On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:37:13 -0400, David Grant wrote:
I'm trying to accompany my friend on his guitar/vocal album with a
shaker. I never imagined such a simple looking instrument would be so
hard to play. I've put in 8 hours of solid practice and listening back
to recordings my consistency and timing are all over the place.
How long can a pianist of 20 years expect this to take? I don't want to
become a master percussionist, I just want to be able to record a solid
shaker track.
It's not an easy instrument to play properly.
Also, if the guitar is not to click and you are overdubbing the shaker
then it's much much harder than if the guitar and percussion are played
at the same time.
If I do shaker parts myself as overdubs then it's either on stuff with a
click (so I can get loops), or I record about three takes and pick the
parts of the takes that feel right. This is somewhat tedious.
Are you playing it from the elbow or from the wrist?
I'm no expert but I find that like tambourine it's better to keep the
wrist straight.
There are 15 videos about playing the shaker he
http://www.expertvillage.com/video-s...percussion.htm
I just googled for this, and I've only watched one but they look pretty
useful.