Other ways of playing cymbals...

[ramdrumr]

What do you think about playing cymbals in ways that out of the norm. Everyone either hits the edge with the shoulder of a stick, or hits a cymbal with the tip (most of the nice, not to mention shoulder on the bell, etc.).
After seeing Dom Famularo, today I started to do some of the things he does. Striking under (swooping the stick upwards), playing both sides of the hi-hat, and playing the edges.

Any tips on doing this? Any warnings? Any other things to do?

[rhjanes]

jazz guys used to do all those tricks. Watch the Steve Smith video real close and you can see him do it a few times on the cymbals and a lot on the HH. I suspect those tricks 'left' us as we got more flush and got more and more cymbals.

[Vaughn]

watch jeff hamilton, he makes use of every part of the cymbal.

[...gach]

i sometimes take my stick and put it perpindicular to the cymbal edge and hit the edge...it makes kind of a bell sound

[BHarrington]

Anyone know of Cymbal harmonics? Or "Harmonics" rather.
Take the tip of your stick and have it perpendicular to the cymbal and slowly move it around the top side. If you do it correctly, you can get a pitched screech. If you do it correctly it won't be a screech but more resemblant to a guitar harmonic.

[Kanbasher]

Maybe an oversimplication but mallets. Also, you can whack them with your hands.

[Mic]

Use a violin or cello bow on the edges!

[patpimp]

Striking under (swooping the stick upwards), playing both sides of the hi-hat, and playing the edges.

Any tips on doing this? Any warnings? Any other things to do?

warning, only perform this teqnique when you are competent enough to pull it off, and when it fits. I have seen people use this teqnique, and some do it so fluidly, and it fits what they are doing, like it has to or is supposed to be there. then there are people (like me:) ) who attempt it, but it just isnt needed.

[punkrocksmysocks]

I went to a small jazz combo night at this pizza place. It was combo group from my college and the music teacher (Dr. Ray Briggs) filled in for a group. One song he played with his hands for the intro part of the sound, it sounded pretty cool and well placed.

[WacoKid]

Tony Royster Jr. uses the that "up down" technique on his cymbals a lot. I can kinda pull it off on my china. I hate him. :?

[minimalist]

On a large cymbal, hold a wood block on the cymbal with one hand while bowing/striking with the other. Move the wood block around for different sounds/effects. Do the same thing with a small cymbal in one hand. Or place a cymbal on the edge of a drum, like a floor tom, and bow the edge of the cymbal while moving it around the drum head/rim. That will clear a room in second! Also, rosin the round tip of a stick like a Peter Erskine model, and then hold the stick vertically while dragging it across the face of the cymbal.

[PDFrogman]

I think thats what gives me such an attraction to cymbals, the ability to create so many sounds in different ways
man I own 30+ cymbals about the only thing that I havent hit them with is the aluminum sticks I use on the pad

[drum_fu]

very interesting- everyone. i like the bow idea. scaling down your kit always forces you to dig in & pull out more sounds from a lesser amount of drums/cymbals. i suggest this approach. start w/kick, snare, & hat. then slowly reintroduce the other voices. you'll discover quite a bit that you might not have known was there all along.

[zal01]

hmm, ive started stacking, like a small splash on a china can sound cool

[DrBeat1269]

watch jeff hamilton, he makes use of every part of the cymbal.

Jeff is the master at Cymbal colors. Check out Gary Hobbs as well. He and jef use many of tyhe same techniques for cymbal color.

Here's some others:

Strike the bell of the cymbal then use your hand (facing the bell and slightly cupped) to manipulate the harmonics by placing your hand right next to the bell without touching it and moving it up and down.

Strike the cymbal then pretend it's a hot burner and with a flat hand touch it...remember it's a hot burner (try to do it without geting burned)

Other effects:

If you have a timpani invert a cymbal on top of it and roll the cymbal. Now move the pedal of the timpani.

Do the same thing but with a bowed crotale right on the edge of the timpani.

There's tons of cool effects you can do....most of which were utilized in early film scores when electronic effects weren't invented yet.

[Crazy8s]

For pure aesthetics, and maybe a bit of a different sound, try stick twirling and hitting cymbals on the bottom during the upstroke. I saw some guy do this on the tonight show for some crappy 80's hair band, and watching him do that simple thing made the event enjoyable. I've practiced it, and I still don't have it down-pat yet.