How to Create Beats with Beat Generals

Beat Generals is a site that uses FL Studio to teach you how to create beats with easy to follow HD video tutorials. In case you don't already know, FL Studio is a pretty cheap, easy to find, music creation software suite responsible for hit records by Drake, Jay Z, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross and others. It’s easy to make simple drum loops but takes a lot of skill to pull off a well-polished song.

 

So, naturally, I was excited just to find some awesome video tutorials that could help me to start making the beats I loved faster than ever possible before. So now, all I needed were some good drum sounds to make my beats sound better. Luckily, Beat Generals also provides drums for you to use to really get that professional sound quality in your music. Practically anyone can create full radio-quality songs with little more than their home computer! Here is a video tutorial example:

 

 

It's simply amazing to me that one of the most popular programs out there for making beats has so few resources to teach quality techniques. Sure, many things come with experience but where do you get the basics and the advice you need to help elevate yourself to the next level? Beat Generals isn’t something made by some kid in his parent’s basement. We're talking about industry professionals teaching you what you need to know and showing you exactly what to do. If you’re even remotely serious about making beats and making money within the music industry, or you just want to create cool beats to play for your friends, you should check it out.

Beat Generals offers a free trial, so you really have nothing to lose. Try them out today and start making your own beats now.

Funny Fridays: Backbone of the Band

This is the start of a new weekly (or bi-weekly most likely, let's not kid ourselves here) series where I'll be sharing a funny drum related image, graphic, or video. Today, is an eCard from someecards.com.

Video: Vic Firth Hybrid Rudiment Series- Flammed 3-2-1s

VicFirth.com presents the Hybrid Rudiment Series of videos on YouTube. In the latest installment, Casey Brohard breaks down the Flammed 3-2-1. Casey is an amazing drummer and is very well spoken. His explanations and tips about technique are very good and I highly recommend watching his videos. Check it out here.

APPLYING GRIPS TO PLAYING POSITION

Start by standing away from the drum, sticks in hand, and arms relaxed at the side. The
arms should feel like a heavy, dead weight. While maintaining a relaxed, heavy weight
from the shoulder through the elbow, lift the left forearm. The elbow shouldn’t move
from where it was while relaxing the arms at the side, and the forearm should be nearly
parallel to the ground, with the hand being just below the elbow. The wrist joint should
be locked so as to not have a broken wrist. Rotate the forearm counter-clockwise
While maintaining a relaxed, heavy weight from the shoulder through the elbow, lift the
right forearm. The elbow shouldn’t move from where it was while relaxing the arms at
the side, and the forearm should be nearly parallel to the ground, with the hand being just
below the elbow. The wrist joint should be locked so as to not have a broken wrist. Turn
the thumb toward the ground so that the back of the hand is nearly flat. Moving the
elbow away from the body slightly, bring the bead of the right stick in toward the bead of
the left stick, reaching a ½ inch away from the left bead (as you move your elbow away
from your torso, don’t let the wrist break).

In this position, walk up to the drum and put the beads over the center of the head. If the
beads aren’t a ½ inch above the head, adjust the stand/carrier so the drum meets the beads
with the proper distance between the two. Each stick should be a two finger-width
distance from the rim (this can vary depending on the bead style of the stick being used).
From here, the “V” position of the sticks should be at about a 90 degree angle. In a
horizontal sense, the right and left fulcrums should be aligned. Using traditional grip
means that the left hand will actually be lower than the right hand, because the left is
mostly under the stick whereas the right hand is mostly on top of the stick.
It is absolutely imperative to use these guidelines in order to have a perfectly symmetrical
look and sound. If the fulcrums aren’t aligned, if the beads aren’t in the center of the
head, and if the two finger-width angles of the sticks aren’t accurate, the sound CANNOT
be produced similarly from hand to hand.

Technique: How to hold a pair of drum sticks

This is taken from Northcoast Academy's 2012 Battery Percussion program.

Right Hand Grip

Start by holding the right hand palm up, fingers together and thumb

open (creating an “L”). Place the stick across the hand so that 1/3rd of

the way up the stick, the shaft lies on the middle knuckle of the index

finger. Next, the shaft near the blade of the hand should contact the

palm about a ½ inch below the pinky knuckle. From here, curl the

fingers around the stick and follow that by pulling the thumb into the

stick, effectively closing the hand. As you look at your grip, your thumb

should be just slightly to the left of parallel with the shaft of the stick.

The space between the thumb and index should be minimal, if there is

any space at all. The back of the stick should never slide into the crease

in the middle of the palm near the wrist at any time.

Left Hand Grip
Start by holding out the left hand, as if shaking someone else’s left
hand. Place the stick as far back into the pressure point between the
thumb and index finger as it can go; squeeze the thumb toward the
hand, gripping the stick. The stick should be gripped at this point 1/3rd
of the way up the stick. Curl the index finger on top of the stick, and
place the thumb on the index finger. The thumb should contact the
index finger either on the 3rd knuckle or between the middle and 3rd
knuckles. The index finger (from tip to middle knuckle) should be just
about perpendicular to the thumb (The position of the index fingers and
thumbs of both the right and left hands should be nearly identical, with
the exception of the space between the thumb and hand). Next, curl the
middle finger next to the stick in the same manner as the index, with
the tip of the finger sitting on top of the stick (the middle finger should
never be used to produce a stroke). The ring finger should be curled
under the stick and support it from underneath, with the stick sitting
between the 3rd knuckle the cuticle. The pinky curls in next to the ring
finger and is always relaxed. Looking at the grip palm down, there
should be little or no space between each finger.