snare and the other by the ride. I never seem to be able to get any off them into my grooves or fills.
Can anybody help!

Well, if you play funk and Latin, you should be able to put them in all over the place. If you play rock, metal, jazz maybe not so much. It's all about the music you play and the sounds you hear. If you aren't hearing cowbell, then you're not going to play it anywhere.

I would check out lots of Afro-Cuban stuff and lots of Garibaldi. You'll only put it in your playing, with a good, natural sound, when they become part of your natural vocabulary. That means practicing lots of practice across many different types of genres and grooves and in many different ways, so you start to hear it a lot. Until then, just relax and keep going along with the practice. It will eventually get there.
 
Well, once you've determined if the music needs a cowbell, if you basically want to integrate the cowbell, simply eliminate the hi hat and ride cymbal, and insert the cowbell. You may be fired ten minutes after that!
 
Listening to all these fabulous cowbell songs makes me want to set up my cowbell again! I had one set up with my kit earlier this year for a while and was shoehorning it in all over the place as a joke (yes, I really am that annoying). No good will come of this!

I take it nobody mentioned Honky Tonk Women because it's too obvious.
 
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