Rimshot

The sound of rimshots can be described as "part normal snare and part loud, woody accent", or "generally sharper, brighter and more cutting [than a standard accent]", since the technique produces large amounts of overtones. The stroke is used on the snare in rock, pop, jazz, and blues and on the tom-toms in Afro-Cuban music. The technique is also common in bossa nova, ska, reggae, and rocksteady. As a result, the stroke is frequently used in bossa nova to imitate the sound of claves; it is also used for ballads in rock, pop, and country music. ==More general use of the term==

The musical phrase played on percussion instruments used to punctuate jokes is known in percussion jargon as a sting. This is often called a rimshot, although some versions of it do not include a rimshot in the technical sense. A rimshot when used to accent the punchline of a joke being told by a live comedian may or may not simultaneously be played with a small cymbal crash. Sometimes, the comedian would react to the rimshot as if they did not expect it and in doing so, pass the reaction and responsibility for the rimshot on to the drummer, when in fact, the comedian had previously instructed the drummer when to use and when not to use the rimshot. Despite having previously been scripted into the routine by the comedian, these were designed to appear to be improvised by the drummer, so as to accentuate the joke. ==References==