Anybody "beat box" the groove while you play?

I went to a drum clinic a few weeks ago put on by jazz drummer Jeff Hamilton and he along with many others say "if you can sing it, you can play it". It never occurred to me to "beat box" while I play but I've been doing this at my home recording sessions since attending the clinic and I can hear a huge improvement in my playing. My fills seem to flow smoother from verse to chorus.

I wondered if marching band drummers are encouraged to beat box or sing out in there heads and sure enough, they do. I've been sticking to "boom chicka" "boom chicka" "boom" type of cadence but found a few tips to expand my "drummer-ese"

What's your method?

• digga-digga-digga- rolls
• "boom-" bass drum
• "ka" rimshot
• flams as "chut"
• buzzes as "dzz"
• "bi-gi-da"- triplet
• bi-gi-da-bi-gi-da"- sixtuplets.

I don’t beat box but if I did it would go like this

Chi-ken-nu-gets chi-ken-nu-gets chi-ken-nu-gets

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Originally Posted by inthpktplayer

I don’t beat box but if I did it would go like this

Chi-ken-nu-gets chi-ken-nu-gets chi-ken-nu-gets

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lol!! My favorite Motown fill: "Pat Boone Debbie Boone"

I learned my quads in Kentucky..........................

"finger-lickin' finger-lickin' finger-lickin'"

Of course you all are kidding about this.............................................. .................................right?

I watch a guy periodically on the you tube named Rob Brown. He does demos and drum advise and he did one on a similar subject. He said learn the complete song and the lyrics. I kinda did this before but it was off and on. Now I sing the song with the singer in my head all the time it really does work. Helps with my fills, breaks, and so forth. Never did the beatbox thing

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Originally Posted by Ricardo

I learned my quads in Kentucky..........................

"finger-lickin' finger-lickin' finger-lickin'"

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hahaha!!

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Originally Posted by rickthedrummer

Of course you all are kidding about this.............................................. .................................right?

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Kidding? No!..."bahdum chuck" (rimshot)

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Originally Posted by Goro

I watch a guy periodically on the you tube named Rob Brown. He does demos and drum advise and he did one on a similar subject. He said learn the complete song and the lyrics. I kinda did this before but it was off and on. Now I sing the song with the singer in my head all the time it really does work. Helps with my fills, breaks, and so forth. Never did the beatbox thing

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I'm old...I can't even remember when I'm supposed to take my meds let alone remember lyrics. I do the beat box things so I can feel when to throw in a fill or not. Thanks for chiming in Goro. I'm glad I brought this up...

There's another thing I can say I never did.

My list of things I didn't do is longer than the list of things I did do. I wonder how I made money by not doing these things.

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Originally Posted by rickthedrummer

There's another thing I can say I never did.

My list of things I didn't do is longer than the list of things I did do. I wonder how I made money by not doing these things.

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Ok...here's an example you can totally get. Mel Torme and your pal Buddy Rich on the Merv Griffin Show back when you were probably gigging back in 1979?

Mel scats a few bars at the beginning and Buddy play's Mel's scat. Buddy and Mel play this "duet" throughout the entire song and they trade "fours" as Buddy play's Mel's four bar scat.

What Mel scats is what I'm doing out loud behind the kit as I play. Listen closely and you'll hear it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9VpCLyxLfU

For you younger drummers you'll get what I'm talking about by watching this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMskGG39Y0Y

par-a-diddle par-a-diddle par-a-diddle par-a-diddle par-a-diddle par-a-diddle par-a-diddle

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Originally Posted by rickthedrummer

There's another thing I can say I never did.

My list of things I didn't do is longer than the list of things I did do. I wonder how I made money by not doing these things.

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You probably made money because you practiced and had some talent. Some of us are not as talented as others or have different ways in which we learn and have to do little tricks and tips to help us feel certain parts we want to play well but for whatever reason we need some help to feel a certain part so we can play the song to the best of our ability. Anybody who does tricks or offers suggestions as to what they do to play well is always good in my book and just may help someone else with the same issues.

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Originally Posted by rickthedrummer

There's another thing I can say I never did.

My list of things I didn't do is longer than the list of things I did do. I wonder how I made money by not doing these things.

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I'd bet you actually DID do this Rick. You just didn't know you were doing it. It probably went something like;
"Check-out-that-blonde, check-out-that-blonde"......or

"The-singers-an-!@&$, the-singers-an-!@&$"

:icon_mrgreen:

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Originally Posted by MDK

You probably made money because you practiced and had some talent. Some of us are not as talented as others or have different ways in which we learn and have to do little tricks and tips to help us feel certain parts we want to play well but for whatever reason we need some help to feel a certain part so we can play the song to the best of our ability. Anybody who does tricks or offers suggestions as to what they do to play well is always good in my book and just may help someone else with the same issues.

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MDK: I wish that I had some really good suggestions on playing, but I don't. At the same time there are things I know, without doubt, that any musician MUST have, and that is confidence in their ability to play. I've seen trained drummers that have very good technique, the ability to move around the set, and the ability to play interesting drums. At some point I've seen them in a musical setting and they are playing like they just finished their 6th lesson. I think to myself, "what the hell happened". Did he get on stage and forget that he has been playing for 15-20 years, or did his confidence take a walk. Play and play with confidence in your ability.

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Originally Posted by N2Bluz

I'd bet you actually DID do this Rick. You just didn't know you were doing it. It probably went something like;
"Check-out-that-blonde, check-out-that-blonde"......or

"The-singers-an-!@&$, the-singers-an-!@&$"

:icon_mrgreen:

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Ya got me there Brian. I didn't think that anybody noticed................................wrong...... ......................................again.

Yeah that's actually great advice Rick, sometimes easier said than done but I agree, at some point you just have to trust all that practice you put in, smile and let loose.

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Originally Posted by rickthedrummer

MDK: I wish that I had some really good suggestions on playing, but I don't. At the same time there are things I know, without doubt, that any musician MUST have, and that is confidence in their ability to play. I've seen trained drummers that have very good technique, the ability to move around the set, and the ability to play interesting drums. At some point I've seen them in a musical setting and they are playing like they just finished their 6th lesson. I think to myself, "what the hell happened". Did he get on stage and forget that he has been playing for 15-20 years, or did his confidence take a walk. Play and play with confidence in your ability.

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What many don't understand is that there is a significant difference between sitting behind the drums in your basement, bedroom, studio.....whatever............and playing with other human beings........furthermore, with other human beings in front of a crowd of human beings.

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Originally Posted by inthpktplayer

What many don't understand is that there is a significant difference between sitting behind the drums in your basement, bedroom, studio.....whatever............and playing with other human beings........furthermore, with other human beings in front of a crowd of human beings.

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So true, hell I even notice a big difference when playing when in my basement and when playing in my basement with a video recorder on. My concentration seems to go wayy up when i am recording so that is always a good tool to use when practicing in basement/garage for a live gig.

A friend once asked me "Can you play me a Chicken Taco?" :icon_lol:

Mnemonic devices:

Mnemonic devices are techniques a person can use to help them improve their ability to remember something. In other words, it's a memory technique to help your brain better encode and recall important information.

Example: "Pat Boone Debbie Boone" is drum fill heard in many songs as an intro or a fill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QeppUL424c

Latin conga percussion players have been doing this forever. Its even used to describe certain licks etc. I think it works great as my background is latin percussion.

[QUOTE=inthpktplayer;713738]What many don't understand is that there is a significant difference between sitting behind the drums in your basement, bedroom, studio.....whatever............and playing with other human beings........furthermore, with other human beings in front of a crowd of human beings.[/QUOTE

I know what it's like to play in a bar on a lousy NJ night with maybe 20-25 people sitting at the bar BS'ing and not paying any attention to what we were doing. I also know what it's like to play in front of thousands of people. If you can't play with people, keep your day job. If you can't play in front of people regardless of the size of the crowd, keep your day job. If I let that crap bother me, I would probably still be driving the oil truck in the miserable NJ winters.

Rob "beat down" Brown. Didn't he say something like "chicken and a biscuit with gravy" lol. Or something like that? I like his videos quite a bit. For a newbie like myself. I can incorporate some of his ideas into my playing. I especially liked his practice while your watching TV video. Gets me some extra stick time. And the towel keeps my girl from killing me lol.

I don't know if I do exactly like that per se, but I know this, when I learned to play rhythm guitar and sing complete songs, my drumming zoomed to another level. It's true, if you can internalize it and sing it you can probably play it.

all the best...