Playing 'Pad' Parts
You're reading this article because you want to learn to play pad parts, not just listen to them. To create your own pad parts effectively, there are some very specific musical considerations involved. Defining a pad sound through the use of several recorded examples will be helpful One important characteristic of pad sounds is that they have a rather "bland" attack. Click here to listen to a rolling triplet figure played first by piano and then played using a pad sound. When the piano plays the part, each note is heard distinctly, even though the sustain pedal is being held. When that same part is played by a pad sound, repetitions of notes are not heard, because the beginning of the sound is not at all percussive. This greatly influences our usage of pad sounds: They lend themselves best to parts featuring long note values.
Many of today's popular choruses such as "Open The Eyes Of My Heart" and "Let Everything That Has Breath" feature a highly rhythmic, Celtic feel in the rhythm section and lend themselves well to arrangements featuring pad parts. I've created a short sequenced track suggesting the feel of these songs. Listen to this example and note the pad part's character compared to what the other instruments are doing.
This short example illustrates one of the most critical components of well-conceived pad parts. They compliment the activity of the rest of the rhythm section. When a song has this "Celtic" feel, there will often be lots of playing of sixteenth notes, typically played by a guitarist playing a strumming pattern and a drummer, who might play continuous 16ths on the toms. As I always stress in my teaching about playing in a rhythm section, each player should be listening to the other players. In this Celtic style, several instruments are already providing "hyper" activity, the guitars and drums in particular, so the musically logical contribution a keyboard player could make here is to create a part that has very little activity. Hence, the use of a pad sound.
You might note that I used a drone note in my pad part for this example, keeping the B above middle C sounding throughout the whole progression. Listen to the original example again, and then listen to this mp3 in which I leave the droning note and create some melodic movement in the upper voice of the pad part.
Finally, I'll share with you an easy way to discern if the pad part you're playing is doing what it can for the arrangement. Simply stop playing your part while the rest of the rhythm section keeps playing. What you should hear is a sudden "void" in the arrangement, a musical "hole" left because you're no longer filling that space. In thismp3 you can hear the pad part alternate 2 bars heard, 2 bars muted, 2 bars heard, etc. See if you hear the void.
You might want to print out this article and refer to it in your next Praise Team rehearsal. Try the "void" test described above. Ask yourself whether the part you're playing is contributing to the arrangement or competing with the parts other musicians are playing, whether you're using a pad sound, a piano sound, or any other sound. And, explore the use of droning notes when using pad sounds. I know you'll enjoy the result.
Many of today's popular choruses such as "Open The Eyes Of My Heart" and "Let Everything That Has Breath" feature a highly rhythmic, Celtic feel in the rhythm section and lend themselves well to arrangements featuring pad parts. I've created a short sequenced track suggesting the feel of these songs. Listen to this example and note the pad part's character compared to what the other instruments are doing.
This short example illustrates one of the most critical components of well-conceived pad parts. They compliment the activity of the rest of the rhythm section. When a song has this "Celtic" feel, there will often be lots of playing of sixteenth notes, typically played by a guitarist playing a strumming pattern and a drummer, who might play continuous 16ths on the toms. As I always stress in my teaching about playing in a rhythm section, each player should be listening to the other players. In this Celtic style, several instruments are already providing "hyper" activity, the guitars and drums in particular, so the musically logical contribution a keyboard player could make here is to create a part that has very little activity. Hence, the use of a pad sound.
You might note that I used a drone note in my pad part for this example, keeping the B above middle C sounding throughout the whole progression. Listen to the original example again, and then listen to this mp3 in which I leave the droning note and create some melodic movement in the upper voice of the pad part.
Finally, I'll share with you an easy way to discern if the pad part you're playing is doing what it can for the arrangement. Simply stop playing your part while the rest of the rhythm section keeps playing. What you should hear is a sudden "void" in the arrangement, a musical "hole" left because you're no longer filling that space. In thismp3 you can hear the pad part alternate 2 bars heard, 2 bars muted, 2 bars heard, etc. See if you hear the void.
You might want to print out this article and refer to it in your next Praise Team rehearsal. Try the "void" test described above. Ask yourself whether the part you're playing is contributing to the arrangement or competing with the parts other musicians are playing, whether you're using a pad sound, a piano sound, or any other sound. And, explore the use of droning notes when using pad sounds. I know you'll enjoy the result.
posted by Ed Kerr at
4:15 PM
