basic drum machine for 'Bass Grooves'

[leftiebass]

Hi -
I want to work with Ed Friedland's book "Bass Grooves". Early in the book it says, "To fully benefit from this book, I suggest you purchase a drum machine. / There are many great-sounding inexpensive machines on the market, with companies like Boss and Zoom offering several models that cost as little as $100."
Then, he talks about setting the kick drum, hi hat, etc.
As the book was written a few years back - I am looking for a suggestion for what to buy to work through the book. I don't need to go too deep, I'm trying to work on my sense of rhythm and timing - like it says - 'groove'. Appreciate any suggestions for what will work well with the book, not too hard to learn, and cost somewhere in the neighborhood mentioned above. (hope this works in the forum - I see there are other ones that might apply. Thanks!

 

[IamGroot]

If you want to work on your rhythm and timing, use a metronome. Several free ones online.

Yes, I am serious.

 

[MrLenny1]

If you consider a pedal Zoom B2 pedal sells
for approx. $50 used.

 

[SoCal80s]

I'm pretty sure you can find a free app for your phone. Search for drum machine or beat maker, etc. GarageBand is also useful for this.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

I have Ed's book. And bought a drum machine...… 100 drum beats ……. gave it to our drummer and ask him to let me know which of the 100 he would be using. He gave it back to me and said, that when he knows what pattern he will use ---- today ----- for this song ----- he will let me know.

It really boils down to time signature, i.e. 3/4, 4/4, 5/8, etc. I took this to heart and follow the drummer basic beat and ignore his fills. That gives him the beat to fall back on when he comes off his solo, run, etc. I get his basic beat from watching his kick pedal. For some reason that works best for me than just listening. Watching the pedal I'm able to see the runs from the basic beat...

Here is a short video that should help.

I read Ed's book and put it aside. I was not ready for it and did not buy a drum machine, like he asked us to do. A year later I picked it up again and this time I did read it along with a drum machine. I then spent some time with the "How to Play Drum" sights on the Internet. This did help.

No I did not learn how to play drums, but, I have a better understanding of drum tracks. You may want to spend some time with Google and drum track instructional videos.

 

[leftiebass]

Thanks

I also went through Ed's book before and put it aside. Also, I'm ready to go at it again, this time doing what he suggests - including the drum machine bit. I also am on to the kick pedal, but these days I am without a real group - and that means without a real drummer! At the suggestion of a friend, I sometimes work with songs in Band in a Box, but mute everything but the drums and play the bass part, checking to see if it still sounds 'musical'. So - which drum machine did you get? recommend? thanks again - will look into the other suggestions.

 

[IamGroot]

BIAB is cool for grooves after your time skills are tight. I wish I still had BIAB. But If your time skills are lacking, you want to stay away from drum machines which mask the problem and use a metronome.

I got called out for dragging last night, but it was at the end of a 16 hr day. No ones perfect.

 

[leftiebass]

BIAB is cool for grooves after your time skills are tight. I wish I still had BIAB. But If your time skills are lacking, you want to stay away from drum machines which mask the problem and use a metronome.

I got called out for dragging last night, but it was at the end of a 16 hr day. No ones perfect.

-------------
I do work with the metronome. I think that Ed's book is more about, as he puts it "a knowledge of the rhythmic vocabularies of different styles of music" / "Keeping time is at the heart of grooving, though time and groove are not entirely the same thing - it is possible to keep perfect time and not groove and vice versa."

 

[IamGroot]

-------------
I do work with the metronome. I think that Ed's book is more about, as he puts it "a knowledge of the rhythmic vocabularies of different styles of music" / "Keeping time is at the heart of grooving, though time and groove are not entirely the same thing - it is possible to keep perfect time and not groove and vice versa."

I respect Ed and met him several times when he gave lessons at a now defunct bass store in Austin. I owned this book, but felt it was not the way for me. I got my rhythmic ideas from bass transcriptions..lots of them. Playing a groove with a drummer is a give and take
. I like to see a groove that serves the song. Some drummers are good about that, others arent.

 

[B-Lo]

There are metronome apps that are "drum metronomes"...helps you keep time, but offers drum beats instead of the "tic tic tic" or "beep, beep, boop" of a standard metronome app.

Both of these drum machines are good IMO:

https://www.amazon.com/Digitech-TRI...pID=51MCmurrs2L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

https://www.amazon.com/Singular-Sou...pID=51pxmlvI8hL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I have both but I didn't pay those prices...bought the Beat Buddy used on here and bought the Trio brand new for $50 on Ebay. My preference so far is the Trio albeit, I haven't played with the Beat Buddy much, so my opinion may change after a while. If I had to recommend one right now, it would be the Trio. It's a little "band in a box."

You can basically strum a chord and the machine will instantly process your chords and generate drum and bass parts based on the chord. You can turn the bass part all the way down so you only here the drum parts, or you can try to play along with the bass part.

From there you can select from 7 different genres with 12 styles per genre. Some beat patterns even set you up for turnarounds...loads of fun. I believe you can also switch between time signatures. It's great for grooving and learning to lock in with drums.

 

[jsbarber]

There is an app called DrumGenius with a lime green logo of a funny face. It has a large number of drum rhythms.

 

[braindead0]

I use hydrogen Hydrogen