Using The Crash Cymbal For The Right Hand In A Groove

For the purpose of playing a groove you will quite often use a crash cymbal positioned on the right hand side of the kit, this crash is known as a Crash Ride. When playing with the right hand on this cymabl you will use the same open handed position you did when Using The RideLike the ride, the crash ride is notated with an 'x' note head and when minims and semi breves are used circles are drawn around the outside. It is written above the stave with one ledger line drawn underneath it, which would be a 'B' in standard notation. This cymbal is also sometimes known as a second crash. Below are some examples of the second crash notated:

Examples of crash notation

When positioned on a kit, the crash ride is always on the right hand side. That is because this bit of notation refers explicitly to a crash positioned that way, it isn't anything to do with the pitch of the cymbal. It is usually larger than the 'first' or 'main crash' and can be anything from 16" upwards but can be any size the player prefers. On a 4 piece kit it is usually over the floor tom and on a 5 piece it can be anywhere on the right hand side, though over the mid tom is common.

The crash is a much louder instrument than standard hi hats and rides and it really isn't a very subtle thing to play on. This means it isn't really appropriate for parts of music that are intended to be softer. It is much more suited to loud, dramatic parts and is often found played in chorus' and middle 8's where a dynamic lift is sometimes wanted.

The intention of this lesson is to familiarize you with both the notation of this style of groove and with playing on this new cymbal. Listed below is a set of grooves that all use the crash on the right hand. Most of these you have covered already in our level 0 groove lessons but I have added some simple variations also.


Example 1

A groove using the second crash on the right hand.


Example 2

A groove using the second crash on the right hand.


Example 3

A groove using the second crash on the right hand.


Example 4

A groove using the second crash on the right hand.


Example 5

A groove using the second crash on the right hand.


TASKS

  1. Learn each groove shown above upto a tempo of at least 100bpm.
  2. Go through our list of level 0 grooves and play all using the right hand crash.

Generally in a song you will move around various different parts of the kit with the right so it is very important to be able to do this without breaking your timing. Below is a short collection of four bar patterns where the first two bars of groove are played with the right hand on one part of the kit and the second two on a different one. These will be made up on the hi hat, ride and crash.


Exercise 1

An exercise in moving around the kit with the right hand.


Exercise 2

An exercise in moving around the kit with the right hand.


Exercise 3

An exercise in moving around the kit with the right hand.

Lessons

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