Perscussion for a one-man band

[Swimming Bird]

Hey all, I'm doing the whole solo guy with a bass, loop station and armful of effects and I have a frustrating lack of percussion. Well, my RC-50 has bunches of built-in drum loops and my GR-20 has a whole rhythm bank, but I feel it defeats the purpose if I use already-made drum loops and the synth doesn't track quick enough to make percussion viable.

Up until now I've been hitting the bass, but that tends to sound so-so at best.

Luckily, inspiration struck when someone called me a "tap dancing bassist" due to all of the pedals: I should get some tap shoes and a platform with a mic (a la Tilly and the Wall) and use that for percussion.

However, I've never studied dance or had any experience what so ever with tap shoes or creating a small platform to mic, etc. Can anyone offer advice? is this feasable or would it just turn into a cute gimmick? Also, would I just be better off setting up bongos or a djembe and mic-ing that instead?

Thanks in advance.

-Alex

[xifr]

Try setting up a bass drum, a high hat, and maybe a cowbell attached to a pedal if you want something else.

[bassjus]

I was this celtic violin player who tap danced and played violin during her songs. It was pretty damn cool, but I'm sure it was insanely hard, and it would turn intoa gimmick real quick. I'd go the route of a djembe or bongos, or what xifr said.

[funkalicious101]

when i try to make some precussion for my solo looping stuff i usually just lay down the first one or two loops as different kinds of percussive mutes/just downright hitting.

ive noticed that when you press down slightly on the lower stings (E or B) right by the nut it sounds somewhat like a bass drum.

[Swimming Bird]

My bass doesn't respond cleanly to hitting. I think its a combination of being a six-string fretless and having optical pickups, but I cannot get rid of string noise when I try to do percussive smacking.

Would scat singing (or learning to beat box) also be a viable route or just a different kind of gimmick?

[Stinsok]

I have seen some "hill country" blues guitarist/one man bands that use a kick drum and a snare drum struck with a kick pedal.

[funkalicious101]

really? my fretless responds better to percussive hitting than my fretted.

do you hold the strings against the fingerboard with your fretting hand when to hit with your plucking hand?

[superbassman2000]

if you ask me, you want a Cajon. you could even make one--basically it's just a wood box that you sit on and hit it with your hands (or anything really)...just put a mic in the bottom and run it into your looper. I was at a piano/purcussion concert where it was a piano player and the purcussionist had a cajon, a snare and a hit hat, and he could make it sound amazing--you'd be surprised how many sounds you can get out of it depending on where you hit it and how hard you hit it...very fun little thing

[BetterBottomEnd]

A Cajon is a little more then just a box it has snare beads on the inside. They sit tight up against the front surface that you hit. Some have adjustable tension and stuff pretty cool. Yeah that would probably be best because it's relatively small and unobtrusive and has a surprisingly wide range of sounds.