Basic drum track

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jonr
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Basic drum track

Post by jonr »

Hello,

I am not a seasoned musician, I play a little guitar and have never been serious about even that. I have recently been playing with Ardour for mixing and mastering and I can lay down all instruments that I want, except one, drums. I have never played drums and never really paid attention to drums in music unless we are talking 40 years ago in band class. My question is, is there a formula for a beginner to use to make a half decent drum beat in my tracks? Should I put a kick at the beginning of every measure and a snare in between each kick? I have done that and it is very boring but works, so would like to know if there is a formula or some sort of drum pattern, like a pentatonic scale for guitar, that works for almost everything.

Not trying to boil the ocean, and am not opposed to reading and watching instruction videos, which I have been doing, but just not finding patterns that work for 80% of all tracks. I thought I would ask the experts on here for some help and maybe some good tips that I am not aware of since I have never been a drummer.

Thanks for any tips/help/docs,

Jon

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Impostor
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Re: Basic drum track

Post by Impostor »

<boom clap boom-boom clap> on repeat will get you started.

<boom tsik clap tsik boom tsik clap tsik> for the advanced :)

Edit: I'll release the above rhythms under CC-do-whatever-you-want-with-it. No need to give me credit.

Last edited by Impostor on Mon Mar 27, 2023 6:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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erlkönig
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Re: Basic drum track

Post by erlkönig »

...or for technoid stuff: uffz-uffz-uffz-uffzuffzuffz
Joking apart - i don't think, there's something like a golden pattern.

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j_e_f_f_g
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Re: Basic drum track

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

Try BackupBand for some ideas of drums amd bass in various styles. The link to download is in my tagline below.

You can also use the program as a practice tool to improve your guitar solos.

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jonr
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Re: Basic drum track

Post by jonr »

Thank you all for replying, all the responses were helpful. Imposter, you are a true humanitarian for releasing those under the CC :) Also, your simple layout actually does help. The technoid beat, took me awhile to even be able to say it correctly and also funny. Saying there is no golden pattern helped me to realize I am not missing it when it comes to drums, will just take more time. The Backupband is a really good tool to find some patterns and play around with them. I was playing around with it last night and this will be a helpful tool, especially to figure out the turn-around and just different patterns for different styles.

One thing about BackupBand that I found, it will hang on loading midi/audio devices, but if I move that screen to my other monitor it moves to the next screen. For me, I can click a button, then move it to my other monitor and the action happens. So change from Rock to Heavy Rock, move to second monitor, change happens. If I stay on the same monitor the action doesn't happen and it looks like it is hung.

Thanks for the tips, I really appreciate the help!

Jon

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Impostor
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Re: Basic drum track

Post by Impostor »

jonr wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:55 pm

Imposter, you are a true humanitarian for releasing those under the CC :)

Well, since you appreciate my creative efforts so much, here's a tip which I tend to (mis)use: if your drumtrack doesn't sound good enough to you, just drench it in a pad. Works miracles!

Kirtai
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Re: Basic drum track

Post by Kirtai »

jonr wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:55 pm

One thing about BackupBand that I found, it will hang on loading midi/audio devices, but if I move that screen to my other monitor it moves to the next screen. For me, I can click a button, then move it to my other monitor and the action happens. So change from Rock to Heavy Rock, move to second monitor, change happens. If I stay on the same monitor the action doesn't happen and it looks like it is hung.

I haven't used it for a while but iirc it would sometimes stop updating the GUI but should keep working otherwise. A refresh (move to another screen, minimise and reopen) would kick it into action again.

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Babarosa
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Re: Basic drum track

Post by Babarosa »

@jonr
You can also try JJazzLab "https://www.jjazzlab.com/en/".
It comes with hundreds or more beats, each consisting of groove variations, fills, breaks. It also can read Yamaha's styles. You can export the beats and even the complete songs to a midi file and then integrate it in your daw.

Michael

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tseaver
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Re: Basic drum track

Post by tseaver »

Ob. note: I'm not a drummer, and I don't play one on TV: my main instruments are guitar and banjo, with mando and bass tied for distant third.

@jonr

Just my take: it is super useful to learn to listen analytically to songs you like (even more so for those you want to emulate). It takes some learning, but being able to zero in on particular elements is worth it. For your current example:

  • Listen to the pattern on the hi-hats or ride cymbal during a verse. Is the drummer playing "straight" eight notes? Or swinging them? Maybe playing sixteenths, or even 12/8 (think old R&B ballads)? This bit is usually played with the drummer's "strong" hand, and is the "timekeeping" part for the rest of the band.
  • The snare is usually going to be most prominent on the 2 and 4 of a 4/4 song: are their other notes on the snare just before or just after those emphasized ones?
  • Likewise, the kick drum often falls on the 1 and the 3: do you hear others, maybe with lower dynamics?

Then, notice if / how those three elements change during a chorus: Does the timekeeping move from hi-hats to the ride? Maybe there are extra "ghost" notes on the snare or kick?

These three elements (timekeeping, snare, kick) make up the "groove" for most songs: getting close on them means you will be able to play along on other instruments comfortably. Fancier bits (fills, accent / color cymbals, etc.) might matter for the final version of a song, but won't affect the "feel" nearly as much.

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barbouze
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Re: Basic drum track

Post by barbouze »

What I've done that helped me A LOT:

  • learn what is a drum kit, what is the purpose of each piece, how it is played (did you know that you could hit a snare at least in 4* different ways that all sound different?)
  • listen analytically to the style you want to replicate, and focus on bass drum, snare and hi-hats (theses are the three main piece of a drum kit*)
  • check youtube tutorials intended for drummers for that style (in my case => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaTG_kDAJ00 was really usefull)

Loop over those 3 points until you feel ready to launch your virtual drums and experiment with what you learned!

*: I'm not a drummer and will never be but I too need drums (who doesn't: :D )

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RyanH
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Re: Basic drum track

Post by RyanH »

To get a hands-on feel, if you have a midi keyboard, you can connect it to a Hydrogen drum kit or some percussion in QSynth, find which key triggers the bass drum and which key triggers the snare, and just play around with those two keys with your other, pre-recorded instruments playing in the background. Jam with yourself, basically, and you'll get a feel for what you find sounds good or bad. Then you can use that to help you decide how to program your beats.

I'm not a big Metallica fan, but I think I heard that Lars Ulrich got into drumming literally banging pots and pans while listening to songs. Seems to have worked out very well for him. :lol:

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