Every musician plays their instrument differently. Jimi Hendrix famously played his right-handed Fender Stratocaster flipped over and restrung. The point is, following the rules doesn’t necessarily make a great musician, and in fact, going against the grain could unlock your true potential. That’s why Melodics pad editing exists – customise the layout of your pads to develop your own unique style.

Hit the ‘Edit pad layout’ button to drag and drop any pad anywhere. Messed it up? Don’t worry – just hit that ‘reset’ button!

Each Melodics lesson has a suggested layout. These layouts are designed to teach you a range of foundational performance techniques that will help you develop your own style of playing. Some lesson layouts are designed by the artist who wrote and performed the music, giving you insight into how experienced finger drummers have developed their style of playing.

Because musicians are a wildly different bunch, though, sometimes our suggestions may not work with your controller or feel comfortable for your hands. So with Melodics pad editing, you’re free to move any pad anywhere. Try the default layout – if it’s not for you, identify any issues you may have with it and use the ‘Edit pad layout’ feature to find a solution that works for you.

Feel free to experiment with it too. Perhaps you’re finding a lesson too easy – give yourself an extra challenge by altering the layout, or flipping the layout to improve your ambidexterity. Experimenting with different layouts will increase your performance versatility, and you’ll develop a range of useful techniques for different styles of music.

Some players prefer consistency between songs so that they know exactly where their kick and snare is every time. The benefits of this method is that you can develop your own style and technique much faster.

The downside is that you may limit what styles of music you can play – so keep an open mind and try our layouts first! At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you’re comfortable – so make sure your technique is on point no matter what layout you’re repping.

Melodics will remember your pad layout for each lesson, so you can come back and continue exactly where you left off.

While Jimi Hendrix played left-handed, not everyone knows he actually wrote music with his right hand. Many say that his ambidexterity that was key to his talent. It’s important to keep it fresh and experiment with the pros and cons of different methods. Keep developing your skills in a variety of ways to find what works for you.

Practice our suggested layouts and then try your own – then there’s nothing that will stand in your way.