playing a drum pattern?

[Tony W]

Hello Everyone, (feel free to skip the first paragraph)
  I will start by letting you know exactly where I am. I'm approaching mid-life crisis, and decided learning to play (electric) acoustic would be a fun hobby. Natural talent and I just don't seem to mix, so it's constant effort to learn and play something recognizable. My goal is to one day play a few songs around a campfire without saying in my head ( 1 2 and 3 and 4 and). The can't do list is pretty long, it includes reading music. My decision to purchase the Micro BR was easy, I found this forum while researching the product. Now on to the parts where I'm struggling to use this device:

1.  I'm trying to play a simple drum pattern so I can get a feel for timing. If the instruction manual covers this (pp 82-88) then I certainly can't read for content. I eventually push play and hear the demo song.

2.  MP3 Playback: If I want to keep the guitar part (center right) and mute other instruments, is this possible?

I'm sure these questions have been answered time and time again, but I searched threads for 2 hours before posting. Thanks for your patience. Speaking of patience (Guns N Roses), that's a song I'd like to learn all the way through.

[Ferryman_1957]

The MBR is a bit confusing in that the drum machine is not "stand alone", that is you can't just play it on its own. You have to first create a song, because all the drums that you can play back are actually stored in the song "file" and form part of the song. So even to play the drums on their own, you have to create a song first. Press the Utility button, then SNG, then NEW. Press EXE (stick with the HiFi choice), and then you have a new but empty song. Then press the Rhythm button and you can follow the instructions on pages 82 to 88 to create a drum track. The easiest way to start is to go into pattern mode, find a drum pattern you like and just start it playing. It will carry on until you press stop.

On the mp3 question, I don't know but I don't think so. I'm pretty certain you can only cancel stuff that is in the middle of the mix, not specific things that may be in different positions because it is somehow cancelling stuff out, not specifically accessing the individual track data.

HTH and have fun,

Nigel

[Tony W]

Nigel, many thanks.

I finally decided to read the manual front to back, and play as  I go. Page 30 was where I should have started. After another 10 - 20 tries, I finally got this thing to do what I wanted. The first step was selecting song 2. I'm guessing but I think the rhythm was playing on top of the demo song. I should be able to have a little fun tonight.

[Ferryman_1957]

Good to hear that, and don't be too shy to post something when you're ready to. And keep asking questions if you have them.

Cheers,

Nigel