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Thread: Cowbells for Latin Music

  1. #1

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    Default Cowbells for Latin Music

    I am getting a bracket for a cowbell to fit a foot pedal and I would like advice on which cowbell to buy.

    I know Pearl does the HH2 from the Horacio Hernandez series but are there any other that I can look at?

    Also, any info on the type/size of cowbell that would be used would be interesting to hear!

    Thanks Guys!
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  2. #2

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    Default Re: Cowbells for Latin Music

    Can't go wrong with LP stuff. (Generally speaking)

    all the best...

  3. #3

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    Default Re: Cowbells for Latin Music

    Stanton Moore uses an LP black beauty with a foot pedal. I use a black beauty mounted on my bass drum. Great sounding bell.

  4. #4

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    Default Re: Cowbells for Latin Music

    Quote Originally Posted by kay-gee View Post
    Can't go wrong with LP stuff. (Generally speaking)

    all the best...
    I can recomend the LP timbale cowbell. I don't really play Latin, but for me it's the classic cowbell sound.
    Mmm... Saturns.

  5. #5

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    Default Re: Cowbells for Latin Music

    Quote Originally Posted by iamjohn View Post
    Stanton Moore uses an LP black beauty with a foot pedal. I use a black beauty mounted on my bass drum. Great sounding bell.
    +1...I use an LP Black Beauty and a couple of Toca Pro cowbells....cant go wrong with either IMO

  6. #6

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    Default Re: Cowbells for Latin Music

    I played an LP Rock Bell and LP Salsa bell for many years before finding the Pearl El Negro line, which I love. A couple of features make them stand out that you might not be aware of - one side is convex so that you can play it side-on and still get a full tone, and the wing nut moves 270 degrees in it's housing so you can position multiple bells on the same post. They also sound awesome.

  7. #7

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    Default Re: Cowbells for Latin Music

    Quote Originally Posted by longgun View Post
    +1...I use an LP Black Beauty and a couple of Toca Pro cowbells....cant go wrong with either IMO
    Ditto. I have a black beauty that used to be on my bass drum but I moved it to a snare drum stand, where instead of a snare drum I have bongos, a guiro and a tambourine.
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  8. #8

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    Default Re: Cowbells for Latin Music

    It doesnt make a difference which manufacture you buy it from, cowbells have different sounds for latin, it depends on what type of latin you are going to play: salsa, rumba, cha cha, merengue........different cowbells. One cowbell doesnt do it all. I have a rock cowbell and it doesnt work with latin.

  9. #9

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    Default Re: Cowbells for Latin Music

    If we're talking about a foot operated cowbell, one which is clamped to a device called a "Gajate" bracket, which a number of Latin percussionists and drumkit players operate with their left foot (usually when a kit player uses one they may place it to the left of their hi-hat pedal and flip their right hand to play a closed x-hat to the right of their kit), well I like using a largish LP Black Beauty or sometimes one from their Aspire series.

    However, if say we're talking about cowbells being played with sticks for say a timbale or general percussion set, Jackie's right....don't search by just the manufacturers name, it's like picking cymbals....some brands are good for high sounds, some are better with low sounds or 'dry' sounds. For instance, in my timbale or mini-timbale set up I'll use a Mano Percussion cowbell as my salsa bell (this has a great sound at the 'heel' of the bell as well as just the right amount of ring....it's not too much but not 'blocky' either....and I had it chucked in for free when I bought my large timbales!)....I use an old Tama 4 1/2" cowbell as a 'tapon' (high pitched one that you can certainly use for accents in rhythms like tangos) and the bell that's the 'in-between' that I can use together with the large one in syncopated patterns is an old LP Black Beauty.

    Both the Tama and small LP cowbells are so old now that the black paint wore away so one day I was half-deciding to get them repainted by a friend who does auto spray-painting, when, once I stripped the paint off, took one look and said they look way better unpainted. What I do is I keep the pair of them in a couple of old rags that have Vaseline spread on them so that the bare metal doesn't get rusty. Now, if I add and expand on the percussion set, usually I'll also have a pair of cheap Dixon agogo bells which is the sound you need for playing sambas, or for spicing up a pop song, giving it a hint of Latin flavour. And of course I'd have an LP Jam Block or two.
    Last edited by Drumbledore; 07-17-2012 at 02:32 AM.
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