Exercise - Acknowledging Any/Every 16th Note

RocketMusic · #1 09-21-2011, 01:11 PM

I've been watching A LOT of Victor Wooten youtube clips lately. I've also gone back and watched the 4-5 hour long "Groove Workshop" video a couple times this past week. I'm really looking for some inspiration, and I'm trying to identify some concrete things that I can practice. My practice regimen has been non-existent since we bought the new building earlier this year, so I'm looking to re-dedicate myself to getting better once again.

One big hole I have in my playing is rhythmic control. I start and stop my phrases fairly predictably in terms of rhythm, and I struggle to vary the rhythms that I use on the fly. I want to gain control over rhythm once and for all, so I'm on a quest for any and all exercises that will help me do that.

Anthony Wellington has a great piece in the "Groove Workshop" video that I think of as Square 1 for gaining control of rhythm. He presents the 16th note subdivisions graphically, and then he talks about how every musician needs to be able to acknowledge each and every one of those 16 subdivisions within a measure on demand. Typical of Anthony's teaching methods, rather than picking one subdivision to focus on, he makes you go through each and every one.

Some of the student bass players in that video clip suffer from my problem (they're not that strong rhythmically), so the exercise part of the video has a bunch of mistakes that make it hard for me to make much hay from it. I also figure it would be nice to be able to vary the tempo so I can go faster as I get better. So I setup a quick drum pattern in Sonar, and I've spit out various MP3's of it at different tempos.

There are two intro measures so you can get used to the tempo. The hats play a steady 1/8 note pattern, the bell hits are on every measure's "1", and the wood block is the moving 16th note target that you should try to play along with (tap your desk, pop a bass string, whatever).

The 16th note target starts on "1" of the third measure, then it moves to the "e" of "1" in the next measure, etc. All way up to the "u" of "4", then the 1 again. Then it reverses and goes back down one 16th note at a time.

So here are a few different tempos. Enjoy! I hope they're useful to somebody besides me!

16th Note Acknowledgement Exercise (100 bpm)
16th Note Acknowledgement Exercise (110 bpm)
16th Note Acknowledgement Exercise (120 bpm)
16th Note Acknowledgement Exercise (130 bpm)
16th Note Acknowledgement Exercise (140 bpm)
16th Note Acknowledgement Exercise (150 bpm)

Gaius46 · #2 09-21-2011, 01:21 PM

Ed Friedland has a similar exercise in his Bass Grooves book. However he has the metronome or drum machine only hitting on the 2 & 4.

He also has a similar exercise for triplets. I've also messed with doing the exercise with 16th note triplets and 32nd notes.

RocketMusic · #3 09-21-2011, 01:27 PM

Yeah, 1/8 note triplets was the obvious next step for me, but I don't even want to think about 16th note triplets and 32nd notes.

Gard · #4 09-21-2011, 01:59 PM

Another 16th note exercise I used to do a lot (and need to get back into

) is to play with 2 note groupings of 16ths, but never using the "downbeat".

Imagine the notes bolded are played, while the ones not are not played, for an idea:

1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a|

1 e & a 2 e & a 3 4 e & a|

1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a|

For a variation, you can play muted notes for the unplayed notes as well, sorta a Rocco Prestia exercise!

Once you get comfortable with one note at a time for this, you can apply to scales and arpeggios to get used to using this displacement idea within actual musical phrases.

RocketMusic · #5 09-21-2011, 02:05 PM

Ooooh, that's very cool. In the video, Anthony eventually extends the earlier exercise to three note patterns... and two notes looks really cool, too! Gotta do it all!

Gard · #6 09-21-2011, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RocketMusic

Ooooh, that's very cool. In the video, Anthony eventually extends the earlier exercise to three note patterns... and two notes looks really cool, too! Gotta do it all!

Yes, the 3 note patterns are great as well, I would practice those back in the days when I practiced. I just really enjoyed working with the no downbeat patterns most, because you never find that "comfy" note on the strong beat, you have to FEEL it....the three note patterns, force you to use the downbeat on 3 of the 4 permutations.

....of course, if you want to get REALLY sick, you can start creating one measure patterns using a different syncopation on each beat, and then there are almost unlimited combinations (my Statistics professor would kick my butt for not being able to instantly enumerate the full number of possible permutations, but I can't remember the darn formulas! Damn that old age thingy!!!

)

**nostatic** · #7 09-21-2011, 03:13 PM

A somewhat related exercise that Kai Eckhardt has me doing. Set your metronome at 40bpm and play whole notes, then half notes, then triplets, the quarter notes, then 5, 6, etc up to 12 notes per bar. Then do the same thing with swung feel (essentially a pickup to the note you're playing, this time just going up to 6.

11/8 is a pita...

RocketMusic · #8 09-21-2011, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gard

Another 16th note exercise I used to do a lot (and need to get back into ) is to play with 2 note groupings of 16ths, but never using the "downbeat".

Imagine the notes bolded are played, while the ones not are not played, for an idea:

1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a

For a variation, you can play muted notes for the unplayed notes as well, sorta a Rocco Prestia exercise!

Once you get comfortable with one note at a time for this, you can apply to scales and arpeggios to get used to using this displacement idea within actual musical phrases.

Here's the exercise Gard suggested at 100 bpm. Man, I've just about worn my fingertips off with this one. It's actually quite a lot of fun, and I'm combining some slap technique practice with it. I'm double thumbing the e&'s, thumbing and popping the ea's, and raking the &a's.

The pattern that I programmed is two bars to set the tempo, then two bars of each pattern (for a total of 6 bars), then repeat that 6 bar group 3 more times just to make you work a little longer.

Gard's 2-Note Targets Exercise

Gard · #9 09-22-2011, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nostatic

A somewhat related exercise that Kai Eckhardt has me doing. Set your metronome at 40bpm and play whole notes, then half notes, then triplets, the quarter notes, then 5, 6, etc up to 12 notes per bar. Then do the same thing with swung feel (essentially a pickup to the note you're playing, this time just going up to 6.

11/8 is a pita...

I do this exercise with my scales/modes using the circle of 5ths.

VERY good stuff, really "centers" your time, and doing it with the scales/modes really gets you comfy with playing in all keys without hesitation.

To keep from getting in too much of a rut, you just start with the quarter notes at 40bpm on a different key each day. Again, I follow the circle of 5ths (i.e. today C, tomorrow F, the next day Bb...).

...and yeah, 11 is a booger to get right!

I actually had to get 12 first, then backtrack to 11...

**nostatic** · #10 09-22-2011, 12:36 PM

I find 12 not so bad as it is a triplet of quartets, or a quartet of triplets. I usually count it 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4. 11is just a pita...

Gard · #11 09-22-2011, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nostatic

I find 12 not so bad as it is a triplet of quartets, or a quartet of triplets. I usually count it 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4. 11is just a pita...

I do the quartet of triplets 123-123-123-123 myself. For 11, the only thing that worked for me was to count 123-123-12345. It ain't fun though!

**nostatic** · #12 09-22-2011, 06:00 PM

Arrghh...just reminding me that I need to get back into my daily routine.

I was doing 1234 1234 123 but that didn't really flow. Maybe 123456 12345. Or better yet find a song in 11 that actually has a lick that flows (like Solsbury Hill does in 7) and embed that in my head.

Or just give up and play whole notes on the downbeat of 12 bar blues tunes in 4/4

Gard · #13 09-23-2011, 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nostatic

Arrghh...just reminding me that I need to get back into my daily routine.

I was doing 1234 1234 123 but that didn't really flow. Maybe 123456 12345. Or better yet find a song in 11 that actually has a lick that flows (like Solsbury Hill does in 7) and embed that in my head.

Or just give up and play whole notes on the downbeat of 12 bar blues tunes in 4/4

11/8: COUNTDOWN - RUSH (1982) - YouTube

...I knew there'd be some benefit to listening to Rush!

I tried the 1234-1234-123, didn't work for me either..felt "lopsided"....the 6+5 vibe of 123-123-12345 just felt more "right" to me...