Busking Drum Beat

erky32

These days, less band playing for me, more busking style singer/guitar solo/duo gigs/open-mic. So no drummer.
Alternative ?....
 - drum machine - nah, dont like them - too rigid or complicated & rigid.
I prefer my foot beat - I've tried cajun with a back-beat pedal, but find that too clonky, my best to date is a Roland SPD:ONE Kick pedal - which is very responsive and sounds good & acoustic. Trouble is playing lead solos in a song  can sometimes confuse my foot & it can go haywire. Solution would be maybe a looper on the Roland pedal - ie initiate a beat with a song then when it gets the idea - let it roll in automatic. I dont know if anybody empathises with my dilemma - but if you do and have a solution I'd be interested in your thoughts. If Roland had built a smart looper in their pedal i think it would have been the answer. I really dont want to add a looper pedal (which i have) because it just adds to the clutter & "stuff"!

Cryptid

My advice would be to work on your foot-independence so you can do it while soloing. Like keeping a strong thumb bass while finger picking - a small portion of your awareness has to stay on it at all times. Tap your foot whenever you're playing anything. Maybe practice various paradiddles and polyrhythms, tapping your hands on a desk/lap while keeping a strong pulse going with your foot. 

I've tried loopers for keeping a beat going but it's tricky and a lot to keep on top of, especially if you have sections where you want it to drop out and come back in again. I used to use a Ditto to loop a single bassy thud of the guitar top, from beat 4 of the bar before I wanted it to come in. A nightmare really, too much room for error. 

I far prefer the ultimate control of just tapping your foot along. At the moment I just wear shoes with a percussive sole on a piece of wood if there isn't a wooden floor - the heel is a bass drum and a flat foot gives a bass drum + snare/clap sound. Looking to get an SPD:One soon so I can play in comfy shoes, although I'll miss the flamenco-style drama. 

BenSirAmos

I was okay with foot independence until I started trying to play blues harp too. up-down-strum-strum-in-out-tap-tap might be okay for a number or too - but not a whole set. 

erky32

BenSirAmos said:

I was okay with foot independence until I started trying to play blues harp too. up-down-strum-strum-in-out-tap-tap might be okay for a number or too - but not a whole set. 

Exactly - singing, guitar & harp can confuse foot!

Teetonetal

Can only echo the above... practice foot independence.  If for nothing else, your timing will improve, as will you feel of the beat during complex solos... 

Getting a 4 to the floor beat is very simple. Start there and build up into more complex patterns.  You want to get to the point where you don't have to think about the foot at all - fully automatic, It's very possible, but requires practice. record yourself and focus on the bits where it goes haywire. Practice those bits a lot.

The SPD one is excellent .

BenSirAmos

Okay, I'll try practicing more until I find an alternative solution. 

And I need to find the best way of attaching the hi-hat cymbals to my knees so I can keep the eighths going.

erky32

I've just been playing with my Trio+ pedal this evening with the loop & bass turned down. It works better than I thought, but my feeling to date is that it can throw a surprise at you if you were in a live situation. But I'm going to give it more time to try with different songs/rhythms and see if it would be suitable. If it gets the rhythm ok & sympathetic it can add some colour to a drum backing.

mrkb

erky32 said:

I've just been playing with my Trio+ pedal this evening with the loop & bass turned down. It works better than I thought, but my feeling to date is that it can throw a surprise at you if you were in a live situation. But I'm going to give it more time to try with different songs/rhythms and see if it would be suitable. If it gets the rhythm ok & sympathetic it can add some colour to a drum backing.

There’s a setting on the trio where you can turn off the hi-hat pattern as well, rotate the highhat pattern knob until the led light goes of (there’s a small gap between the leds at the 6 o’clock position). Can be useful, there’s still the odd crash but it makes the pattern much simpler.