Drum myths you heard/believed when you were younger

I'm sure there is more to this than just metal fatigue. Type of cymbal, how hard and how you hit, the factors are numerous. I currently have a ride that is from the 30s, and a Zildjian Turkish K with a 67-77 stamp. Both are fine, minus the dirt.

I don't like arguing with physics either. There is lots of wiggle room with some things though, depending on variables.
 
That Keith Moon was a better drummer than Kenny Jones.

I'm not saying Kenny was better, either - they're both great drummers. It's like trying to decide between great pizza and a great steak: I love them both, but for different reasons. But when Kenny took the throne in the Who, you'd swear Pete Townshend had personally taken a crap on Moon's grave by hiring such an 'inferior' drummer. And I believed it! Just watch them, Moon's a maniac and Kenny's cool as ice - Moon MUST be the better drummer! I mean, just look at all the drums he needs!

It took me decades to realize this - or at least admit it to myself - but Kenny Jones was/is every bit the great drummer that Keith Moon was.
 
Instead of all these "hard science" arguments, i prefer to listen to people who actually know something about cymbals..

There is this fellow countryman of mine who wrote The Cymbal Book, in which he also gives some hints on how to play/treat/mount cymbals, saying this..:

"..Following are some hints that may well enhance the life-expectancy of your instruments, most of which are likely to be able to last at least a full-time career.."

To me thats the idea, they are musical instruments and not only objects to hit/smash..

Treat/play cymbals like the musical instruments they are and i guarantee you that most of them will last your whole life..
 
Silly cymbal argument.
Just about any crash cymbal would eventually crack if John Bonham or Keith Moon or Neil Peart were the player over the course of 20 years. I would consider all of those players to be treating their cymbals as "instruments."
Not a single ride cymbal would ever crack played by Peter Erskine for 500 years straight.
Too many variables.
 
..Silly cymbal argument..


I would not call the author of that book silly to be honest, especially not regarding his knowledge of cymbals, and i think what i wrote is reflecting the idea on how to play/treat/mount them..

The book is still for sale in case you want to check the pages that follow the quote..
 
I've never cracked a cymbal-key holes galore though. I like to watch old movies with jazz cats-their. cymbals would be all beat to hell with cracks (or even big chunks missing) and just sound blissful. I dropped and warped a good cymbal-it was hardly visible warp but suddenly sounded like chips.
 
I have a slo mo pic of me hitting one of my cymbals and truthfully, I don't know how they don't develop cracks like every week. The amount of flex a cymbal endures with only one strike kind of blows me away. I know I've broken thin sheet metal by bending it on the same bend and it eventually fails. I don't see how cymbals stay together for decades considering all the flex they go through. I would think cracks would develop along the major flex lines, but no. It really must be an awesome process to make a piece of metal able to withstand major bending for 100 years.

You can beat metal endlessly and it will just deform and/or spring back. Bending it, on the other hand, back and forth at the same point repeatedly causes it to harden and become brittle at that spot, and eventually break due to brittleness.
 
I would not call the author of that book silly to be honest, especially not regarding his knowledge of cymbals, and i think what i wrote is reflecting the idea on how to play/treat/mount them..

The book is still for sale in case you want to check the pages that follow the quote..
No thanks. I'll trust my intuition, engineering degree and career in testing metals and composites to failure and not spend any more time thinking of useless things that don't make me a better player. :) That being said, I'm 44 and have only cracked one cymbal ever (17" A Custom). The non-scientific definition of treating something "musically like it's an instrument" leaves too much room for debate and/or rules out certain sounds which a drummer may want to achieve and consider musical that may be slightly abusive to the cymbal.
 
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I remember when my mom told me that too loud music or noise was going to make me comletely death in few years, so I stayed away from my brother drums and speakers. Then when I grew up and started practicing deep insided I was warried and was a bit afraid to heat the drums too hard.
Luckily it's gone now. Hey, you! Shhh... I hear how loud you play in your head! Stop it! it's unhealthy:ROFLMAO:
 
I was told Zildjian was for Jazz and Paiste was for Rock (this was the 70's)

At the time there may have been some reasoning to that thinking.
 
..and not spend any more time thinking of useless things that don't make me a better player..


Btw, you would be surprised how much information that book (about 200 pages) contains to actually become a better drummer..

I can think of a few things that are more useless..

But maybe such books are not the taste or sort for everyone, which is also ok..:)
 
Drummers have NO say in the band. Drummers have low IQ.

Now THIS is what I was afraid of!

A little bit of truth is starting to creep in....

?



Not to derail my own thread, but I'm pretty happy that I'm in a situation where I have no desire to have a "say" in a band. If I don't like the venues, the music, etc., I can always choose not to play with the band anymore. I've been a full-fledged band member for too long, and I'm really enjoying my "independent contractor" status right now. I never give my opinion unless asked which is rare. Whenever the lead guy turns to me and says, "What song do you want to do," I always say, "Just call it, and I'll play it!" With all of this said, I'm very well-respected as a fellow musician.

Now that "Drummers have a low IQ" thing is a different conversation entirely. I would type more, but I've got to wipe the drool from the corners of my mouth. :geek:
 
I was brought up with no myths. I was the only one in my world who cared and thought about drums. I had no myth source. All I had was Modern Drummer, my Stewart drums, the music I listened to, and a Mom and Pop music store that I could walk to if I had to. Buddy Rich on the Tonight show. Don Kirshner's Rock Concert on TV. Drumming to Alice Cooper's first records. When I discovered this place at age 50 it was like I opened the door to Nirvana. Finally, a place where people may just care or at least relate to all the stuff that has been accumulating inside me since age 10. I'm trying to think of any other drummers I knew coming up and there must have not been that many because I remember no one. I had an older cousin with a Ringo kit (my original infatuation...the kit, not my cousin) but I only saw him a handful of times when I was real young. There was one other drummer in my neighborhood but we never hung out, different crowds.
 
Vent holes in drums were first used by Hans Gruelich in 1897. That after discovering air inside the drum with no means of release when the drum head was struck, could cause the entire instrument to explode. Countless cases of just such incidents resulted in blindness and other less injurious instances from splintered wood and tension rods accelerating like bullets. It wasn't until 2013 that I found this to be not just myth but a complete fabrication based in Frankfurt. Seems the German people wanted credit for something outside the manufacture of BMWs and bratwurst.
 
That Keith Moon was a better drummer than Kenny Jones.

I'm not saying Kenny was better, either - they're both great drummers. It's like trying to decide between great pizza and a great steak: I love them both, but for different reasons. But when Kenny took the throne in the Who, you'd swear Pete Townshend had personally taken a crap on Moon's grave by hiring such an 'inferior' drummer. And I believed it! Just watch them, Moon's a maniac and Kenny's cool as ice - Moon MUST be the better drummer! I mean, just look at all the drums he needs!

It took me decades to realize this - or at least admit it to myself - but Kenny Jones was/is every bit the great drummer that Keith Moon was.
Kenny Jones is one of the most underrated drummers in the history of rock and roll. Who fans overall never accepted him which was a shame. I like Kenny's style of playing drums over Keith Moon's.
 
I was brought up with no myths. I was the only one in my world who cared and thought about drums. I had no myth source. All I had was Modern Drummer, my Stewart drums, the music I listened to, and a Mom and Pop music store that I could walk to if I had to. Buddy Rich on the Tonight show. Don Kirshner's Rock Concert on TV. Drumming to Alice Cooper's first records. When I discovered this place at age 50 it was like I opened the door to Nirvana. Finally, a place where people may just care or at least relate to all the stuff that has been accumulating inside me since age 10. I'm trying to think of any other drummers I knew coming up and there must have not been that many because I remember no one. I had an older cousin with a Ringo kit (my original infatuation...the kit, not my cousin) but I only saw him a handful of times when I was real young. There was one other drummer in my neighborhood but we never hung out, different crowds.
Hey Larry, I can identify with everything you said. My first drum kit was a Stewart Black Diamond kit in the early 1970's. I played it for four years until I got my first Ludwig kit. Mom and Pop record stores, Buddy Rich on the Tonight Show, Don Kirshner's rock concert, the Midnight Special, Soul Train. Those are the things I grew up with and still remember so fondly.
 
Kenny Jones is one of the most underrated drummers in the history of rock and roll. Who fans overall never accepted him which was a shame. I like Kenny's style of playing drums over Keith Moon's.
Who fans seemed to instantly accept Zac Starkey, and he is an awesome drummer. Totally different style than his father's.
 
Squeezing a rubber ball is good for developing your wrists.
Right. If you want to get really good at squeezing rubber balls.
 
ALWAYS muffle your drum to the fullest extent. Fill that bass drum with any bedding material you can find around the house. Put tape, napkins, etc on your drums if you want them to sound good because a ringing drum is a BAD drum. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

I played a gig years ago and a drummer in one of the bands that played asked me a bunch of questions on how I got my bass drum to sound so good, I went over to his kit and he had 2-3 blankets shoved in his bass drum. I ended up giving him a 20 minute lesson on how to make your drums not sound like shit.
 
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