My Drum Machine

Have you ever just had a hard time coming up with new ideas? Have you ever had a hard time coming up with new grooves or segueways for tunes? Lately, I have encountered this problem while working on albums. Some of the cats I have worked with for years are staring to ask me to write stuff for them. They want more of my input on their records as opposed to they write a tune and I make up the drum part. Now they are asking me to build grooves and that can write around.

So I was faced with the problem of coming up with cool stuff with no music to feed off of.
This was a really cool challenge for me। So I started playing with my buddy, my friend and practice partner. MY DRUM MACHINE!!!!!!!!

It seems that lots of drummers still don't own or want to own drum machines. Well wise up guys and go get yourself a drum machine. WHY? Let look at some good reasons.

1. YOU CAN PROGRAM A CLICK TRACK INTO YOUR DRUM MACHINE AND PRACTICE WITH IT.
2. IF YOU DON'T LIKE PLAYING WITH A CLICK, YOU CAN PROGRAM A LOOP INTO IT AND PRACTICE WITH THAT. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT TOOL FOR INTERNALIZING TIME.
3. YOU CAN PROGRAM PERCUSSION AND PLAY GROOVES TO IT.
4. YOU CAN PROGRAM GROOVES AND PLAY PERCUSSION.
5. YOU CAN WORK ON YOUR ODD TIME PLAYING, BY SETTING THE CLICK OR LOOP IN AN ODD TIME SIGNATURE.
6. YOU CAN JUST PLAIN OLD EXPERIMENT WITH DIFFERENT SOUNDS AND GROOVES.
7. YOU CANPROGRAM GROOVES INTO IT THAT YOU NEVER WOULD PLAY NATURALLY ON THE KIT, AND LEARN THEM ON THE DRUMS.

This is what I have started doing। Programming grooves on my drum machine, and then learning them and applying them to the drum set. It has proven to be a very cool thing to do. You will find that your programming can be quite different from your actual playing habits. This proves to be quite the challenge when playing this stuff on the drum set. I have come up with some really cool stuff and it seems to be really working for me. There are so many variables that you can try and the combinations are endless. Additionally, it brings all kinds of new coordination and four-way independence to your playing.

You can really throw the snare drum around and place it anywhere you want, unlike when your left hand is leading you towards two and four or some E's and &'s. You can move the bass drum around and try some whacked combinations. I have come up with some killer funk stuff in the last week or so. Its really nice because you can program it, then listen to it and see if you like it. It beats putting endless hours into a groove and then deciding that it's not what you wanted.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST!! YOU CAN WATCH THE BASS PLAYER SCRAMBLE TRYING TO FIND THE ONE, AND COME UP WITH SOMETHING COOL TO FIT YOUR GROOVE। HA!!! SO CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF, I THINK YOU WILL HAVE A GREAT TIME AND IT WILL SPARK SOME NEW IDEAS FOR YOU. GOOD LUCK.