Share tips, tricks, gear set ups and videos relating to the use of MPCs in live performances including MPC finger drumming, MPC scratching, using MPCs with decks, computers and other instruments.
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By JamesJeffery Mon Apr 11, 2016 1:01 pm
Not sure if this has been said here before, but thought I'd share something that really helped me out.

When I was learning to finger drum I would really get thrown off by playing two or more different instruments and/or rhythms at the same time. Such as a kick, snare, and a hi hat. My hands just couldn't function independently.

I watched a tonne of drumming videos and noticed something common. They were all counting, and they emphasised certain numbers which represented accents. I decided to try this on the pads, afterall it's still drumming and still uses the same techniques except with fingers instead of hands.

The 6/8 time signature was tricky. It's the first signature I attempted to play, and I failed big time. I had to play the kick on the downbeat (1), and the snare on the upbeat (4) and at the same time the hi hats on 1,2,3,4,5,6. It's easy now, but then it was hard.

Without being able to count as I'm playing I don't think I'd have ever learnt how to finger drum properly. But doing so makes learning new time signatures real easy, and eventually you can throw in other accents and be able to play any sort of pattern you like. Forget using swing ... play it for real :)

1. Learn to count
2. Learn different time signatures
3. Learn polyrhythms

Hope that helps.