EFFICIENT PRACTICING IS A NO-BRAINER I have a spreadsheet that contains Groove Scribe links for all my drills, exercises, and songs. When I sit down to practice, I just open each link in a browser window and play along, using each transcription as a template and changing the speed or individual notes as needed. No more thumbing through drum books and sheaves of notation printouts; everything I need for practicing is at my fingertips—and I can access it anywhere I have an Internet connection.
TRANSCRIBE (AND HEAR!) DIFFICULT DRUM PARTS WITH EASE Got a complex drum pattern or chart? Transcribe it onto the grid and hear it back in minutes, then play along at any tempo. The hi-hat and snare have multiple sounds to choose from (open, crash, rimshot, ghost note, etc.). You can add toms and sticking patterns, choose the time signature and note values, and copy, add or delete measures. You can even add swing, export to MIDI and print to a PDF.
CREATE AND COMPOSE Create your own grooves (e.g., linear beats and fills, see Figure 2) by filling in the dots and substituting different sounds and orchestrations on the kit. Groove Scribe also has built-in grooves like the Purdie Shuffle and the Bossa Nova, and foot ostinatos like the Samba, so you have a jumping-off place for creating your own. Using mixed subdivisions, e.g., triplets and non-triplets, in one measure is difficult (but doable), and you can’t string together measures with different time signatures, but these are some of the few limitations of this awesome invention.
Fig. 2
EDUCATION
HIT HARD
As a drum teacher, Groove Scribe has completely revolutionized my Skype lessons. I can transcribe a beat, song, or exercise for a student, email or text the link to them immediately, and they are playing along in seconds. PDFs, printouts, and expensive notation software are no longer necessary. Equally important—my students are using Groove Scribe on their own, since it’s free and easy to use for even the most basic beginners, and it’s teaching them how to transcribe beats and read drum notation!
Groove Scribe is the ultimate online digital drum notation and playback tool that has literally changed my life as a drummer and educator. What can it do for you? Check it out at: mikeslessons.com/gscribe. ISSUE 29:
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