No Ride Cymbal?

AudioWonderland

Silver Member
I have been considering changing up the kit. I find I rarely use the "open" ride sound. Virtually always the bell for a tighter more controlled sound. In my small room I really need to take care to keep the cymbal levels under control while tracking. I have been thinking about replacing the ride with something like 16" hats on an X-hat in its place.

Who has bucked tradition?
 
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I used an LP 9" Ice Bell in one band I was in, instead of a ride cymbal. I've got a few crash cymbals that make decent rides, also.
 
I didn't use one for many years. That's because I couldn't afford one. Started playing around 1970 and bought my first ride around 1984. I didn't use it much after I got it. Probably because I was so used to playing with out one. I make use of my ride now though.
 
No ride cymbal? Heck no-no crash OK. You can sometimes "crash" and burn,, but you can "ride" the storm out. See it all makes sense.
 
I hear where you are coming from. Playing a washy ride gets me nothing. That's why I switched to very dry ride cymbals
 
I went over year gigging only a 2pc (kick/snare) with just my 18" Zildjian uptown ride and not a single other anything, this was a theatrical group with costumed performers with 4 albums of original material spanning styles from psych rock to surf rock to spaghetti western to prog and anywhere up to 12 musicians on stage at a given time.

I used a 2pc (kick/snare) with hats and a China all running through a delay pedal and effects board with a live sound manipulator who was basically my second half for a live improv heavy dub band.

I was in a thrash cow-punk band where I played standing up with just kick, snare, and ride for our loud (and I mean LOUD) gigs and literally just my snare drum and brushes for our 'acoustic' gigs (same parts and intensity... Just 'quiet').

I've got a gig coming up where I am filling in for a friend's band AND being the house drummer for a hip hop show (they are opening, it's the same gig) simultaneously, I plan on running just kick, snare, and hats allllll night (like 4+ hours of material I'll have to just flow with and hope I don't fall off the tempo of the samples/backing tracks for the MCs).

You do you man and don't let anyone tell you a damn thing otherwise. If you are confident in your playing that will come through regardless of what you use.

Chris Frantz (Talking Heads): 5pc w/ hats, 2 crashes, no ride. If his rock solid four on the floor didn't make your hips move then you have no soul and he didn't use a ride.
 
When I used to play in a reggae band I never used a ride cymbal as it wasn't needed back then, but for all other music I use one
 
Nothing wrong with not using a ride if the music doesn't call for it. When I was gigging heavily with a modern dance band I replaced my rack tom with a Sample Pad Pro and my ride with a set of 18" hats.
 
Phil Rudd of AC/DC doesn’t use a ride.
I’ve said this before but I realised that in my 70s Glam Rock band I was using my ride cymbal for only one part one song (coincidentally the last song in the set too!) and to use hi hats instead would make a difference hardly worth mentioning. So I left the ride at home for those gigs and if I decided I wanted to move away from the hi hats I used the bell of my 18” crash. A drummer used to do our sound and he expressed surprise when he noticed I had no ride in my set up (and as a drummer he was probably one of only a small number who did notice) but after the gig he completely got my point of leaving it at home.
so in summary, do without your ride cymbal if you want to.
 
Eloy Casagrande (who is quickly becoming one of my recent favorites BTW, can't stop name dropping this cat) has a pretty similar set up in the sense that he has his main hats, then a larger trashy set of hats in the ride position, with a few accent cymbals above those then several larger crashes up high. His largest right side crash has a decent bell to it and he washes the hell out of it, when he needs a more staccato sound he hits the bell or his accent cymbals. That large crash may actually technically be a ride but he's not using it in the traditional sense.

Don't let some stupid ink stamp on a chunk of metal dictate how you hit it my friend. You are only limited to the pre-determined designation of a cymbal if you allow yourself to be.
 
I went over year gigging only a 2pc (kick/snare) with just my 18" Zildjian uptown ride and not a single other anything, this was a theatrical group with costumed performers with 4 albums of original material spanning styles from psych rock to surf rock to spaghetti western to prog and anywhere up to 12 musicians on stage at a given time.

I used a 2pc (kick/snare) with hats and a China all running through a delay pedal and effects board with a live sound manipulator who was basically my second half for a live improv heavy dub band.

I was in a thrash cow-punk band where I played standing up with just kick, snare, and ride for our loud (and I mean LOUD) gigs and literally just my snare drum and brushes for our 'acoustic' gigs (same parts and intensity... Just 'quiet').

I've got a gig coming up where I am filling in for a friend's band AND being the house drummer for a hip hop show (they are opening, it's the same gig) simultaneously, I plan on running just kick, snare, and hats allllll night (like 4+ hours of material I'll have to just flow with and hope I don't fall off the tempo of the samples/backing tracks for the MCs).

You do you man and don't let anyone tell you a damn thing otherwise. If you are confident in your playing that will come through regardless of what you use.

Chris Frantz (Talking Heads): 5pc w/ hats, 2 crashes, no ride. If his rock solid four on the floor didn't make your hips move then you have no soul and he didn't use a ride.
Sounds awesome @roncadillac
Any videos or recordings I could check out?
 
Sounds awesome @roncadillac
Any videos or recordings I could check out?

I just recently left that group unfortunately.

Here is a pic I could find:

Most of the pics I have are on my phone an no matter what I try I always get a "attachment size limit" error when trying to attach pics from my phone.

There are a few videos of us around youtube, "Last Electric Rodeo". I used a few different set ups over the years with them but most recently the set up from my earlier comments.

I've got a decade's worth of constantly changing small/unique/weird set ups but I just can't ever get pics up here.

This is that thrash band:

This is the dub group:


 
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there's no rules man, do you what feels good to you.

I think that's the only reply you should take to heart ;)
Lots of drummers don't use a ride. Thomas Haake (Meshugga) uses ride as crashes, but not in the 'traditional way' anymore (someone correct me if i'm wrong).

Eloy Casagrande (who is quickly becoming one of my recent favorites BTW, can't stop name dropping this cat) has a pretty similar set up in the sense that he has his main hats, then a larger trashy set of hats in the ride position, with a few accent cymbals above those then several larger crashes up high. His largest right side crash has a decent bell to it and he washes the hell out of it, when he needs a more staccato sound he hits the bell or his accent cymbals. That large crash may actually technically be a ride but he's not using it in the traditional sense.

I was (and still am) baffled that he crashes a 20" Rude Power Ride xD

 
I love the sound of a washy ride, especially in jazz and rock. Each to his own but IMO it's not a drum kit without a ride.
 
I could never play without a ride - I love the sparkling ping of a good ride - but I can see why others don't. Especially in high volume music...though I still use my ride in my punk, thrash and metal playing. I use my 16" Zildjian Rock Crash or a stack made of a broken 14" K China and a random ZBT 13" hi hat cymbal for my hi volume non ride playing
 
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