Necessary Cymbals for Your Drum Kit

  • Added:
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Necessary Cymbals for Your Drum Kit Photo by Lilian Hirst

A standard drum set includes snare drum, kick drum, floor tom, throne, tom-tom, cymbal stands and assortment for cymbals, including the hi-hat, ride, and the crash cymbals. The correct cymbals for drums is determined by the drummer's personal choice and the style of music played. For example, in most of the rock music, hi-hat, snare drum, and rock music are the core instruments for creating drum beats as opposed to jazz, where the snare and the ride patterns are common and the hi-hat is played with the foot.

If you are a beginner,

As a beginner, you will most likely me influenced by your friends and clever marketing. Advice from friends can be useful, but keep in mind that their knowledge may or will depend on their drum set cymbal experience.

Hi Hat Cymbals

Hi hat cymbals come in twos and are attached to a foot mechanism that is operated by the percussionist's left foot. When the foot depresses the mechanism, the cymbals will open and close. The percussionist can also hit the cymbals with a drumstick in order to produce a variety of sounds based on how close together the cymbals are.

Ride Cymbal

Ride cymbals provide a soft sound, and are generally designed to provide an unwavering rhythmic pattern (known as a ride pattern) as the music is played. The size of ride cymbals can vary anywhere from 8 to 26 inches wide, but are typically on the larger side at 18 to 22 inches. They are set up near the percussionist's right side.

Splash Cymbal

Splash cymbals are meant to provide bursts of sound throughout the musical piece. The sound is quick and resembles a splash of water. These cymbals come in sizes from 6 to 12 inches, however they are typically mid-sized at 8 or 10 inches.

Crash Cymbal

Crash cymbals are meant to provide a noisy, continuous sound. You will typically find this kind of cymbal used at the climax of a musical composition. The size of crash cymbals can range from 8 to 24 inches, however they are typically mid-sized at anywhere between 14 inches and 18 inches. Crash cymbals can be affixed in twos, or a percussionist can decide to use crash cymbals that vary in size. They can then be hit together in order to create an extremely noisy crash sound.

Cymbals for drums include many of them that must be used in the drum kit. You must choose cymbals according to the music that you want to play. The essential cymbals for your drum set are the hi-hat, crash, and the ride cymbals.

Author's Profile

The role of cymbals in drum kit depends largely on the type of service they provide. The prominent types of cymbals available today are: orchestral cymbals, crash cymbals, suspended cymbal and ancient cymbals.


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