fun shaker trick

[floid]

this isn't a reinvention of the wheel or anything, but for a sucky shaker player like myself it helped loads the other night:
take apart a 20 gauge shotgun shell, bird load. (careful now, you ARE playing with an explosive device) save the shot, dump out all the gunpowder, the little plastic wadding thing, knock out the primer cap. put the birdshot back in, crimp the front of the shell back in place, and stick a little chunk of something in the hole where the primer cap was.
tape this to the back of your pick hand.
play the rhythm you want on an acoustic guitar, with the strings fully muted.

[Rodgre]

I thought you were going to talk about my patented Tylenol bottle shakers.

Someone makes Egg shakers with an attachment that let's you put it on the back of your hand, so you will hear the shake as you strum.


I tried something last winter that I totally forgot about. Thanks for reminding me. It's an LP Percussion One Shot shaker that somehow only shakes in one direction, so you don't have the "shick-a-shick-a" sound, but instead, a "shick. shick. shick." sound. Very cool

Roger

[floid]

hmm, nifty. my problem was that i couldn't maintain a good balance between directions until i referenced it to a motion i was already quite familiar with. seems like this gadget would help some of the same problems, but in a different way?

[scott macdonald]

Those one-shot shakers are the greatest. I've used them live and on recordings with great success. I'm always tempted to take them apart to see how they work, but I don't want to ruin them. Anybody got any idea?

-scott

[djimbe]

LOVE the "one shot"'. We were gifted with Papa Bear and Baby Bear by a very nice guy and they get used all the time. It feels like some sort of rubber damper mechanism in there, and they are built directional. Shake one the wrong way and it won't do the magic thing. No clue about the specifics though.

Demons, maybe.

I like floid's hand solution though. I'm a drum player for many years and it took me a while to get the hang of playing shaker well. It's a very different motion from guitar, so if it helps then great! Have you tried doing the shaker track with an AIR guitar yet? Next logical step...

[cgarges]

I'm always tempted to take them apart to see how they work, but I don't want to ruin them. Anybody got any idea?

I think they have felt or some other type of muffling on thre sides. That's why you have to shake it in one direction. They're totally great. Excellent for slow tempos. They also now make two different sizes. The newer one is a little bigger than the original.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[qball]

Nice, I'll have to try something like that.

I made my own shakers of different "flavors" using plastic film canisters. I put sand in one for a softer texture sound. I'll have to try using a ball bearing in one or maybe a little metal bell.

[ElMosca]

It's an LP Percussion One Shot shaker that somehow only shakes in one direction, so you don't have the "shick-a-shick-a" sound, but instead, a "shick. shick. shick." sound.

At the risk of sounding like an old fogey, I don't see the point of this product.

Shakers (really, all percussion instruments) are meant to have at least two sounds. In this case, we have a "shick" and a "shack". Where I come from, we call the general case of this distinction "arriba" (up) and "abajo" (down). A shaker that only "shicks", sounds like "cowbell rock" to me (vis-a-vis the famous SNL skit).

Cheers,
++aldo

[cgarges]

Shakers (really, all percussion instruments) are meant to have at least two sounds.

So, the One Shot isn't a percussion instrument?

I think it's a perfectly useable and innovative tool.

By the way, what's the second sound on a quijada?

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[ElMosca]

Shakers (really, all percussion instruments) are meant to have at least two sounds.

So, the One Shot isn't a percussion instrument?

It is. Just one that doesn't fill a need I have. It's a convoluted contraption to make up for not bothering to learn a proper (and very simple, I might add) technique.

I think it's a perfectly useable and innovative tool.

That's great. Nobody's stopping you from using one. I said I didn't want to sound like an old fogey. Now I don't want to sound like a snob. I really don't.

By the way, what's the second sound on a quijada?

That's a great example. A quijada indeed has one sound and it's novel the first time you hear it, but you wouldn't use it on every measure of your song, would you? It belongs in a category that I would call "special effects", like the udders, or the rainstick. Incidentally, I searched the LP site for the proper name of the udders, and guess what: I found it (with the vibra-slap, i.e. the modern-day quijada) in the "Sound Effects" page.

To quote Jackie Chan: "I don't want to fight".

Cheers,
++aldo

[syrupcore]

El Mosca, can you resize your avatar please?

[cgarges]

To quote Jackie Chan: "I don't want to fight".

It's cool. I'm just trying to figure out this statement.

all percussion instruments are meant to have at least two sounds.

Two sounds or two notes every time it's played? That's sort of the problem with traditional shaker technique (and at times, tambourine, as well). True, if you've spent any time developing technique on these instruments, you can overcome these problems or at least find a way to deal with them, but there are some things that are inevitable. Shaker design has until recently been limiting, in terms of what the instrument can do, rhythmically. It's like having a violin that can't ever play pizzicatta notes. The One Shot allows you to to things that simple were not possible with the instrument before. I could give you about four different and very useable examples right off the bat that have nothing to do with whether or not you have good traditional shaker technique.

What about claves? "Special Effect" or percussion instrument?

Have I gotten a million more precussion gigs since I purchased my One Shot? Of course I haven't. It's not like, "Ow wow! I can play shaker now!" It's not a substitute for good technique and there are plenty of things that you can do with traditional shakers that you can't do with a One Shot. But I like having the option of a shaker sound without having to commit to constant 16th notes.

It's a convoluted contraption to make up for not bothering to learn a proper (and very simple, I might add) technique.

No it's not. It's a contraption developed to do things not possible with traditional shaker technique. Try doing 16th notes at 1/4=150 on a One Shot. Can't do it, can you? Okay, try doing clean 8th notes at 1/4=70 on a traditinal shaker. Can't do it, can you? Try playing a clave pattern with a traditional shaker. Etc.

There are things that both can be used for. Neither one is a substitute for the other. And if you were considering buying one or both, I'm sure LP would tell you that same thing.

And for whatever it's worth, I generally can't stand LP as a company. Almost every piece of LP gear I've ever owned has rusted, cracked, broken, or fallen apart. They used to have an absolutely pitiful marketing relations team. But this is one of a few items for which I'll give them credit.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[lg]

fwiw, i saw nicholas martel of las ondas marteles at the disney concert hall the other night (along with jorge drexler, who i might add was truly phenomenal), and i am pretty sure he had a couple of those one shots. it sounded incredible (not least because the guy is hugely talented), and i would say, different than any regular shaker. i was actually kind of blown away by the sound. i agree with chris. i don't see it as a crutch for bad technique so much as a new tool for a different sound.

[cgarges]

To quote Jackie Chan: "I don't want to fight".

It's cool. I'm just trying to figure out this statement.

all percussion instruments are meant to have at least two sounds.

Two sounds or two notes every time it's played? That's sort of the problem with traditional shaker technique (and at times, tambourine, as well). True, if you've spent any time developing technique on these instruments, you can overcome these problems or at least find a way to deal with them, but there are some things that are inevitable. Shaker design has until recently been limiting, in terms of what the instrument can do, rhythmically. It's like having a violin that can't ever play pizzicatta notes. The One Shot allows you to to things that simply were not possible with the instrument before. I could give you about four different and very useable examples right off the bat that have nothing to do with whether or not you have good traditional shaker technique.

What about claves? "Special Effect" or percussion instrument?

Have I gotten a million more precussion gigs since I purchased my One Shot? Of course I haven't. It's not like, "Ow wow! I can play shaker now!" It's not a substitute for good technique and there are plenty of things that you can do with traditional shakers that you can't do with a One Shot. But I like having the option of a shaker sound without having to commit to constant 16th notes.

It's a convoluted contraption to make up for not bothering to learn a proper (and very simple, I might add) technique.

No it's not. It's a contraption developed to do things not possible with traditional shaker technique. Try doing 16th notes at 1/4=150 on a One Shot. Can't do it, can you? Okay, try doing clean 8th notes at 1/4=70 on a traditional shaker. Can't do it, can you? Try playing a clave pattern with a traditional shaker. Etc.

There are things that both can be used for. Neither one is a substitute for the other. And if you were considering buying one or both, I'm sure LP would tell you that same thing.

And for whatever it's worth, I generally can't stand LP as a company. Almost every piece of LP gear I've ever owned has rusted, cracked, broken, or fallen apart. They used to have an absolutely pitiful marketing relations team. But this is one of a few items for which I'll give them credit.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[vvv]

As I have no problems with using a crutch for a bad technique, I want one!

Of each size.


Now, where's my capo?