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Showing posts from November, 2017

Further adventures in Choosing & Using Multiple Gongs

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Today, more thoughts based on the continuing Facebook conversation on choosing a gong. If you are part of the FB conversation, be patient, as I will repeat some of the thoughts I have posted there. As a note of disclosure, I must tell you that I have played Paiste products for well over 40 years and that I have been an endorsing artist for the past 15 years.   I love Paiste gongs and will most likely love them until the day I die. While I find their sound amazing and very useful for the work I do, currently Paiste only makes 1 type of gong with 1 type of sound (OK, there are 2 minor exceptions in their greatly reduced Sound Creation line). The Paiste Symphonic & Planet Gongs are essentially the same thing, with the same sound characteristics. The Planets Gongs are really just a more focused sounding Symphonic. They are centered around a specific pitch, while the Symphonic is not. But if you play 2 same sized Symphonic and Planet Gongs side by side, they will sound a lo

Choosing Gongs

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A question was asked in a Facebook gong group this week: Can anyone make a suggestion of what may go well with a Paiste 24" Planet Venus and a Paiste 40" Symphonic Gong? What should I buy next? I responded that a 28" Jupiter Planet Gong would work well, as I use both a Venus and Jupiter with a 32" Paiste Symphonic, and have had enough experience with various 40" gongs to know that would work well also. Other people responded that you need to match the astrology/planets/tunings/etc. in order to make things work. I suppose that's alright if you are really invested in that sort of thing.  When choosing gongs, I use my ears and nothing else.   This has been my feeling for over 40 years. F or many years,  I worked in drum shops, helping people find the right gear for them. When selecting cymbals, I always told them to, “just play them and not worry about what type of model it is.” The printed designations on cymbals are just someone else'