Is anyone using 2 rides in the left/right position?

IBitePrettyHard

Senior Member
Drummers like Carter McLean and Nate Wood (and sometimes Keith Carlock) use this setup. Both rides double as a crash, so that opens up a new layer of possibilities.

Have any of you tried this? What genres have you used it for? What specific rides do you use?

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Nate Wood

Carter McLean
 
I've never done this. The main reason is that I don't crash my ride. I just ride it. I like the feel of thin crashes. Most true rides are too heavy to meet that standard, though I acknowledge that any cymbal can be used in the capacity of a ride or crash. The label is a suggestion, not a law. And some lines, such as Zildjian's A Avedis and Paiste's Giant Beat, define almost every cymbal as multipurpose.
 
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I use 3 rides when playing jazz. Well, one is technically a 19” K Thin Crash, but I use a Meinl cymbal tuner (those magnets they came out with a few years ago) to tame it down and make it play more like a ride. That goes on the left; on the right are my 22” K Light Ride and on the far right is a 22” A Avedis with a sizzle chain. They work great for jazz, plus I can use them for all the other styles I play.

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I do sort of. I can crash the ride on the right, the left one only goes ping. The left is a 20" Sabian Pro, the right is some old relic called El Rajah, also 20". Only info I ever found says it might be from the 30s. It's very woody and dark.

I'm a metal drummer, my applications are much different than the jazzers.

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The far right cymbal is an 18" Turkish K. I ride it sometimes also, but mostly crash it.
 
On the one hand it opens up many creative possibilities, and on the other hand the restrictions inherent in having just the one ride on one side forces you to be creative in other ways, which is in it's own way also opens up creative possibilities.

Also, see what I did there with the hands?
 
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Sabian HH Vanguard series. L-R ..... 21, 22, 20, 18. And I've since added the 16. The 16 is called a crash. Sabian classifies the other 4 as rides, but they are all totally crashable.
 

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I think it's kind of the norm for a lot of traditional jazz people where they want access to a bunch of sounds to make the ride pattern more musical and blend with what their other limbs are doing. An actual crash can sound really out of place depending on the context. Even if they're using a "crash" cymbal on the left, it will often be played as a ride. I have an 18" medium heavy crash I had drilled for rivets and I sometimes use as an alternate ride since it adds a really nice contrast with my main ride. If I ever actually hit it to open it up as a crash I'd be done for.
 
I usually play with two rides, one left, one right side plus a rideable crash/crash-ride on the far right. Mostly, i play the setup as seen on the pic attached: Left ride is an Istanbul Mehmet 20" 50's , right side ride is an Istanbul Mehmet 21" 70's (which is softer, lower pitched than the 50's). On the far right is an Instabul Mehmet Nostalgia 18" Crash that also works as a ride. I use this setup for jazz, bossanova and classic soul.
 

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I've been working with a local neo-soul/rnb singer songwriter for a few years. Our first rehearsal, I took a simple kick-snare-hat + ride kit. Next one, I added a floor tom and a second ride. That's been the setup for her shows since. Usually 20" Meinl Byzance Extra Dry Dual on the left and 22" Meinl Byzance Sand on the right.
 
For all you jazz drummers (I'm not one), here's Peter Erskine demonstrating the K Custom Left Side Ride he designed in tandem with Zildjian. You can only play this cymbal on the left side. Move it to the right side and it explodes, dispersing bronze shrapnel throughout the room. Eye protection is recommended.

 
Drummers like Carter McLean and Nate Wood (and sometimes Keith Carlock) use this setup. Both rides double as a crash, so that opens up a new layer of possibilities.

Have any of you tried this? What genres have you used it for? What specific rides do you use?

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Nate Wood

Carter McLean


Yepppers : 21" on the left - 23" on the right - both Bosphorus Lyric Series with an 18" efx thing.

They both crash beautifully - when I get them moving it's the biggest wall of sound ever.

I need a normal crash though - like...not EFX haha.
 

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Sabian HH Vanguard series. L-R ..... 21, 22, 20, 18. And I've since added the 16. The 16 is called a crash. Sabian classifies the other 4 as rides, but they are all totally crashable.
Very nice setup and classy!
The Vanguards are very beautiful sounding crash rides. Yea in Sabian, the bash rides get glory but these are really where it’s at.

How do you like the HH remastered VG series, are they still medium thin profiled and are the bell profiles still scaled down?

I have 4 rides and I want a 21” VG.
Sound wise is there a noticeable in 21” and 22”?
 
I used to play a Sabian 20" Medium Ride and an 18" El Sabor in the same setup. Then I quit using the 20" Medium Ride and used the El Sabor with hats and a 17" crash. I currently have none of those cymbals. Peace and goodwill.
 
How do you like the HH remastered VG series, are they still medium thin profiled and are the bell profiles still scaled down?
I have 4 rides and I want a 21” VG.
Sound wise is there a noticeable in 21” and 22”?
Yes .... medium thin with a fairly small bell. The 16" is really the only one that "isn't" a ride. The 18", 20", 21" crash/ride very, very well. The 22" ..... it's more ride than crash. Still crash-able, but it doesn't (to my ears) crash with the same ease and grace as the others. If I had to decide between the 21" or the 22", the 21" wins hands down.
 
I think it's kind of the norm for a lot of traditional jazz people where they want access to a bunch of sounds to make the ride pattern more musical and blend with what their other limbs are doing. An actual crash can sound really out of place depending on the context. Even if they're using a "crash" cymbal on the left, it will often be played as a ride. I have an 18" medium heavy crash I had drilled for rivets and I sometimes use as an alternate ride since it adds a really nice contrast with my main ride. If I ever actually hit it to open it up as a crash I'd be done for.

Jazz players in particular seem to get the most sounds out of a crash and/or ride cymbal. I'm not saying anyone else can't do it just as well, I'm just saying I see it done far more often in jazz. They'll make the same cymbal sound like 3 or 4 different sizes with dynamics, the type of stroke, and using the entire cymbal surface.
 
We have to get tons of sounds out of a limited number of cymbals because the club stages are so small. ?

Okay, joking aside, most cymbals offer tons of sounds, thing is - just my personal experience - that most rock drummers believe that one cymbal has ONE sound and just lack the will or creativity to explore the many options that a cymbal offers. Which is a pity.

Whenever I play in a rock band, the other musicians are amazed at how many sounds and how much dynamics I manage to get out of my 4pc Drumsets and those three cymbals that I use.
 
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