****This product is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD!****
DIGITAL PDF
You must have command over your ride cymbal BEFORE starting to play any of the exercises
within these pages. What does this mean? Begin with listening closely to your cymbals and
everything you do behind your drums from here forward. You should have the ability to play in
the same area of the ride cymbal (think of placing a dime-sized spot on the surface of your
cymbal and play in the same spot) for the length of a traditional jazz song. Usually, 3 to 5
minutes. You should also pay attention to the stroke of your stick, making sure the motion
travels the same path to striking the cymbal consistently. If your motion travels vertically, keep
that motion when playing. If it isn’t vertical, don’t worry too much right now, just make sure
your motion is consistent when playing. Lastly, play the cymbal with the same force consistently
(this can mean to keep a consistent stick height but not exclusively) so you hear the same sound
from your cymbal. Make sure to become more aware of the overtones and nuances of the
cymbal when played in a different place. Playing down or “through” the cymbal while
preventing the stick to rebound gets one sound. Contrastingly, playing “to” the cymbal so the
stick has a natural rebound will give a different sound. While playing “off” the cymbal or using a
quickly assisted upstroke will give another “different” sound. The varied sound will change even
when you play the cymbal in the same space (the dime-sized playing area). Are you able to hear
the varied nuances when playing on different areas of the cymbal? If you have a cymbal that is
hammered, you should hear differences when moving your stroke away from your original spot.
If you have a machine lathed cymbal with very little hammering, if may be more difficult to hear
the differences from your cymbal. Those nuances and differences are present, but you must
listen more closely to hear the differences. Once you have trained your ear to hear your cymbal
and all its varied tonalities, you will always hear them.
This is the BEGINNING!
by Thomas E. Taylor
