Q
quoc.ta
New member
I'm completely a newbie. For making rap beats, what instrument should I learn to play first?
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C
Captain Ego
New member
That's an unusual question. I know quite a few beatmaking guys that would have asked which piece of gear or computer program do they need to learn first. Well here's my $0.02 worth on making your own beats, something I do from time to time for rap/hop friends of mine for fun but not really my genre (sorry I'm a stripped down basic rock band kinda guy):
Knowing a bit of your way around a piano keyboard is probably the most useful if you are going to get into programming. Keyboards sound like whatever sounds are in them. A piano, a bass note, a sample, whatever. It's easy enough to get the hang of which keys sound neat together as chords without any formal training but you won't be doing any crazy scott joplin stuff unless you plan on mastering it as a performance instrument instead of a production tool. As a production tool though, its is very handy to envision melodies and chordings all laid out right in front of you like that - you can visually see the mathematics of which notes work together in what ways.
Now comes the long bit about what you envision your "beats" as:
It helps to have an understanding of any instrument. When you are making "beats" as the backing track to rap over, you aren't just making a beat, anybody with the ability to tap his foot or bang on a trash can lid can do that. You are making a little mini composition of instruments working together. A backing track to layer voices or samples or whatever it is you layer. The principle is the same as with writing a rock piece.
Rhythm, Riff, Garnish (invent whatever words you like for the concepts).
- something keeps the actual rhythm, and accentuates certain parts, as well as adds intensity or backs off intensity to keep the flow of the song for the other parts. Simplisticly, a drum set does this. Playing a drum set for about a month, maybe two, let me start thinking like a drummer in how my part would fit into an overall composition and work with the bassline and the lead line. It let me think how I wanted the actual drummer to play the part I imagined (much better than I could) which is rather the same as programming the drum part I would want into some sequencer and letting it play the part.
A lot of rap backgrounds I have heard sound nothing even remotely like a real drummer though, with super quadrupley thud noises all over the place and seemingly random placement of clappy noises, 'snare' blasts, or little chirpy blips and blaps throughout. If that is what you are going for, you need to learn the sequencer (either a computer program or a drum machine) which takes obviously a lot less physical ability but is a rather boring procedure to slave through programming anything that sounds actually interesting, instead of just a simple loop that you could get off of a demo section from a walmart keyboard - well for me it is pretty boring trying to plan out and program a snare fill instead of just playing one anyway. Learning a sequencer program is not difficult, but using one is tedious, and making something cool out of it is up to your imagination, not your "skill" in using a program.
You want some kind of groove or riff to go with that rhythm, and some kind of melody part to go on top of all of it or fill out that groove. In real bands, this is also a pretty simple assignment of instruments to roles: a bass guitar plays a bassline, a lead guitar plays a lead line, ta-da! These kind of instruments providing notes or chords to fill out the drum part can all interchange what roles they do. A guitar can play the rythmy part while the bass player noodles around melodically (think bootsy and p-funk... sure, its a bassline some of the time, but its also kind of singing the main, recogniazable melody a lot more than the guitar part which is mostly a precussive chicka-whacka-chicka-whacka part closer to the drums than to the melody in what it does for the song).
Whatever the case, something is doing a repetative "riff" or bassline (insert word here) and something else is accentuating it. It's easy to get carried away with the accentuating part and end up with a background piece that sounds great once, but after it loops a few times, gets pretty nutty sounding and doesn't give enough room for the vocals, which are the center of attention. Sparse is good IMO.
When you use a sampler, or computer program that lets you play with loops, the 3 basic elements are still there. Often split into several samples, but always there is a drum part that can be taken in or out (as a whole, or just certain parts - like dropping out the kick drum, or adding extra tom or cymbal 'fill' hits. Also, there is the separate bassline groove which can be dropped out and in for accentuation of certain parts of the song, and the garnish, or lead part - also added in at certain times, but not running through the entire length of the track. Off the top of my head, that 1990s "coolio" song the name which escapes me had a strring sample that only came in during the chorus parts for instance, while the basic background loop chugged along dutifully in the background while Mr. Coolio was busy rapping about whatever it was he was rapping about. This is a pretty standard procedure from what I can tell - you accentuate parts of the song by either adding or subtracting parts during certain portions of the vocals.
Again, any instrument knowledge helps envision that instruments vague role in the entire ensemble, which makes for better organized programming IMO. In some music, there is no guitar, the bassline is played by a synth and the 'lead' line is played by a different sound.. but there's still always a rhythm part (drums), a basic root/groove/riff/bassline part (bass), and a counterpoint to that groove, or melody part (guitar), even if its a drum machine for the rhythm, a synth for the bassline, and a sample of monkeys flinging poop at each other for the lead, they still intertwine the same way.
If you plan on producing the "beats" using other people to help you actually play the parts you envision, it helps to speak the same language as them, know what the instrument can do, just a bit. You don't have to master the drum set to know at least how one works well enough to explain to a drummer what you want him to do (or explain to a computer program), so again, with production, it helps to know a little about whatever you can get your hands on.
Knowing a bit of your way around a piano keyboard is probably the most useful if you are going to get into programming. Keyboards sound like whatever sounds are in them. A piano, a bass note, a sample, whatever. It's easy enough to get the hang of which keys sound neat together as chords without any formal training but you won't be doing any crazy scott joplin stuff unless you plan on mastering it as a performance instrument instead of a production tool. As a production tool though, its is very handy to envision melodies and chordings all laid out right in front of you like that - you can visually see the mathematics of which notes work together in what ways.
Now comes the long bit about what you envision your "beats" as:
It helps to have an understanding of any instrument. When you are making "beats" as the backing track to rap over, you aren't just making a beat, anybody with the ability to tap his foot or bang on a trash can lid can do that. You are making a little mini composition of instruments working together. A backing track to layer voices or samples or whatever it is you layer. The principle is the same as with writing a rock piece.
Rhythm, Riff, Garnish (invent whatever words you like for the concepts).
- something keeps the actual rhythm, and accentuates certain parts, as well as adds intensity or backs off intensity to keep the flow of the song for the other parts. Simplisticly, a drum set does this. Playing a drum set for about a month, maybe two, let me start thinking like a drummer in how my part would fit into an overall composition and work with the bassline and the lead line. It let me think how I wanted the actual drummer to play the part I imagined (much better than I could) which is rather the same as programming the drum part I would want into some sequencer and letting it play the part.
A lot of rap backgrounds I have heard sound nothing even remotely like a real drummer though, with super quadrupley thud noises all over the place and seemingly random placement of clappy noises, 'snare' blasts, or little chirpy blips and blaps throughout. If that is what you are going for, you need to learn the sequencer (either a computer program or a drum machine) which takes obviously a lot less physical ability but is a rather boring procedure to slave through programming anything that sounds actually interesting, instead of just a simple loop that you could get off of a demo section from a walmart keyboard - well for me it is pretty boring trying to plan out and program a snare fill instead of just playing one anyway. Learning a sequencer program is not difficult, but using one is tedious, and making something cool out of it is up to your imagination, not your "skill" in using a program.
You want some kind of groove or riff to go with that rhythm, and some kind of melody part to go on top of all of it or fill out that groove. In real bands, this is also a pretty simple assignment of instruments to roles: a bass guitar plays a bassline, a lead guitar plays a lead line, ta-da! These kind of instruments providing notes or chords to fill out the drum part can all interchange what roles they do. A guitar can play the rythmy part while the bass player noodles around melodically (think bootsy and p-funk... sure, its a bassline some of the time, but its also kind of singing the main, recogniazable melody a lot more than the guitar part which is mostly a precussive chicka-whacka-chicka-whacka part closer to the drums than to the melody in what it does for the song).
Whatever the case, something is doing a repetative "riff" or bassline (insert word here) and something else is accentuating it. It's easy to get carried away with the accentuating part and end up with a background piece that sounds great once, but after it loops a few times, gets pretty nutty sounding and doesn't give enough room for the vocals, which are the center of attention. Sparse is good IMO.
When you use a sampler, or computer program that lets you play with loops, the 3 basic elements are still there. Often split into several samples, but always there is a drum part that can be taken in or out (as a whole, or just certain parts - like dropping out the kick drum, or adding extra tom or cymbal 'fill' hits. Also, there is the separate bassline groove which can be dropped out and in for accentuation of certain parts of the song, and the garnish, or lead part - also added in at certain times, but not running through the entire length of the track. Off the top of my head, that 1990s "coolio" song the name which escapes me had a strring sample that only came in during the chorus parts for instance, while the basic background loop chugged along dutifully in the background while Mr. Coolio was busy rapping about whatever it was he was rapping about. This is a pretty standard procedure from what I can tell - you accentuate parts of the song by either adding or subtracting parts during certain portions of the vocals.
Again, any instrument knowledge helps envision that instruments vague role in the entire ensemble, which makes for better organized programming IMO. In some music, there is no guitar, the bassline is played by a synth and the 'lead' line is played by a different sound.. but there's still always a rhythm part (drums), a basic root/groove/riff/bassline part (bass), and a counterpoint to that groove, or melody part (guitar), even if its a drum machine for the rhythm, a synth for the bassline, and a sample of monkeys flinging poop at each other for the lead, they still intertwine the same way.
If you plan on producing the "beats" using other people to help you actually play the parts you envision, it helps to speak the same language as them, know what the instrument can do, just a bit. You don't have to master the drum set to know at least how one works well enough to explain to a drummer what you want him to do (or explain to a computer program), so again, with production, it helps to know a little about whatever you can get your hands on.
B
BigBadWolf713
New member
That's an unusual question. I know quite a few beatmaking guys that would have asked which piece of gear or computer program do they need to learn first. Well here's my $0.02 worth on making your own beats, something I do from time to time for rap/hop friends of mine for fun but not really my genre (sorry I'm a stripped down basic rock band kinda guy):
Knowing a bit of your way around a piano keyboard is probably the most useful if you are going to get into programming. Keyboards sound like whatever sounds are in them. A piano, a bass note, a sample, whatever. It's easy enough to get the hang of which keys sound neat together as chords without any formal training but you won't be doing any crazy scott joplin stuff unless you plan on mastering it as a performance instrument instead of a production tool. As a production tool though, its is very handy to envision melodies and chordings all laid out right in front of you like that - you can visually see the mathematics of which notes work together in what ways.
Now comes the long bit about what you envision your "beats" as:
It helps to have an understanding of any instrument. When you are making "beats" as the backing track to rap over, you aren't just making a beat, anybody with the ability to tap his foot or bang on a trash can lid can do that. You are making a little mini composition of instruments working together. A backing track to layer voices or samples or whatever it is you layer. The principle is the same as with writing a rock piece.
Rhythm, Riff, Garnish (invent whatever words you like for the concepts).
- something keeps the actual rhythm, and accentuates certain parts, as well as adds intensity or backs off intensity to keep the flow of the song for the other parts. Simplisticly, a drum set does this. Playing a drum set for about a month, maybe two, let me start thinking like a drummer in how my part would fit into an overall composition and work with the bassline and the lead line. It let me think how I wanted the actual drummer to play the part I imagined (much better than I could) which is rather the same as programming the drum part I would want into some sequencer and letting it play the part.
A lot of rap backgrounds I have heard sound nothing even remotely like a real drummer though, with super quadrupley thud noises all over the place and seemingly random placement of clappy noises, 'snare' blasts, or little chirpy blips and blaps throughout. If that is what you are going for, you need to learn the sequencer (either a computer program or a drum machine) which takes obviously a lot less physical ability but is a rather boring procedure to slave through programming anything that sounds actually interesting, instead of just a simple loop that you could get off of a demo section from a walmart keyboard - well for me it is pretty boring trying to plan out and program a snare fill instead of just playing one anyway. Learning a sequencer program is not difficult, but using one is tedious, and making something cool out of it is up to your imagination, not your "skill" in using a program.
You want some kind of groove or riff to go with that rhythm, and some kind of melody part to go on top of all of it or fill out that groove. In real bands, this is also a pretty simple assignment of instruments to roles: a bass guitar plays a bassline, a lead guitar plays a lead line, ta-da! These kind of instruments providing notes or chords to fill out the drum part can all interchange what roles they do. A guitar can play the rythmy part while the bass player noodles around melodically (think bootsy and p-funk... sure, its a bassline some of the time, but its also kind of singing the main, recogniazable melody a lot more than the guitar part which is mostly a precussive chicka-whacka-chicka-whacka part closer to the drums than to the melody in what it does for the song).
Whatever the case, something is doing a repetative "riff" or bassline (insert word here) and something else is accentuating it. It's easy to get carried away with the accentuating part and end up with a background piece that sounds great once, but after it loops a few times, gets pretty nutty sounding and doesn't give enough room for the vocals, which are the center of attention. Sparse is good IMO.
When you use a sampler, or computer program that lets you play with loops, the 3 basic elements are still there. Often split into several samples, but always there is a drum part that can be taken in or out (as a whole, or just certain parts - like dropping out the kick drum, or adding extra tom or cymbal 'fill' hits. Also, there is the separate bassline groove which can be dropped out and in for accentuation of certain parts of the song, and the garnish, or lead part - also added in at certain times, but not running through the entire length of the track. Off the top of my head, that 1990s "coolio" song the name which escapes me had a strring sample that only came in during the chorus parts for instance, while the basic background loop chugged along dutifully in the background while Mr. Coolio was busy rapping about whatever it was he was rapping about. This is a pretty standard procedure from what I can tell - you accentuate parts of the song by either adding or subtracting parts during certain portions of the vocals.
Again, any instrument knowledge helps envision that instruments vague role in the entire ensemble, which makes for better organized programming IMO. In some music, there is no guitar, the bassline is played by a synth and the 'lead' line is played by a different sound.. but there's still always a rhythm part (drums), a basic root/groove/riff/bassline part (bass), and a counterpoint to that groove, or melody part (guitar), even if its a drum machine for the rhythm, a synth for the bassline, and a sample of monkeys flinging poop at each other for the lead, they still intertwine the same way.
If you plan on producing the "beats" using other people to help you actually play the parts you envision, it helps to speak the same language as them, know what the instrument can do, just a bit. You don't have to master the drum set to know at least how one works well enough to explain to a drummer what you want him to do (or explain to a computer program), so again, with production, it helps to know a little about whatever you can get your hands on.
Nicely put