I love watching cymbal demos on YouTube until they start doing this...

[Demonslayer]

Go!

 

[andlours]

Playing the top and bottom hihat separately.

 

[Fat Drummer]

Show me how awesome a drummer they are while even completely neglecting the cymbals they are supposed to be featuring!

I also grit my teeth at demos where the player insist on applying his singular style regardless of the cymbal he's demoing. No matter the type of cymbal under his stick he plays what ever his personal favorite style of music is, forget exploring the cymbal, again it's all about "watch me"!

Often I come for the cymbal and leave BECAUSE of the drummer!!

 

[multijd]

Playing the drums.

 

[hardbat]

The demo starts with about 20 hits on the bell.

 

[Ptrick]

We need ICD codes for cymbal and drum demo’s. (International Cymbal and Drum codes). Jazz cymbal, demo number 12.9. Jazz pattern, dynamics, crash. Rock cymbal? Bow and bell playing, rock beat. Etc etc. Let’s standardize this

 

[Ian S]

I love watching cymbal demos on YouTube until they start​

talking

 

[little rock]

I wish they would list the left side cymbal, hats, and sticks being used.

 

[TonyVazquez]

Playing the top and bottom hihat separately.

Believe it or not, I have an extra pair
of hats that I use either one as
Crash cymbals! Of the two, I prefer
the bottom hat as it crashes louder
and crispier. lol

 

[TonyVazquez]

Breaking to "a word from our sponsor"
right when the good part is about to
come up.

Nothing wrong with sponsorship,
but perhaps the drummer could
announce his or her sponsors at
the Start of the video instead of
somewhere halfway through it.

 

[stevesmithfan]

1. When the guy plays jazz time on a 18” paper thin crash.

2. When he strikes the crash with the intensity of a 2 year old.

3. The demo crash is hit twice on a 2 minute video.

4. The bell is overplayed and the bell is played on a crash.

5. When the guy talks way too much. I always yell at the video shut up and hit the cymbal.

6. Hitting the hi hat top and bottom separately!

Most of the time I will not buy the cymbal because of the lousy demonstration.

 

[SpinaDude]

I generally watch cymbal demos form Memphis Drum Shop and Drum Shop of Maine. I can't recall any others at the moment.

Both places mic and record differently. Getting past our pet-peeves...which place offers the truest representation of the cymbal sound? Meaning: which place do you watch cymbal videos from (any place) where you have no doubt that what you hear in the video is what you're going to hear when you get it home?

 

[dustjacket]

When I don’t see Terence Clark.

In all seriousness, sometimes I’m just like, “get on with it already!”

 

[Markkuliini]

Starting with a slow mallet roll.
Nothing against mallets but why start with that.

 

[GiveMeYourSmallestSticks!]

When they only show 1 dimension of the cymbal, whatever the cymbal and dimension may be. Thinking of something like a jazz ride (probably most of the demos I watch), I want to hear individual notes/decay, swells, bells, shoulder shanks, crashes and actual patterns solo and accompanied by the rest of the kit. I also want to hear playing up and down the bow, from the bell to the edge.

I know that sounds like a laundry list, but I've watched too many demos that end before they've really started, or given me a full picture of what the cymbal can do. I understand with cheaper cymbals they probably are pretty 1 dimensional, but a quality instrument is complex, nuanced and multi-dimensional.

 

[flatwins]

When they pull a beautiful, NOS cymbal out of the vault then proceed to wail on it like a rented mule:

 

[dustjacket]

When they pull a beautiful, NOS cymbal out of the vault then proceed to wail on it like a rented mule:

Yikes.

 

[little rock]

Man, that was a lot of crashes in a short period of time.

 

[Heartbeat]

I miss Ben White's demos. He knew how to showcase the cymbal, not himself.

 

[mkelley]

Hit the cymbal on the absolute edge at a 90 degree angle. That is a dangerous way to play any cymbal.