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- Buy Cymbals: How to choose your cymbal setup
- Buy a drum mat for gigs to stop your drums slipping
- Buy a Bass Amp for your Drum Practise Room
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Buy Cymbals: How to choose your cymbal setup
Last updated on September 20, 2009 at 4:42 pmBuying a cymbal set can be a costly task. A good set can cost anywhere from about £600 to £1500 and more. A good beginners / intermediate set should cost around £150 – £300 new. Therefore, you need to choose wisely. This article should point you in the right direction.
The first thing to consider when you are choosing a cymbal set is what style you are going to be playing and whether this is going to affect your choice. If you play a range of styles you should go for a cymbal set that you think suits your overall style of playing.
Styles
Jazz
If you are a Jazz drummer you may want to go for a lightweight set of cymbals that sound very bright. A simple jazz setup would consist of hi hats ride and crash cymbals.
Funk / Fusion
A medium weighted cymal set would be the way to go for funk and fusion styles. The core of the setup would be hi hats, ride and crashes and maybe a china cymbal. These styles lend well to effects cymbals such as one or two splash cymbals, bells, and also additional accessories such as tamborines, woodblocks and maybe a cowbell.
Rock & Pop / Indie
A basic setup would be appropiate consisting of hi hats, ride and crash cymbals. Effects cymbals such as splashes are sometimes added depending on personal preference.
In Pop music (and sometimes other styles), the drummer sometimes has a midi or audio setup where sounds can be triggered, and custom sounds with various effects can be added to these.
Metal
A heavy weight cymbal set is good for Metal because they have a loud and powerful sound that is able to cut through the loud and heavy music. A typical set up would be hi hat, crashes and ride. A bell and a china cymbal would be good additions to this. Some drummers sometimes also have two sets of hi hats if they keep their main set locked in a slightly open position in order to free up both feet to play the bass drum(s). The second hi hat set would be locked shut so that closed high hat patterns can be played over double bass drum beats simultaneously.
Cymbal Sizes
Usually, the smaller the cymbal, the higher the pitch and tonal quality. here is a rough guide to popular cymbal setups:
- Hi Hats: 12″-14″
- Crash 1: 14″-16″
- Crash 2: 15″-17″
- Ride: 18″-12″
Where to buy Cymbals
Before parting with your hard earned money, you should explore all the options of brands and product ranges in order to get the right cymbal set for you.
There are places online to hear cymbal sounds but we recommend going down to a good drum store with a big selection of cymbals and asking to hear the cymbals.
Some of the best UK drum stores:
Leave a comment after reading this if you know of any more good drum stores.
Choosing Your Cymbal Set
Choosing the right cymbals for you should be a thorough process. Stick to this list and it should point you in the right direction.
- Keep the staff happy if you want a good deal. Before smashing cymbals, ask a staff member if you can try out some cymbals and that you are looking to buy a set for your drum kit. Also, try not to touch the cymbals with your fingers.
- Tell them what styles you play and ask for recommendations.
- Pick a top brand to start with and try out all the sizes and product ranges they have and start to decide which ones you like best.
- Then test out all the other brands but this time try similar cymbals to your favourite ones from the first brand.
- Narrow your favourite brands down to two or three and spend a while comparing them until you settle on one.
- Finalize your selection by seeing how your selected cymbals sound together. Bear in mind how they will sound with your drum kit.
- Try changing the sizes of your chosen cymbals up or down one inch and see if you can find better combinations of cymbals that compliment each other better.
- After you decide, take a coffee break to have a think about it and make sure you have made the right choices.
- Negotiate and try to get a good deal, especially if you are buying a set of cymbals.
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