Looping techniques - How to get better?

[sunvalleylaw]

I have a looper, a Boss RC20XL, but I have not been using it much lately, and when I have, I am very limited in what I do. I may record a verse and chorus of a song I am trying to learn, and try to loop it decently and play along, or I may load in a song or portion of a song I am trying to learn and play along.

Watching the KT Tunstall vid Warren posted over in Robert's drum and guitar duo thread re-motivated me to learn how to use this great tool better. See vid here:

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I need help though. From the very basics, when you are looping just small things like she is, how do you stay in time well? It looks like you need to be a tapper as you play, and I need to improve that aspect of my own playing. But what is the key?

What are other tips you other looper users can share? Thanks!

[hubberjub]

In my experience with loops is all about getting the first one in time. Once that one is down it's much easier because you don't need to worry about stepping and releasing the button on the beat.

[Spudman]

One fun thing that I do is to start small.

By that I mean I first lay down a few notes that may either be a chordal triad or 2 notes that can hint at a triad. Then I noodle around until I find a few notes that will go with the first layer. Next I might add another line if it can fit in.

I tend to start this way because it leaves doors open. If I lay down chords first then I'm pretty much stuck with those boundaries. With the single note method I'm more free to change a note here and there to change the character and chordal mode of the repeated phrase. Also, the loop takes longer to turn into a wall of mush this way and stands out clearer.

PS. Keep tapping your looping foot in time with your looped phrase so that you can capture in time consistently.

[R_of_G]

One thing I can suggest is to listen to a lot of live Bill Frisell. He is a master of looping and one can glean a lot of great ideas from his work.