(scrapes)
(knocks)
(clicks)
(strums)
(bangs)
- Friends, welcome back to Brick X Brick.
I'm your host Adam Ward and this is the music episode.
Because music is one of the most important things
in the world and I bet you didn't know,
that you can make pretty awesome music using LEGO.
We've prototyped a bunch of different instruments.
We made some really awesome sounds and we made some
pretty terrible sounds.
And today, we're gonna teach you how to build
some instruments, and how to get some really cool
noises out of those bricks we love so much.
So here's a quick rundown of the instruments
and the sounds we're really excited about creating
after we locked ourselves in the LEGO lab.
We've got LEGO mallets, which are fun to hit anything with.
We've got our staircase, which makes a great frog sound.
(scrapes)
We've got some really cool percussion boxes
with some rubber bands strapped around them
to get two different sounds.
Here's the little one.
(strums rubber band)
and the big one.
(strums rubber band)
You can even snap them on the back.
Speaking of rubber bands, we've got our LEGO banjo
slash ukulele slash it's still a work in progress.
Stringed instruments made from LEGO are really challenging
because you wanna pull the rubber bands really, really
tight or maybe even use real guitar strings.
But they need to be pulled so tight, that they'll
practically snap the neck of anything that you build.
So, we're still working on this,
but we got some pretty cool sounds out of it.
(strums rubber bands)
The biggest surprise we had in the LEGO Sound Lab
was the tambourine stick.
It feels great in your hand and it's so much fun to play.
(rattles)
And the build that I'm going to teach you first is our egg
maraca shaker.
(shakes maraca)
So much fun to play with and a really fun build.
You ready?
Let's go!
To kick the egg shaker off, we're gonna start off with
one of the sides.
The dimensions of the egg shaker are 4x6 on each side.
So you can use a 4x6.
I'm gonna put two 2x6s together.
And right down the seam of those,
I'm gonna put another 2x6.
Then I'm gonna put a couple 1x4s on each side
right in the middle.
Okay, one more 1x4.
I put it across those two,
and then a couple 1x2s:
one on top of the 1x4 and one below the 1x4.
This is gonna give it a nice egg shape
to make it super ergonomic and feel great in your palm.
Now, all four sides are exactly the same.
So go ahead and do that exact same thing,
three more times.
Once you do, you'll have pieces that look like this.
Boom!
Once you've got your four sides, it's time to
put them together.
And the pieces we use to attach them, are these
super awesome, 1x1, SNOT bricks.
These SNOT bricks have a stud on every single side.
One, two, three, four, and one on the top.
Five studs, one brick, that's bananas.
This SNOT brick is truly amazing, and we're gonna use
eight of them in this build.
Since all of our sides are exactly the same,
we can start with any one of them.
And what we're gonna do, is we're gonna put
the SNOT brick in the top two corners,
I'm gonna flip it around and I'm gonna put them
in the bottom two corners.
Now it's very important, when you're putting these in
that the bottom studs, are sticking out.
Just like that.
Stud sticking out that way, this way, this way and
that way.
Now the last thing we want is, mid jam session,
our egg shaker to fall apart.
We're gonna reinforce these SNOT bricks with a
couple plates.
So, grab some 1x4s,
and snap em on to the bottoms.
These go a really long way in keeping our shaker together.
Now, we're gonna do exactly what we just did,
one more time.
Great.
Now these two sides of the shaker,
are going to be across from each other.
You can think of them as east and west,
north and south, left and right.
And now it's time to connect them.
So, we're gonna use our other sides to hold them together.
We wanna make sure that our curves are all facing
the same direction.
So line em up like that.
So we'll attach this one like this.
Great.
And this one like that.
And now we bring our fourth side, make sure the curve
is going the same direction, and squeeze it on there.
The tops and the bottoms are both 4x4.
So, you can grab a 4x4 or two 2x4s.
Line them up, then take another 2x4,
and put em right on top.
Then on the sides of this, I'm gonna add a couple
1x2s.
And then right in the center, I'm going to put a 2x2.
Now the dimensions of the bottom, are the same as the
dimension of the top.
So you're gonna do that same thing one more time.
Slide it on in.
So now what we're going to do, is we're going to
put one side on, with a nice little squeeze,
and before we put on the bottom, we've gotta fill it
with our shaker material!
Now I think, what works great for shakers, are
1x1 tiles.
These are some of the smoothest pieces out there.
And you wan smooth pieces, because the more they get stuck,
the less sound you have.
So, I'm gonna flip it upside down,
and just put some in there.
Now you can put just a couple in for a little bit of shake
or a lot for a lot of shake but you don't wanna overfill it.
You want plenty of open space, so the pieces can
move around and make that awesome sound.
I think I put about 20 in.
(shakes)
That sounds pretty good.
So here goes the last side.
And now we take it for a test shake.
(maraca shakes to downtempo music)
Sounded pretty good!
And now friends, to learn the tambourine stick.
So, our tambourine stick is 54 bricks tall.
So, what we do, is we grab some 4x6 plates.
Nine of them to be exact.
This gives us a great length and allows us to have a
really nice sized handle and 10 different elements
to make sounds.
And right on top of these, we're gonna put another
layer of plates.
To break the seam, well kick it off with a 4x4
and then we're gonna drop eight 4x6 plates.
Stacking big plates on top of other plates
is a great way to get some instant stability
out of your builds.
And our last 4x6.
And now you've got two space at the bottom
because we started with a 4x4.
Put that on.
Okay?
Now, I'm gonna flip it over.
On the bottom, we're gonna put a row of bricks that
are too thick.
So let's start with a 2x4 and then with
some 2x6s.
We'll come all the way down, and at the very bottom
a 2x2.
And again, give it a nice push.
Now, besides our two by brick strip,
we're gonna put down two rows of plates.
Now, I'm gonna use some 1x10s, because we get
the job done with not too many pieces.
Plus, in general, the bigger piece you use,
the stronger your build will be.
So our build is 54 studs long, so it's gonna take
five 1x10s and yep, you got it math wiz,
one 1x4.
Flip it around, do the same thing one more time.
You can also do this with smaller bricks and plates,
and you can definitely still make it strong.
So if you don't have 1x10s, don't worry about it.
Now to the same thing, one more time.
One more 1x10, and then, our last 1x4s,
one per side.
I've been playing with the original tambourine stick
a bunch.
So I've come up with an even better design at making it
super ergonomic.
So what we're gonna do, is we are gonna lay down,
some more plates, right on top of our bricks.
So we're gonna go 10.
And then we're gonna go 10 again.
So you've got a surface of 20 where we're adding plates.
And we're gonna stop right there.
We don't need to go any further.
And on top of these plates, we're gonna put these
awesome, inverted, 4x4 slopes.
These have a really wonderful curve,
and they're gonna feel great in our hands.
We're gonna snap these on,
just like this.
This is gonna make our tambourine stick
fit wonderfully in the palm of our hand.
Awesome.
Now we can go up the rest of the way
with these awesome boat tiles.
These have the studs on top and a really
smooth surface on the bottom.
TheY're gonna let us give our tambourine stick
an awesome, finished look.
Sweet!
The last step for the bottom of this build is
some more boat tiles, but instead of the square ones,
we're going to use the 2x2 rounded ones.
These feel so good in your hand,
and we're just gonna snap em all the way down.
You may remember these pieces from our magical
snake monster build?
Now, on to the front side.
The first thing we're gonna do is finish up the handle.
So, we're gonna grab some 1x10 plates,
put em right in the middle,
and then a couple 1x4s.
This is a great height for your handle.
Then what we're gonna do is we're gonna put these
awesome 1x4, curved tiles, and these
curved tiles have an opening on the bottom and that
opening is gonna fit perfectly on top of the plates that we
just laid down.
Throw some stripes in here.
Some green, white,
green, white,
give it a nice squeeze.
Our handle is looking awesome.
Feels even better.
What we're gonna do now is go down the center of our
entire tambourine stick with some tiles.
Now, this is a fun place to bring in some color.
So I'm gonna go with these yellow 2x2s
all the way down.
Next step, we're gonna be building the tracks.
And the tracks keep our loose pieces in place,
and allow them to glide from one side to the other
to make that awesome sound.
So what you're gonna want to get is a bunch of 1x2 plates.
And I'm gonna make a bunch of towers too tall.
In total we're gonna need twenty towers.
(scat sings circus theme song)
19
20
What we're gonna do is we're gonna stick one on the bottom.
We're gonna start plugging these in.
So we're gonna go two, then skip two,
and put another one on.
Skip two, put one on.
Complete this pattern all the way down to the end.
Now in between each of these, we're gonna drop a 1x2 tile.
Here we go.
(uptempo music)
I think that's looking awesome.
The next thing we're gonna build are the sliders.
These are the pieces that are gonna go from one side
to the other and make that awesome sound.
So, we're gonna put our tambourine stick aside
for just a second.
We have 10 total sliders and each one is built on a
1x4 plate.
Take a 1x4 plate, and then add a 1x1 plate to either side.
Now, these can be square, but I think the rounded ones
work a little bit better.
They don't lock the piece in quite as strong,
so it slides easier.
I'm using translucent blue.
You can use any color you want.
Now in the middle of the tube, you're going to put
a 1x2 tile.
And you're gonna do that 10 times.
Now I went ahead and made nine more.
Cuz you're gonna want 10 total,
but before you put them on we're going to add
one more little pop of color
on top of each of our towers with one more 1x2.
Here we go.
Okay.
Now, we're ready to go so,
we're gonna grab our slider pieces and line them up
just like that.
Once we have these locked in place,
what we're gonna do, is we're gonna connect
two sides with some tiles.
So you wanna get your tiles ready.
So, we've got all of our sliders lined up.
Now it's time to take some 1x4 tiles or 2x4 tiles,
and attach them one side to the other side.
They snap on just like this.
And then we're gonna add one more super special piece
to our sliders, so they slide really, really wonderfully.
Now, all of our 1x4 tiles are in place.
Now it's time to use these pieces.
Our curved 1x4 tiles again, to snap right on top
of our sliders.
It might take a second to line them up just perfectly.
This part's a little bit tricky,
but I'm confident you can figure it out.
We're just gonna do that all the way down.
Awesome!
And the last thing we're gonna do is you've got those
little openings down there and down here.
So we're gonna use some 1x1 wedges to fill those in.
So here are the 1x1 wedges.
Snap some on the ends.
Throw some on the floor.
There we go.
Now, our tambourine stick is looking really good.
But the question isn't only how does it look?
The serious question is,
how does it sound?
Moment of truth my friends.
Three, two, one.
(shakes tambourine stick)
Yes!
We did it!
The ergonomic handle feels amazing!
We get great sound.
And I think it looks pretty cool.
Well, our tambourine stick is ready for a jam session.
Let's see how it sounds with its siblings.
(rattlesnake sound)
so much fun!
And we've got double egg shakers.
(shakes)
hope you really enjoyed building some LEGO
instruments and just seeing some other ideas
that we came up with.
If you created any of your own,
high five,
what a fun thing to do!
It's amazing to make instruments out of LEGO or
any materials you have lying around your house.
It's really just an excuse to make noise.
If you created any instruments, we would love to see them.
So please post the pictures online and use the hash tag
#mybrickxbrick.
To see even more episodes of Brick X Brick,
click on the link right here, and you can even watch
our awesome rap video.
I rap.
You don't wanna miss it.
And to subscribe to SoulPancake, click right here.
I'm 'bout ta make some more music.
(shakes both tambourine sticks)
(crazy laughter)
I done shook it too hard.