Re: Re: Playing Beatpads (mpd, mpc etc.)

[Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>]

On 7/22/64 11:59 AM, Matt Davignon wrote:
> This reminds me - the other day I stumbled upon a series of videos
> showing exercises for mpc style samplers. Here's the first:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEpLD6vD43E
> They are very similar to the left/right exercises that percussion
> teachers would have you practice. The early ones are simple. By the
> time you get to #16, they're really impressive.
I just posted a series of double stroke balancing exercises that 
incorporate
the things he's talking about.

I'll take the risk and reproduce them here (below this post) again just 
so you
have all the information  on one page.

Anyway,   after you work through this material it's cool to note that
each hand will have three separate places to place a different melody out
of the 8 notes in each exercise.

In these cases, the left hand will play a more neutral sound like a hi 
hat or a shaker
(mono melodically)

As an example,   in

exercise 8               R L L R L L R L         (commonly known as 
'Tresillo or 'little threes')

you have time to move your right hand to 3 different pads.
the melody created if I use hi, mid and lo
can be

Hi  - - Mid - - Lo -   (or any combination of the three)

(I sing  " one - - two - - three - ")

or, in:
excercise 11      R L R R L R R L      (commonly known as 'Cinquillo'  
or 'little fives')

you still have time to play the right hand on three different pads

now the right hand melody is
Hi - Mid Mid - Lo Lo -

(I sing   " one - dou-ble -  dou-ble  - ")

********************************************
You can get really fancy with a more complex four repetition song form 
by playing something like this
with the right hand playing a different pad (or melody) every time it hits

||: Hi - Hi Mid - Mid Lo -
    Hi - Mid Hi - Mid Hi -
    Hi _ Hi Mid - Mid Lo -
    Mid - Lo Lo - Lo Lo -  :||

These patterns are really fun and can produce surprisingly sophisticated 
results
on a string instrument when arpeggiating as well as on a drum machine or 
MPC unit.


Rick Walker

**************************************************************************************************
(here are those exercises below,  I just gave them to a local 
professional keyboardist who wanted
to get better at Hohner D6 Clavinet styled funk riffing.......they are 
tailored made for this kind of
'every note' played but still a lot of rhythmic variation).



As a drummer, I like the rudiments but sometimes they are frustrating to 
me because they are so limited mathematically.
As an example,  the famous paradiddle  R L R R L R L L    is fascinating 
because it the present two  double stroke
rolls that when played together, force each hand to play on each side of 
the syncopation.  The double right hands
and double left hands balance each other out in this respect.

for what it's worth,  I developed these DOUBLE STROKE BALANCING 
EXERCISES to practice all of the
ways to achieve this onbeat/offbeat sensibility in a set of 8 16th notes 
(half a measure in 4/4).

They make really good exercises for pianist, percussionists and for 
guitar players (using up/down picking to substitute for
R L order)

Play them without accent at first.  Then play them with all right hands 
(or down picks) accented and then again
with all left hands accented.     Lastly,  play them each once in order 
without stopping every single day.
In a month's time you will be very used to playing on any side of the 
beat (on/beat to off/beat) with ease.
*
DOUBLE STROKE BALANCING EXERCISES *
                  copyright 1981 Rick Walker


1)   R R l R l R l l
2)   R R l R l R R l
3)   R R l R l l R l     "ratamacue"
4)   R R l R R l R l
5)   R R l l R l R l
6)   R l l R l R l l
7)   R l l R l R R l
8)   R l l R l l R l      "tresillo"
9)   R l l R R l R l
10)  R l R R l R l l      "paradiddle"
11)  R l R R l R R l      "cinquillo"
12)  R l R R l l R l
13)  R l R l l R l l
14)  R l R l l R R l
15)  R l R l R R l l

and then five more incorporating the pickup note

16) R |: R l R l R l l R :|
17) R |: R l R l R R l R :|
18) R |: R l R l l R l R :|
19) R |: R l R R l R l R :|
20) R |: R l l R l R l R :|