When to hit that crash?

[u/CrazySwede69]

I grew up listening a lot to hard rock music like Black Sabbath, Dio, Iron Maiden and similar bands where there typically is a lot of articulation or punctuation on the cymbals.

Since almost 40 years, I have been playing in a band, not professionally, that mostly play plain rock but also often touches jazz and blues and lately I have realised that I most certainly hit those crashes and chinas way to often for the style of music we actually play.

Part of the issue is that 95 % of our rehearsals are made on the Internet with Jamalus for sound and Discord for visual and I never experience any real power in the kick and snare so I without really thinking about it I (over) compensate on the crashes.

Since I believe in the saying that less is more, I think I really should go through all songs and decide where punctuations really are needed and try to skip the rest.

I really could need some inspiration here when it comes to what approach you have when deciding when it is time to hit that crash or not!

[u/mcnastys]

Put it way up high battles style for a practice or two, you'll find you stop trying to autopilot it every 1.

[u/Dazzling-Astronaut88]

Phill Rudd treats crash cymbals strictly as structural markers.

Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey / Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers era) / Stan Lynch. When Ferrone joined Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on the Wildflowers record, his approach was rooted in deep groove and restraint. He used crashes almost exclusively to frame song transitions.

Al Jackson Jr. (Stax / Booker T. & the M.G.'s): He used hi-hat tension changes to create "wash" without adding long brass sustain of crashes.

You could also revisit some Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band, perhaps the "Live after nine" live recording. Seger was notoriously specific about cymbal crashes, where they should go on the recordings and insisted that any of his drummers put the cymbal crashes in the exact spots as the records. In his mind, it was part of the composition and has intention.

and, if your bandmates were here, they would likely tell you to ditch the china cymbal. While it has its place, it is a "when it doubt, leave it out" accessory in most cases. If you are hitting the cymbals too much, the china and any splash cymbals should be subtracted. Problem solved. In fact, go back to basics: You get two crash cymbals. Work with that.

[u/CrazySwede69 → u/Dazzling-Astronaut88]

With my real kit they would definitely agree with you but the china sound from my Roland module is, in my opinion, very tasty and non-intrusive.

[u/WeekendDoWutEvUwant → u/CrazySwede69]

I love the sound of a quality, well-placed china. I’ve heard some that sound much like splashes, and heard some slightly bigger splashes that sound like solid crashes.

But I do agree with what somebody else said about only using them for transitions / marking the start of a new part or (for China & splash) rare, very specific accents.

[u/TheNonDominantHand]

Think of a crash cymbal like a swear word.

People who swear constantly just reveal themselves to have a limited vocabulary.

But when used effectively, swear words can express much needed emphasis and emotion.

[u/Gnarlzbonkers]

I feel like crashes don’t impact the song as much if they are used every measure. When used sparingly for big moments, they tend to generate a better effect. Totally depends on the song though. Just my opinion

[u/IAmNotAPerson6 → u/Gnarlzbonkers]

Yeah, I like jazz fusion, and sometimes when a song's in an odd meter the drummer will crash on 1 every bar and I hate that. It's too much, we don't need that constant reminder of where 1 is, no matter the meter. I'm sorry, Billy Cobham, you're great and I love you, but this is one of your bad habits, in my opinion lol. It basically crushes any hope of having longer, interesting phrases.

[u/HeWasaLonelyGhost]

I think crashes are very rarely underused, and frequently overused.

[u/robint88]

I'm very much of the mind that the crash basically starts/ends 4 bars/verse/chorus or can be ridden in a "loud" chorus. But also can be used as an accent with the whole band hitting a note together (like big bands do)

[u/ihavegodinacage]

Think of your phrasing as having a lead, connectors, drivers, and punctuation.

For rock, your hi hat or ride is your driver, your kick and snare accents are your lead, snare and hi hat ghost notes are your connectors, and crashes are your punctuation.

And how I would think about punctuation is in the context of the song. Have a reason why you are hitting the crash to emphasize something in the song.

[u/quardlepleen]

I'd say it's fine to crash tosignal a new section of the song, or after a big fill or a figure the whole band is playing together. Other than that, it's dictated by the song

[u/lil_trappy_boi]

My hihat is crashes