For those about to cowbell cheaply, there is this.
https://www.harborfreight.com/steel-cowbell-97659.html
So I got the idea to add a cowbell because I saw Steve Gadd doing some interesting stuff. I always thought of them as an epically cheesy 80s rock gimmick that gets tired REAL fast, but this made me reconsider. It was funky and tasteful; musical.
I headed to the best drum shop in town expecting to get one of the cheapest in store... Oh good! $13 sounds about right. But I needed to hear for myself what's the difference between a cheapie and the high end stuff? Sure, some of the more expensive ones DO sound moderately better, but then I spotted a shiny one with no price tag. It was head & shoulders above the rest of the 15 or so they had in stock: a Gon Bops timbale bell, Alex Acuna signature. Whatever, I go to the cash and the guy tells me $60 (CDN) +tax! Not today... and I walked out thinking I can probably find one online for less. I was (semi) wrong...
Seems they're just not very popular but I discovered there are other models/sizes and I had no idea what the differences are. I finally found a shop selling the Bombo bell on sale for $40, so I drove out to get it. It is friggin HUGE, much larger than expected but had the same musical sound of the timbale bell. The guy tells me their other store downtown has the other 2 models on sale too, so I drove down to grab a second just for giggles.
Now I have the Bombo and Timbale bells for a faux Timbalero thing and I need to work on my latin rhythms. I just find these bells so musical -you hit them in different spots and get a variety of sounds like any good cymbal. Maybe all cowbells can be this cool, don't know & don't care! I'm just proud of my impulse GAS purchases and it's good to know there's more to the instrument than the cheesy 80s crap.
Taye Tourperformer, PDP Hammered bronze snare, 15" Diril Primitive hats, 17" XPlosion, 10" duo splash, 15" Xtreme china, 22" HHX Omni, 7" cup chime, Yamaha 9415 w. Vickicks
For those about to cowbell cheaply, there is this.
https://www.harborfreight.com/steel-cowbell-97659.html
You probably would have found 1 faster if you asked a cow.
YOU MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW.
VAE VICTIS
ONCE YOU HIT A CERTAIN AGE, YOU BECOME PERMANENTLY UNIMPRESSED BY A LOT OF CRAP.
I HIT THAT AGE 20 YEARS AGO.
IF DOGS CAN'T GO TO HEAVEN, I WANT TO GO WHERE THEY GO
WILL ROGERS
Bish, these are cowbells we are talking about. Cowbells and china cymbals are, without doubt, the 2 worst sounding "things" ever put on a set of drums.
To the OP, buy the cheapest 1 you can find because 99% of the people won't know the difference between the "worst and cheapest" cowbell and the most expensive 1.
YOU MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW.
VAE VICTIS
ONCE YOU HIT A CERTAIN AGE, YOU BECOME PERMANENTLY UNIMPRESSED BY A LOT OF CRAP.
I HIT THAT AGE 20 YEARS AGO.
IF DOGS CAN'T GO TO HEAVEN, I WANT TO GO WHERE THEY GO
WILL ROGERS
Actually, they got great reviews. Here’s my favorite. Sounds like something Rick would have wrote;
52B78E15-B7A8-45F2-8E7B-6A9DFC13F040.jpg
-Brian
"Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"
Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!
"I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham
-Brian
"Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"
Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!
"I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham
I would rather listen to 3 guys who just had kielbasy, cabbage, beans, and beer, have a f**ting contest than listen to a cowbell or a china cymbal.
YOU MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW.
VAE VICTIS
ONCE YOU HIT A CERTAIN AGE, YOU BECOME PERMANENTLY UNIMPRESSED BY A LOT OF CRAP.
I HIT THAT AGE 20 YEARS AGO.
IF DOGS CAN'T GO TO HEAVEN, I WANT TO GO WHERE THEY GO
WILL ROGERS
Haven't had a cowbell on my kit for years until recently. Only use it for two songs. I hate how those things sound.
@Rick...I'm with you on the china cymbal but I think you need to cut the lowly cowbell some slack. Hard to diss a whole genre of music (Latin) that is driven by the cowbell clave.
all the best...
Ludwig Classic Maple 22x16,10x8,12x9,16x16
7" Moon Gel Practice Pad
Sabian HHX Legacy
Decide whether this is love for the craft or simply an ego thing
http://www.redskymary.com/ NOT MY BAND, JUST A GREAT LOCAL BAND WHO SHOULD BE SOOO MUCH BIGGER IMO
Harbor Freight for $4 is the cheapest way to go and there is an on-line sound example of one.
There are many different sounds to choose from which makes it more difficult to choose.
LP makes a variety
top-ten-cowbells.jpg
The LP rock ridge rider (Red) sounded the best to me.
The classic ridge rider (Yellow) sounded typical to what an actual cowbell might sound like to me.
So you'll have some sound sampling shopping to do.
I've found using a cowbell my parents brought back from Germany that sounded awesome.
Not too much different than the Lp rock ridge rider
Cowbell 1.jpg
I've even went on to try one of these Swiss cowbells.
A regular drum stick can't do it justice. Too dull and clunky sounding.
Cowbell 2.jpg
Last edited by Olimpass; 05-26-2018 at 08:04 AM.
I have a ridge rider. The yellow one. I like it.
Cowbells sound cool to me.
RDM/Damage Poets
UFiP TAMAHA Zildjian
REGAL TiP
AQUARIAN
YOU MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW.
VAE VICTIS
ONCE YOU HIT A CERTAIN AGE, YOU BECOME PERMANENTLY UNIMPRESSED BY A LOT OF CRAP.
I HIT THAT AGE 20 YEARS AGO.
IF DOGS CAN'T GO TO HEAVEN, I WANT TO GO WHERE THEY GO
WILL ROGERS
-Brian
"Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"
Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!
"I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham
I can't believe people don't enjoy a good china...
don't get me wrong there's a lot of bad ones but there are some beautiful ones too lol
This megan-fox-at-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-2-movie-set-in-new-york-06-29-2015_1.jpg is a 5/4 pattern which simply means that if you can last 5 minutes be4 she kills you, you will most certainly be ready for 4 fingers on Johnny Walker to help you on that trip to oblivion with a smile on your face like the Chesire Cat. th.jpg I know that she is a tad off the wall, but that is why G-O-D, in his infinite wisdom, put a lot of walls in my house.
As for the cowbell. I would imagine that you would need 1. Don't you have those Mariachi Bands there.
Have to love the time variations in that cowbell pattern. Line 4 especially, where it goes from 4/4 to 6/8, then from 6/8 to 11/4 and back to 4/4. Sheer genius.
Believe it Zack. They remind me that back in my younger days when all the garbage cans were metal and you could hear the garbage men throw the lids back on them after they dumped them out at 6 in the morning.
That was the precursor to the china cymbal. I can't think of another way to ruin the beautiful sound of a set of finely tuned drums then to put a china and a cowbell on them.
I guess that what you hear as "beautiful" doesn't seem to translate well to my world. I have no idea why that is, no, wait, I do know, THEY BOTH SOUND TERRIBLE.
YOU MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW.
VAE VICTIS
ONCE YOU HIT A CERTAIN AGE, YOU BECOME PERMANENTLY UNIMPRESSED BY A LOT OF CRAP.
I HIT THAT AGE 20 YEARS AGO.
IF DOGS CAN'T GO TO HEAVEN, I WANT TO GO WHERE THEY GO
WILL ROGERS
I was taking a ride the other day. While I was watching my gas gauge go down, I was stopped by a gaggle of cows that wanted to know where Olimpass lives so they could stage a home invasion and get their cowbells back. They looked really pi$$ed which cows are prone to get when someone takes their cowbells away.
Beware Olimpass, this could be you.
I think that's kay-gee standing by the bike looking for bikini chicks.
YOU MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW.
VAE VICTIS
ONCE YOU HIT A CERTAIN AGE, YOU BECOME PERMANENTLY UNIMPRESSED BY A LOT OF CRAP.
I HIT THAT AGE 20 YEARS AGO.
IF DOGS CAN'T GO TO HEAVEN, I WANT TO GO WHERE THEY GO
WILL ROGERS
YOU MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW.
VAE VICTIS
ONCE YOU HIT A CERTAIN AGE, YOU BECOME PERMANENTLY UNIMPRESSED BY A LOT OF CRAP.
I HIT THAT AGE 20 YEARS AGO.
IF DOGS CAN'T GO TO HEAVEN, I WANT TO GO WHERE THEY GO
WILL ROGERS
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