Timbale transitions

Hi all,

Just a quick question for any timbaleros out there, what are some ways you transition from the basic cáscara pattern to the mambo bell/coro?

Standard way on 3-side of clave: rimshot on 2& , abanico, rimshot on 1
on 2-side of clave: rimshot on 3, abanico, rimshot on 1

Apart from that I go with my feelings, which are usually quite conservative, since this transition often means I'm about to start singing a coro so I don't have much spare brain for playing fancy patterns on the drums!

I think it's important to understand the whole band context for the transition.

For example, 2 bars of 1/8th notes on the bell and hembra is a great way to bring in a really high dynamic, but it wouldn't work if you then went to mambo bell and no campana.

Alternatively, a figure that's quite light but uses the mambo bell gives the listener a clue that it's coming in, e.g. roll to muted strike on 1, flam the bell on 1&, muted strike on 2&, bell hit on 3, abanico beat 4 to bell ride pattern on 1 of next bar.

As usual, you've "hit the nail on the head". I figured you might know that (being a timbalero) but I'm glad it got out for every1 to read for future reference. Thank you

Hey, speaking of timbales, I saw a video today of a band in concert and their timbalero had some kind of cymbal mounted on his set. Does anyone know what kind of cymbal it is and how/if they mount it on the timbales themselves in some way.

El Conguero said:

Hey, speaking of timbales, I saw a video today of a band in concert and their timbalero had some kind of cymbal mounted on his set. Does anyone know what kind of cymbal it is and how/if they mount it on the timbales themselves in some way.

Click to expand...

Cymbal I'm less sure about. I tried a whole load before I found one I was happy with, and I'm still shopping around. It wants to be a ride-able crash, quite trashy, and with fast response and decay. A jazz ride cymbal is way out because it's too sustained and washy, and you want to be able to use it dual-purpose. I have an old Sabian HH crash that rides nicely. I don't tend to crash it like a kit drummer would, but just strike it about 2/3 the way to the edge from the bell with the tip of the stick to get a light "tish" sound. When riding it, I use a lot of variety of strokes between the bell and edge, and between the stick tip and side, to give the rhythm a lot of texture and movement.

I'm considering a darker, lighter cymbal with faster response but I'm not yet 100% convinced by that.

Some seem to go for really light cymbals like a splash, and just go ahead and ride on that. Sonora Carruseles sometimes sound like that.

Why don't I just get a cymbal that's good for crashing PLUS a cymbal that's good for riding? Well it's kind of against my religion to fit more than one cymbal to a timbales set up. It should be about playing the cymbal in all its variety rather than adding more cymbals to get more sounds.