120 bpm

[Plays_For_Dog]

I've been playing along with a drum machine a lot more in the last few weeks then ever. I've always had good timeing naturally so this is more so because I've been playing alone and want to keep sharp. However, I've noticed I always default to a 120 bpm rythm when playing alone. I can speed it up or slow it down and still keep in good time no problem. However, 120 bpm seems to be the magical number for my creativeness. Am I setting myself up to be stuck in a rut if I don't continually switch it up? I would like other TBer's to comment and share personal experience.

Mods, please move to the correct section if I'm in the wrong spot. Also, if there is another thread buried here on TB that already addresses the issue, please direct me there and close this one out. I couldn't find one that was a general discussion on the topic. Thanks!

[oldcatfish]

120bpm is just a good medium tempo. Most people are probably most comfortable in that range. As long as you intentionally practice in different tempos too, I think that you'll be fine.

[lowendfriend]

If you play along with a variety of MP3 songs, you will inevitably be dealing with a wide range of tempos. If you are pure original, then pick a random tempo for practice on a regular basis. Learning is strengthened by diversity in music. 4string/5 string....different scale basses...flats/rounds....blues/rock/jazz/country....60/80/100/120/153 bpm.

[Plays_For_Dog]

Awesome guys! I was feeling these answers, but I wanted to throw this out there for other oppinions and support. I think tonight when I get off work I'll stick to lower bpm's and practice some c-jazz and country style bass playing. I want to remain a well rounded player and not a one trick pony kind of guy. If anyone else wants to contribute, I'd love to hear what you have to say as well. Maybe this thread will help some others too.

[KenHR]

That's funny...whenever I'm working on new material the tempo always seems to be 120 bpm. I thought it was because I've been using a sequencer to build drum parts for over 20 years that defaults to that tempo.

I've taken to consciously thinking about tempo before translating my ideas from brain to instrument in order to get myself out of that "all mid-tempo rock song" rut.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Plays_For_Dog

Am I setting myself up to be stuck in a rut if I don't continually switch it up?

imho, yes.

Think of it this way: Right now you're so used to 120bpm, so comfortable, so experienced with that tempo, that I'll bet if I asked you to play something at 120bpm without your drum machine or metronome for reference you'd be able to play at that tempo easily, effortlessly. Right? It's probably ingrained. It's like the tempo equivalent to Perfect Pitch...except you only have it at one single tempo.

Just imagine how much more valuable that skill could be if you could do it at a lot of different tempos. (tempii?)

fwiw, there are several tempos that I can knock out from memory (88, 96, 120, & 136), not because I specifically practiced this "parlor trick" but because it just developed by virtue of the music I was playing regularly.

[Chris K]

Join a marching band, they'll just love you.

[M Sterling]

Originally Posted by Plays_For_Dog

120 bpm seems to be the magical number for my creativeness.

I feel the same way. I think it is just a comfortable tempo to try new techniques and ideas. 120 bpm is also a subdivision of 60 bpm (how we measure seconds on a clock) so maybe it is somehow ingrained on us I make a concerted effort to play in a lot of different tempos when I use a drum machine or metronome, just to stay sharp, but I do find myself gravitating to 120.

[Skitch it!]

I had a DJ mixer friend whom popped by while I was practising once, without asking the tempo of the Met he nailed it as 100bpm, that's the speed of the stuff he was mixing at the time, it's comfortable around those tempo's, too comfortable. I find playing slower tempos far more difficult. I consider it like tuning, a few bpm either side of a particular feel can change the whole vibe of a track. 120 was the tempo of assessment at the Guitar Institute for scales/inversions in 16th's when I studied there, but it's just a temporary yardstick. Go across the board in tempos, practise all of them. Sooner or later you will need an internal clock that can uptake whatever is thrown at it.

[JTE]

120 BPM could almost be the beat of top 40 radio back in the days when that actually meant something...

John

[Plays_For_Dog]

Thanks for all the great responses. Some very useful insight here. Hopefully it will help others too. Last night I played for just over an hour. I spend 10 - 15 minutes on different tempos from 60 up to 153 (excluding the 110-130 range). I had a good time and I think I'll do that more often to ingrain slower tempos. I was rather surpised to find I was just as creative with the slower tempos as I was with 120 bpm once I got the feel of it. The faster ones....eh, there wasn't too much I could do. I could hold rythm and play a simple progression just fine, but it wasn't anything too creative.

But that's ok, because simple bass lines are normally the best ones

[elgecko]

Originally Posted by Chris K

Join a marching band, they'll just love you.

That...you must be channeling the ghost of John Phillip Sousa!