Talk:Cowbell

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Contents 1 Almglocken are NOT cowbells. 2 SNL 3 Less cowbell 4 Image:Cowbell45.PNG 5 Cowbell Questions? 6 As a musical instrument section 7 As an Uncyclopedian... 8 List of songs featuring cowbell 9 The cowbell in a Salsa band

[edit] Almglocken are NOT cowbells.

Almglocken are not cowbells in the sense that they are portrayed here.

The almglocken are tuned German Bells. Traditional cowbells are tuned, yes, but only to two different pitches.

Almglocken should NOT redirect here.

Since almglocken are indeed cowbells (though I doubt they are tuned for bovine use), there is no reason why they shouldn't be explained together with all the differences. I'm no percussionist, but I'll add a section. klaus --84.160.197.169 12:33, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] SNL

Ahah, they mentioned the snl skit. Great stuff :D

"The Roland TR-808 drum machine was noted for its distinctive cowbell sound, which sounded almost nothing like an actual cowbell; the sound was highly electronic with a sharp, short delay." I haven't heard this sound, nor am I familiar with electronic drum sounds or drum machines, but my drummer instincts tell me it should be "sharp short decay instead of delay. P 14:58, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

My wikipedia instincts tell me it shouldn't be mentioned at all

[edit] Less cowbell

Do we really need to add any more details about the Saturday Night Live "More Cowbell" skit to this article? The expansion of the skit's description has less and less to do with the cowbell itself. I think the details should be moved to the "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" article, or it should be spun off into its own article (questions about notability aside). Simply mention the sketch and include a relevant link. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 21:43, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Image:Cowbell45.PNG

I know this image is crappy, but at least it's an image. Should this be added to the article? Can someone find a better picture? If a drumstick was added, would it be more acceptable? Thanks. --LV ^{(Dark Mark)} 16:41, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cowbell Questions?

Hey everyone, I'm user:Waldo J. Cartridge and myself and the band user:Bombs Away are planning to start a group that truely appreciates how important the cowbell is in modern rock music. We have a few questions for cowbell geeks. How much does a professional cowbell cost? We would all be very anxious to know. Thank you everyone.

-Woody

This really isn't the place to be asking these sort of questions. Did you try google? --Coplan 02:42, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] As a musical instrument section

It seems that this section is just growing and growing with examples of songs that includes the use of a cowbell. This could grow to be indefinately large. From an encyclopedia point of view, there's no reason to even mention examples of songs using the cow bell. It doesn't add anything to the article. Instead, it would be better to mention that it has been used in a wide array of genres. --Coplan 02:40, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't know. The article on sopranino saxophone mentions its use or intended use in Boléro, but I think the section should be limited to one or two of the most notable songs to use it. In fact Gimme Some Lovin'[1] and possibly She Blinded Me with Science is all that needs mentioned as the first at least is confirmed by the musician. The rest, if confirmed, can be dealt with by More Cowbell or perhaps better still left to other websites.--T. Anthony 03:01, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

I see that the articles on The Triangle and Castanets mention several works that use them. So possibly more songs using cowbells can be put back in on confirmation.--T. Anthony 04:08, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] As an Uncyclopedian...

This article needs more cowbell. Clorox MUN Goatse Virgin ONS (talk/fortune cookie) 12:28, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

I am The Cowbell Man. In my country, the cowbell is a sacred instrument, reserved for rare ceremonial occasions and used historicaly as an alternative to the traditional battle cry in times of war.

[edit] List of songs featuring cowbell

I've seen this added to the page recently and I believe it used to be an article. I don't feel this is an important feature to the "Cowbell" article, especially with the length the list could reach, but perhaps it merits an article. Thoughts? Elsprucemoose 18:59, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't know that many songs that use cowbells. Besides the aforementioned songs, there's also The Perfect Kiss by New Order. That's it as far as I know. If the list gets ridiculously long, I say scrap it. If not, keep it as is. That said, I don't think it needs a separate article. But that's just me.

Yes there are many, I recently stumbled upon this site http://www.geekspeakweekly.com/cowbell/data_search.pl perhaps we can just link to that. It is not comprehensive either though, as I know of a few new releases like Audioslave's Revelations that feature cowbell.Elsprucemoose 20:28, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Yep, you're right. There are many. And looking at the list, it looks very long as well. Your idea of a link is a very good one. Maybe we could insert the following line into the main text:

There are many modern pop songs that use cowbells. ^[1]

Then insert this at the bottom of the page somewhere.

==References==

Nice work.

I respectfully disagree with the fact that the so-named "List of songs featuring cowbell" only encompasses rock and pop tunes. The cowbell is an essential instrument in a Salsa band. Of course, adding Salsa tunes to the list would make it infinite, so I think the list should be renamed "List of rock and pop songs featuring cowbell". --Alvabass 05:04, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Excellent point. Thanks. Elsprucemoose 21:37, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

It would be nice if you could provide a reference that links cowbells to Salsa music. The name of a well-known Salsa tune that features cowbells would also be helpful.

[edit] The cowbell in a Salsa band

The lineup of a Salsa band features at least three percussionists: One who plays timbales, one conga player and another one who plays bongos. Most of the times, the backing singers play maracas and güiro to complete the section. The relevant thing here is the bongo player because he MUST play cowbell also since the structure of a typical Salsa tune demands it: The first half of the song, in which the intro and the verses go, has most of the times the bongo player seated hitting his instrument's skins (there are some exceptions for intros). Then the second part of the song enters and here the lead singer improvises short lines while a two or three part choir sings a fixed line in a question-answer form. The bongo player drops the instrument, stands up and picks up the cowbell playing a very characteristic pattern in any Salsa tune. This pattern works in conjunction with the timbal player, who stops playing his timbales' metal shell and plays one of the (sort of) agogô bells included in his/her set with one drumstick and the clave pattern on a jam block with the other. It goes like this:

As you can see, the hand cowbell plays two different pitches. The lower one is achieved by hitting the edge of the cowbell and the higher one by hitting the middle part of the instrument. Of course, the other percussionists (conga, maracas and güiro players) have their parts as well. According to the structure, the bongo drums and the hand cowbell NEVER sound at the same time in a Salsa tune. I've uploaded two audio examples. The first one shows the typical "first section" of a Salsa song. Notice that there's no cowbell and the bongo drums are prominent: sample (info). The second example shows the "second section". No bongos there but hand cowbell instead. The music tends to become more energetic: sample (info). Both examples are taken from different songs.

I've also taken advantage of this contribution to put on YouTube an old video taken from a Betamax recording and converted to mpg. I'm not a percussionist (I'm a bass player) but the performance in the video is what made me love the cowbell back in 1987. You'll see and hear the (almost) perfect demonstration of all what I've said above (the timbalero doesn't have a jam block but an actual wood block and he doesn't use it as explained. He should, IMO, but anyway...). Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG8ZrWyfv8Y (Don't know if this can be done on Wikipedia - please let me know).

--Alvabass 23:36, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

P.S.: Sorry for so many edits. I'm learning a lot about Wikipedia!