How fast can you play 16th notes?

[Whousedtoplay]

after the TOP video I thought "there's no way I'm significantly faster than Rocco"
I went back and double checked my assessment. It was eight notes, not 16ths
I'm only at 70 bpm I guess.

A few years ago, we had a similar thread about "How fast can you go".
How fast can you go ?

I've never trained for any fingerstyle "fast playing"(or needed); therefore, I've just wanted to see my untrained aging limits and my "micro-second" durability at that speed.
I was able to play the 16ths at 200BPM for only 1 or 1.5 seconds, and that's it.
It's on one, D string.

https://www.talkbass.com/attachment...5/?temp_hash=00da9bdc3eceef4c00b759952c7bcec9

 

[Old P Bass Guy]

I like to practice 16ths and push myself but not because I play tunes that call for it. I believe it just helps make my 4's & 8's cleaner and more accurate.

 

[aekisz]

I can think of lots of reasons. Maybe you play metal or fingerstyle funk. Or maybe you've written a song where you think it sounds cool.

I don't this superfast bass sounds very good in any context (except maybe a solo). The physics of what goes into generating a bass note kind of prevents that. But that's just me. If I need fast bass notes I start up my leaf blower.

 

[IamGroot]

after the TOP video I thought "there's no way I'm significantly faster than Rocco"
I went back and double checked my assessment. It was eight notes, not 16ths
I'm only at 70 bpm I guess.

Thank you for clarifying your earlier response.
And the other 46 of you are probably off making that video to document your 140 BPM prowess.

 

[IamGroot]

Fun thread!



Maybe I can find a helicopter blade to walk into now.


With the right feel , of course.

I bet you play bass at 140 BPM, using your tongue...just like you-know-who.

 

[LBS-bass]

I am amazed that 25% in the poll say they can play 16ths >140. I wonder if some are confusing quarter notes with 16th notes

I suspect eighth notes. It's funny because I posted some examples of 16th notes at more reasonable speeds of 115 and 102 earlier up in this thread, and I know for a fact that several really good players have a hard time at those speeds. Why? Because I recently had a conversation elsewhere with them about one of those very songs. I didn't see any movement in the poll afterwards, however.

So I have to conclude that TB is full of incredibly fast players or that they are hammering a single note very fast and not trying for the scale or anything more complicated. Where I have the most trouble getting the speed is with my fretting hand, not my picking hand and I don't consider hammering one note to be something that will help me play very many songs, so that's not my personal yardstick. Some players, like Rocco, do a lot of that, but they also do a lot of other stuff.

On the other hand, people here might just be confused about 16th notes.

 

[IamGroot]

The real question is whether I could bow faster than I could pluck. The left hand would definitie be the bottleneck on the DB.

 

[LBS-bass]

Fun thread!



Maybe I can find a helicopter blade to walk into now.


With the right feel , of course.

Just make sure those blades are rotating as fast as possible. You wouldn't want to die at a lesser speed.

 

[LBS-bass]

Here is how I think about the constant "16ths" flow in the bass.
Let's take "Come on With it" - POW and Francis Rocco Prestia.
It's at 97BPM.
In my music world, any bass player who is able to play it fingerstyle comfortably (sustainably) has achieved a high degree of bass guitar technique.
When I say, comfortably, I mean the following:
A bass player can(only) play at, minimum, 130% of the given tempo but not(!) with any desired articulation, dynamics, solidness, etc...
So, if I want to play that bass-line comfortably, I need to play that bass-line at 130BPM without problems over a long period of time (let's say, 3.5 minutes).

Yep. I posted "What is Hip" earlier, which is at a "brisk" 102 BPM. Just listening to that song makes my hands ache, but I digress. Most players I know that can play that song well are pretty accomplished. I'm not saying there are not very accomplished players here, by any means. But there's a wide gulf between 102 and 140. I still want to hear an example of something other than repeating notes at that tempo (140 or higher) in a recorded song.

 

[LBS-bass]

Since I have no one taking me up on my recorded music challenge, how about this? I'd like to hear some people playing scales (accurately and cleanly) along with this, please. Bueller?

 

[Cliff Colton]

I’ve been practicing my 16th notes by playing a descending chromatic scale, 8 beats per note. The problem is, every time I reach the 5th of the scale, my fingers uncontrollably start playing Rock Lobster. Will a metronome help with this?

 

[SteveCS]

Since I have no one taking me up on my recorded music challenge, how about this? I'd like to hear some people playing scales (accurately and cleanly) along with this, please. Bueller?

It won't be me. I'm firmly in the 100-120 group. Scales with endurance, i.e.sustained for more than a minute, at straight 16ths max out at about 105. Faster is possible in shorter bursts, or with broken or mixed rhythms that provide some respite (think Bizet's Carmen, prelude to act 1), but even there 120 is probably my limit right now.
For me the limiting factor is not so much the raw speed of one hand or the other, but maintaining synchronisation between the two, especially when string crossing is involved. In cases where hammer-ons and/or pull-offs can be used without detriment, the maximum tempo increases dramatically.
One final point - playing on one's own as fast as possible, that is to say in a semi-cognizant manner just wiggling fingers as fast as they'll go, and then measuring is very different to 1/ holding to an external tempo reference set by a metronome or 2/ playing at a tempo established and maintained by ongoing human consensus, i.e. a band.
YMMV.

 

[IamGroot]

My idol is Michael Brecker. He plays sustained measures of 650 notes a minute and bursts of 900.

My top speed is in the 450 notes a minute range.

I have a ways to go. I think Dey and Feraud are there. And a russian dude whose name i need to google.

 

[SteveCS]

My idol is Michael Brecker. He plays sustained measures of 650 notes a minute and bursts of 900.

My top speed is in the 450 notes a minute range.

I have a ways to go. I think Dey and Feraud are there.

1/16th sustained at ~112bpm is very respectable, IMHO.

 

[IamGroot]

1/16th sustained at ~112bpm is very respectable, IMHO.

Thank you.
This video is an example of where I want to go on bass. I actually have the sheet music for Peep, but its not a song i am practicing right now. Muscle memory comes slow.

 

[FlatThumb]

So I have to conclude that TB is full of incredibly fast players or that they are hammering a single note very fast and not trying for the scale or anything more complicated.

Don't forget the OP said single note OR scale, there's no way I could play scales at 140+ but I can play straight 16ths on one string at that speed.

 

[SteveCS]

Thank you.
This video is an example of where I want to go on bass. I actually have the sheet music for Peep, but its not a song i am practicing right now. Muscle memory comes slow.

Either the YouTube frame rate can't keep up or he's using hammer-ons and pull-offs to great effect - each note sounds individually articulated with the right hand. Either way, I don't care. The end result is astonishing and sets a very high bar! It's refreshing to hear actual music being played that way, rather than the usual 'talking loud not saying much' shredding that I find leaves me cold. Thanks for posting.

 

[IamGroot]

It's refreshing to hear actual music being played that way, rather than the usual 'talking loud not saying much' shredding that I find leaves me cold. Thanks for posting.

Saxophonists like Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Michael Brecker will take your fingers to new places that don't sound spawned by guitar.

Fast trumpet lines sound really good on bass.

Interesting that Charlie Christian got his ideas from Lester Young. Wes Montgomery got his ideas from Charlie Christian. Both of those guitarists influenced generations of guitar players. And saxophonist Michael Brecker was influenced by guitar players (lots of pentatonics). Full Circle.

 

[IamGroot]

Thank you.
This video is an example of where I want to go on bass. I actually have the sheet music for Peep, but its not a song i am practicing right now. Muscle memory comes slow.

My homey is actually an awesome slapper as well.


Anton Davidyants | Welcome to Infinity.

 

[Brewsbrother]

I have never measured my exact speed.
I can use a 3 finger playing style but it isn't completely even over long stretches. In quick bursts I like to think my plucking hand is pretty fast.

Having learned classical guitar technique years ago, I carried some of it over to bass. I haven't done a count in bpm, but I can do bursts along the lines of John Entwhistle's live solo in "My Generation."