playing alone

[vinnieL]

OK this is kind of a crazy question but here it goes. You know how they have drum machines. Well i seem to remember a guitar teacher i knew that had a machine that gave piano rythms. Of course they sounded synthesized but it was cool. I play alone and besides playing to CD's I would love to know if this is something he somehow recorded? Does this machine exist? I mean he even had like salsa piano parts he used. Any input or other suggestions are appreciated. I just want to play my part and not feel like I'm copying the conguero on the CD.

[jmdriscoll]

Vinnie, I have a Boss DR-3 Dr. Rhythm drum machine... it has 100 pre recorded songs/patterns and also 100 memory slots for user defined songs and patterns. It is mostly drum and percussion sounds but it also has bass notes that you can create a montuno like pattern out of bass notes. The bass notes sound pretty MIDI'ish and not real, but I have been thinking of putting something together with it to play with. I only use it now for creating clave, shaker and bell patterns.. Maybe another drum machine out there has piano notes that can be used to make songs with. Maybe your looking for a sampler though.. I could be wrong, as I have never played with a sampler before.. that might be what you want. You might want to check out the features of drum machines and samplers at "www.musiciansfriend.com" Pretty vague post, I know.. but hopefully it will give you a direction to look in anyway.

MD

[bongosnotbombs]

I think there are a lot of casio type keyboards that have recording functions on them, 1) play the piano part 2) record it 3) then loop the pattern.

My keyboard has a lot of pre recorded song patterns that I would practice to, it's a pretty basic model. These kinds of keyboards are really availabe used an cheap.

Having a keyboard around is always useful for musicians.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1188237441

[jorge]

Rebeca Mauleon has written a book called something like "101 Piano Montunos", which includes a CD with many different montunos played on piano. Some of them really swing. You could make loops for practicing, just to get the feel of playing with a piano, although you know the loop is not going to answer you back when you do a really nice fill-in on the congas.

[jmdriscoll]

Quote:

"although you know the loop is not going to answer you back when you do a really nice fill-in on the congas."

Good point..

[Tonio]

Jorge, Thanks for the reminder, I've been wanting to get that book/CD.

Good for practicing.

Hola Vinnie, I can send you a few MIDi files, do you have a sequencer for use? If not there alot of free MIDi players out there.

T

[Johnny Conga]

Rebeca Mauleons Play along-"Caliente" Cd plus Charts is the best thing going to practice along with the rhythm section...and the challenging part is to follow the charts and "cop" what Orestes Vilato is doing on conga/bongos/or timbales...It's over an hour long with 23 tunes with charts to follow ..a GREAT! learning tool..."JC" Johnny Conga...

[vinnieL]

Tonio I will try to download a MIDi. That would be great I can send you a PM with my e-mail.

[vinnieL]

Wow that brought a lot of quick replies I guess that's something a lot of people have dealt with.

[Derbeno]

I got a couple of full length play-along salsa tracks. It's got all the instruments except for the conga. Should you be interested send me you're email via PM and I will send these to you by return.

Not sure where I got them from but one is from Afro-Cuban Play-Along CD by Richie Garcia. Here is a link to buy the full CD if you so prefer

http://supermall.comp-doc.com/cat310....63.html

Did you get the Matadors in the end? How are they working out for you?



Edited By Derbeno on 1188260514

[jorge]

Hi JC,
That sounds like a great learning tool for percussionists and singers.
Does it have a way to play the piano, bass, and other tracks without the congas?
I couldn't find it on Amazon or Google under Rebeca Mauleon's name, but it looks like this one at descarga.com. Is this the one?
http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/17772.60?QDNwE5qj;;466

[Tonio]

I think that is the one JC is refering to.

Heres a demo on Sher's site.

http://www.shermusic.com/mp3/Muy_Caliente_Track13.mp3

somewhere I read that if you pan it to teh left or right, you can only hear bass or piano, depending on which side you choose, though it said that the percussion in always there, so it must be panned in the center?

T

[Tonio]

Here's another one by Rebeca 101 montuno. Though the demo file sounded " MIDI" it could be a good learning tool.
http://www.shermusic.com/101_montunos.htm

T



Edited By Tonio on 1188327060

[Tonio]

You could check out LP's original method too
http://www.latinpercussion.biz/cd/drum-solos.html

T

[JohnnyConga]

Wow i have just one of those on vynil from the 70's...they were cool...."JC" Johnny Conga...