The world of live looping is something that is so foreign to me that it feels like another art form altogether. It’s musical witchcraft; they might as well be warlocks intoning incantations over an altar to a demonic deity, I don’t have any solid concept of how to do the things I’ve seen people doing with loopers.
So when I got the opportunity to try to write a song with the new Boss RC-10R looper pedal, I was a little apprehensive, to say the least. This would put me pretty far outside of my comfort zone, and even though that’s where growth happens, it’s a scary place to be. So I went about it the way I always do – the stupid way. I just try to do things until I can’t do the thing I want to do, and then I consult the manual.
It turned out pretty great though – it was a fun little romp outside my comfort zone, and I got to try something new and cool, and I found not only a weird and scary new way to be creative, I also discovered a baller practice tool in the RC-10R. Practicing to a metronome or drum grooves is great, and practicing with loops is great, but being able to use both is the bee’s knees. Playing in time is the most important thing when you’re practicing, but you also want to be able to be practicing with some kind of harmonic content – now I’ve got that.
Check out the video above to hear many of the beats that are included in the RC-10R and to see me put it to work writing a song (and a couple of, uhh, what I’ll call “practice songs”).
