Pimp My Ride... Cymbal

It's taken me 20 years to find out why my ride cymbal sound sucked for jazz. Back when I was playing for a living I didn't have the financial luxury to buy a bunch of rides to try out. Also back in the 80's and 90's every ride cymbal for purchase in a music store in a 2 hour radius of my hometown in Michigan was geared toward rock and heavy metal.

Ping ping pa ping, is not what I was hearing on old jazz records. I was hearing Ptaw paw pa ptaw. It just didn't' dawn on me that the problem was my ride cymbal. I have to admit, I wasn't playing jazz for money, and in the end rock and roll was paying the bills so it wasn't high on my priority list.

Now that I'm older and have a ‘real job' I can afford to pursue the music that really inspires me, and also have the luxury of having an income that can support some trial and error purchases. Even still I was mostly at the mercy of what local drum shops stocked. From my experience at least 80% of the inventory of most music stores is targeted for new/moderate level of players who wish to play modern popular music (a.k.a. pop rock). That said it's hard to travel all over the state to ‘try' cymbals that may or may not be what you're looking for. Or, that may sound nice in the store but not blend with what you've already got.

Play a ride that crashes
My first clue was that when I really started working on creating a solid swinging ride pattern to vamp over, I was drawn to my 18" rock crash cymbal. It's thick for a crash but as a ride still very thin by comparison. It was the closest thing to the ride cymbal sound I was looking for. Still I was daunted by the fact that it said ‘crash' right there printed on the metal. My problem was that I had inner conflict between my ears and my mind. The ears should always win. Grasping that has made a huge difference in my entire approach to the kit.

It was around this time I discovered www.cymbalsonly.com where Tony the owner personally plays every cymbal that comes in and records it with industry standard microphones and posts the recordings on his web page. He will play every cymbal on its own, and with a kit, including clean single hits and crashes. It was here where I could listen to and ‘try' dozens of cymbals out of hundreds to find out what was really appealing to me. I found out that I really need thinner ride cymbals. And that every ride that is really turning me on also has a very nice crash sound that stands alone also. I ordered a Bosphorus Stanton Moore 22" wide ride and 14" Stanton Moore fat hats. Not because of the name, or the brand, but because those particular cymbals sounded the best to my ears. The only ears I'll ever listen through. When I received those cymbals and played them the first time, I almost cried. I'm not joking. Here was the cymbal sounds that I had always dreamed of, and the exact same sound I heard from the website. Since then I've also purchased a great 18" crash/ride and an 18" flat ride. They are both in heavy rotation in my cymbal bag.

Having a cymbal sound that is conducive to the style that I'm playing is a huge motivator. Or I should say, having a cymbal sound that isn't conducive is very de-motivating. Since I have been playing these cymbals my feel and playing in a jazz situation has improved immensely. If you are struggling with getting really ‘into' the jazz space, look at your cymbals and seek them out, it will help you for sure.

Yesterday I put one of my old ride cymbals up to see what I was missing, and also to verify that it really was the cymbal and not just in my head. I mounted a 20" Custom Dry Ride by Zildjian. Wow. How could I have ever played that thing? It's completely tailored to that dry ping sound. Swing patterns just sounded wrong, though I could still tell that my feel had improved. The bell was nice, very focused. It is still a great ride for the right situation. But that's not the situation I'm in any more, at least for now.