How to Beatbox

It is understandable that many individuals would like to beatbox as well as S&B. This may seem to be a daunting task at first. However, beatboxing is not that different from normal human speech. You only have to start developing a rhythmic feeling, and you have to stress the pronunciation of certain letters and vowels until you can talk in the beatbox language. You'll first start out with basic sounds and rhythms, and then advance to more sophisticated patterns as you get better and better.

Basic Beatbox Techniques

  Understand that there are many sounds to master. To get started, you should master the three basic sounds of beatboxing: the classic kick drum {b}, the hi-hat {t}, and the classic snare drum {p} or {pf}. Practice combining the sounds into an 8-beat rhythm like this: { b t pf t / b t pf t } or { b t pf t / b b pf t }. Make sure to get the timing right. Start off slowly and build up speed later. 

 

Practice the classic kick drum {b}. The simplest way to make the classic kick drum is to say the letter "b." To make it sound louder and punchier, you need to do what is called a lip oscillation. This is where you let air vibrate through your lips - a bit like "blowing a raspberry." Once you can do this, you make a very short lip oscillation.

• Make the b sound as if you are saying b from the word bogus.
• This time, with your lips closed, let the pressure build up.
• You need to control the release of you lips just enough to let them vibrate for a short amount of time.

 

 

Next, try to duplicate the hi-hat {t}. Make a simple "ts" sound but have your teeth closed or lightly closed. Move the tip of your tongue forward behind your front teeth for a thin hat sound and to the traditional t position for a heavy hat sound.

• Breathe out for longer to create the open hat sound.

 

Try successive or advanced hi-hats. You can also do successive hi-hats by making a "tktktktk" sound, using the mid-back of your tongue to make the "k" sound. You can make an open hi-hat sound by drawing out the breath in the "ts" hi-hat, so it's more like "tssss" for a more realistic open door sound. Another way of producing a realistic high-hat sound is to make a "ts" sound with your teeth clenched. 

 

 

Try to tackle the classic snare drum {p}. The simplest way of making a classic snare sound is to say the letter 'p.' However, making a 'p' sound is too quiet. To make it louder you can do several things: the first is to make a lip oscillation. This is where you push the air out of your lips making them vibrate. The second is where you breathe out at the same time making a [ ph ] sound.

• To make the 'p' sound more interesting and more snare-like, most beatboxers add a second fricative (continuous) sound to the initial 'p' sound: pf ps psh bk.
• The variation {pf} is similar to the bass drum, only you use the very front of your lips instead of the side, and you tighten them more.
• Pull your lips in a bit so that your lips are sort of hidden, as if you had no teeth.
• Build up a little air pressure behind the hidden lips.
• Swing your lips out (not literally swing) and just before they return to their normal position (un-hidden), release the air with a 'p' sound.
• Immediately after you release the air and get the 'p' sound out, tighten your bottom lip up against your bottom teeth to make a "fff" sound.

Intermediate Beatbox Techniques

 

Practice until you are ready for intermediate techniques. After mastering the three basic beatbox sounds, it's time to move onto these intermediate techniques. These might be a little more difficult, but practice makes perfect. 

 

 

Develop a good bass drum sound. This is done by pressing your lips together and building up pressure with your tongue and jaw, pushing your tongue forward from the back of your mouth and closing your opened jaw at the same time. Let your lips part toward the side for just a moment so the air can escape, and it should make a bass drum sound. You want to add pressure with your lungs, but not so much that you have an airy sound afterward.

• If you're not making enough bass sound, you need to relax your lips a bit. If your sound isn't making a bass drum sound at all, you need to tighten your lips, or make sure that you're doing it off to the side of your lips.
• Another way to approach it is to say "puh." Then, take off the "uh" so that all you hear is the initial attack on the word, so that it comes out like a little puff. Try your hardest to not let any of the "uh" sound come out, and also try to not have any breathy sound or air noise with it.
• Once you feel comfortable with that, you can slightly tighten your lips and force a larger amount of air through your lips to make a bigger sounding kick drum.

 

Explore other ways to make a snare sound. Bring your tongue to the back of your mouth and build up pressure with your tongue or lungs. Use your tongue if you're looking for speed, or use your lungs if you want to breathe in at the same time as you make the sound.

• Try saying "pff," making the "f's" stop just a millisecond or so after the "p." Lifting the corners of your mouth and holding your lips really tight when making the initial "p" will help it sound more realistic. You can also use the same technique to change the apparent pitch of the snare.

 

Add a drum-machine snare sound to the mix. First say "ish." Then, try saying "ish" without adding the "sh" at the end, again going only for the initial attack. Make it very staccato (short), and you should get a sort of grunt in the back of your throat. Push a little bit when you say it, so that it has a big, accented attack.

• Once you're comfortable with that, add the "sh" on the end and you'll get a synth-like snare sound. You can also work on moving the grunt so that it feels like it's coming from the top of your throat, for a higher drum sound, or so that it feels more like it's coming out of the lower part of your throat, for a lower drum sound.

 

Don't forget about the crash cymbal. This is one of the easier sounds to make. Whisper (don't say) the syllable "chish." Then, do it again, but this time clench your teeth and take the vowel out, going from "ch" straight to "sh" without little or no transition, and you'll have a basic crash cymbal. 

 

 Make room for the reversed cymbal. Place the tip of your tongue so that it touches the place where your top teeth meet your palate. Keeping your lips about a half-inch apart, breathe in forcefully through your mouth. Notice how the air blows past your teeth and tongue and makes a sort of small rushing sound. Then, breathe in forcefully again, and this time close your lips as your breathing in; they should sort of feel like they're popping closed, without making a popping sound. 

 

 

Don't forget to breathe! You would be surprised at the number of human beatboxers who pass out because they forget that their lungs need oxygen. You may want to start by incorporating your breath into the beat. Eventually you will gain a great deal of lung capacity throughout your practice.

• An intermediate technique is to breathe in during a tongue snare, since it requires the least amount of lung capacity. An expert will have slowly practiced breathing whilst beatboxing each sound independently (see previous step), thus separating their breathing from the beat, allowing several kinds of bass sounds, snare sounds, and even some hi-hat sounds to continue without pause.
• As an alternative to breathing exercises, there are many sounds that can be done breathing inwards such as variations on the snare and handclap sounds.

 

Develop your inward sounds technique. One thing that puzzles people is how beatboxers can beatbox for a long time without actually taking a breath. Well, the answer is to make a sound and breathe in at the same time! We call these inward sounds. What is more, as you'll discover, some of the best sounds are made like this.

• There are many ways of making inward sounds. Nearly every sound that can be made outward can be made inward - although it may take some practice to get it right.

Hold the mic properly. Microphone technique is very important for performing or if you just want to enhance the sound made by your mouth. And there are different ways of holding the microphone. While you can just hold the mic as you would while singing, some beatboxers find that putting the mic between your ring and middle fingers and then gripping it with your first two fingers on top of the bulb and your thumb at the bottom results in a cleaner, more crisp sound.

• Try not to breathe into the mic while you beatbox.
• Many beatboxers deliver a poor performances because they hold the microphone incorrectly and thus they fail to maximize the power and clarity of the sounds they produce.

 

Advanced Beatbox Techniques

 

Continue to practice until you are ready for advanced skills. Once you've acquired basic and intermediate skills, it's time to learn some advanced techniques. Don't worry if you have trouble picking them up right away. With practice, you'll be able to do all of them eventually. 

 

 Develop a sweeping bass drum sound (X). This should be used in place of a bass drum. It takes about 1/2-1 beat to perform. To do a sweeping bass drum, start out like you're about to do a bass drum. Then let your lips loose so they flap when you push air past them. Then touch the tip of your tongue to the inside gum of your bottom teeth and push it forward to perform the technique. 

 

 Work on a techno bass technique (U). This is done by making an "oof" sound, as if you've just been hit in the stomach. Do it while keeping your mouth closed. You should be able to feel it in your chest. 

 

 Add a techno snare to the mix (G). This is done the same way as the Techno Bass, but position your mouth as if you were going to make a "shh" sound. You'll still get the bass sound underneath. 

 

 

Don't forget about basic scratching. This is done by reversing the airflow of any of the previous techniques. A commonly misunderstood technique, scratching involves different tongue and lip movements depending on the instrument you are trying to "scratch" with. To understand better, record yourself laying down a beat. Then using a music program, like Windows Sound Recorder, listen to it in reverse.

• Learning to emulate those reversed sounds literally doubles your known techniques. Also, try making the sound, and then its reverse immediately afterward (Ex: A bass sound followed by its reverse in quick succession make the standard "scratch" noise).
• Crab scratch:
  • Put your thumb up. Open your hand up and put your fingers 90 degrees to the left.
  • Make your lips tight. Put your hand on your lips with your lips out them right near the crack of your thumb.
  • Suck in air. It should make a warp sound like a DJ.

 

 

Work on jazz brushes. Lightly blow out through your mouth while trying to sustain the letter "f." By blowing slightly harder on the beats 2 and 4, you'll have the accents. 

 

 Add a rimshot. Whisper the word "kaw," then say it again without letting any of the "aw" through. Push on the "k" a little harder and you'll get a rimshot. 

 

 Add a click roll (kkkk). This is a very difficult technique to perform at first, but once you know how, you can use it any time. To start, position your tongue so that the right (or left, depending on preference) side is resting right above where your top teeth meet your gum. Then pull the back of your tongue toward the back of your throat to do a click roll. 

 

 

Practice humming the baseline and beatboxing at the same time. This technique isn't as difficult as singing, but when you're just starting off, it is easy to get lost. To start, you must first realize that there are two ways to hum: one is from the throat (say "ahh") and the other is through the nose ("mmmmmm"), which is considerably harder to get used to but immeasurably more versatile.

• The key to humming and beatboxing at the same time is to start with a baseline or melody in mind. Listen to rap hooks, whether they be hummed or not (For example, listen to Parliament Funkadelic's "Flashlight" and practice humming the melody, then try beatboxing over top of it; James Brown is also great for melodies).
• Scour your music collection for baselines and melodies to hum, then try to put some of your beats or someone else's beats over top of it. It is necessary to learn how to hum a melody or baseline for several reasons, especially if you plan to learn to start singing. This is the area of beatboxing that takes some originality!
• If you've tried to beatbox and hum at the same time, you must have realized that you've lost of some of your proficiency with certain beat techniques (the Techno Bass and Techno Snare are severely limited, as well as the click roll becomes, if not totally unusable, very hard to hear). Learning what works takes time and practice.
• If you ever find yourself in a beatbox battle, don't forget that while your endurance and speed are important, using new and interesting melodies and baselines will always win the crowd.

 

You'll need to practice inward humming too. This is an advanced technique which is not widely used in the realm of beatboxing. There are several resources available on how to sing/hum inward. For the purposes of beatboxing, when you need to breathe really bad, it may be a good idea to hum inward. You can always continue humming the same melody, but the pitch (note) will change drastically.

• With practice, you can correct this pitch change to some extent, but many beatboxing experts who use inward humming decide to change the melody when switching from outward humming to inward humming.

 

 

Adding trumpet sounds is a great way to mix it up. Hum falsetto (that's high pitched - like Mickey Mouse). Now, lift the back of your tongue to make the sound thinner and sharper. Add a loose, lip oscillation (classic kick drum) to the front of each note. Then close your eyes, let rip and pretend you are Louis Armstrong! 

 

 

Practice singing and beatboxing at the same time. The key is to line up consonant sounds with the bass and vowel sounds with the snare. Don't bother adding a hi-hat, as even the best beatboxers have trouble in that respect. 

 

 

Another Advanced Variation is to create a warped dubstep Sweep that doesn't have any specific pitch. Start by pretending to clear phlem from your throat or growling like an animal. The resulting sound will be scratchy, so adjust the back of your mouth until you get a steady pitch. After you've achieved this, to make the sweeping sounds, shift the shape of your mouth and that will change the tambre while maintaining the pitch.

• Caution: doing this for an extended amount of time can cause temporary inflation.