Cymbals are such a personal statement of a drummers sound, so I thought I'd post a few thoughts and concepts on today's blog.
I've been thinking about this lately as my drumming peer, Joel Haynes, was mentioning to me about purchasing some Funch cymbals and loving them, but having to engage in some trial and error to find the right instrument to "play nice' with his old K Zildjians. I've had the same issue with just my old Ks. I have found that once I muted my 22" K with a bit of tape, it sounds different enough from my 2 20"s to all work together, although I haven't tried it on a gig lately! Have also realized that, even if I have all 3 cymbals in my set-up, I still need a thinner "crashier" cymbal as well. I've probably mentioned this before, but although I'm super fussy about ride function-type cymbals, I've never met a crash I didn't like!
I feel another important consideration with cymbals is to play them for awhile, to really discover what they sound like and what they can do. Both Ed Thigpen and Elvin Jones have referred to the "colours' cymbals create, both alone, and when played together. So, don't give up on a cymbal before you've discovered what it can do and it's taught you how to play it!
That said, I still might not have reached my ultimate K set-up, and might have to do more wheeling and dealing. :)
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