Playing the crash cymbal in a groove

You can use the crash cymbal just about anywhere in music, but generally it is used to support an accent. We are going to develop playing the crash cymbal on beat 1 in this lesson as part of a groove firstly, then as part of a fill as well.

In this first exercise, you will see that we have a new note position on the stave. This is the crash cymbal and, as we said, it is on beat 1.

To be precise, the crash cymbal is on the line above the hi-hat. It has a cross to represent the fact that it is a cymbal, as opposed to a filled in note, which we tend to use to represent drums.

We are going to play the crash cymbal on beat 1 and then continue the rest of the bar with eighth notes on the hi-hat. This will provide good groundwork for bringing in the bass drum and snare drum.

To play the crash cymbal in this pattern, count through the bar as normal, bringing the hand up to play the crash cymbal on beat 1, and then back down to the hi-hat to continue for the rest of the bar.

As usual, watch the video and then play along with the play-along files.

Exercise 1

Next: Adding the bass drum and snare drum