How fast can you play 16th notes?

[SteveCS]

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.

Yes indeed. I've been using sax, clarinet and cello music for a few years to expand my melodic sensibilities in terms of phrasing, dynamics, form etc, but nothing with the complexity of what you've posted here. Indian classical music has also been a great source of inspiration, as much for it's use of flexible tempo as part of the melodic form as anything else.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

I still want to hear an example of something other than repeating notes at that tempo (140 or higher) in a recorded song.

It's not a constant "flow" of the 16ths. Just some "inserts". My simple exercise with some raking at 130BPM.
(A la "faster" disco)

https://www.talkbass.com/attachment...0/?temp_hash=f6b24e48e4749993885d558f56149646

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Here is another example of my simple exercises with "weaved in" some 16ths.
It's at 120BPM. Just think, it's DISCO.
It's an exercise to use Thumb (like all five picking hand fingers).

https://www.talkbass.com/attachment...1/?temp_hash=dfaedacc10f5ddf61e416646a0296923

 

[grimjim]

One of my original bands has a song where I play 1/32 notes at 120 BPM, so I guess that makes it 240?

 

[grimjim]

One of my original bands has a song where I play 1/32 notes at 120 BPM, so I guess that makes it 240?

It got slowed down to 120, it was getting ridiculous.

 

[grimjim]

View attachment 3635738
It got slowed down to 120, it was getting ridiculous.

A bit on the heavier side, if you want to watch.

 

[Loring]

So... 16th notes are 4 / beat

you're saying you are doing 380 plucks per minute??

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Here is my simple a la "ROCCO" type of exercise at 90BPM.
It's a mixture of normal/ghost notes. I tend to play it mostly with as "Double Thumb".
(In the key of C)

https://www.talkbass.com/attachment...0/?temp_hash=8a7f279ccc03323cb3b93b92ae773b73

 

[Felken]

I topped out at 150. I'm surprised most people can't go past 120...

I play in a fusion band, so 16th ghost notes are very common.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

I topped out at 150. I'm surprised most people can't go past 120...

I play in a fusion band, so 16th ghost notes are very common.

It's never too late to provide us with your example/s...

 

[LBS-bass]

I topped out at 150. I'm surprised most people can't go past 120...

I play in a fusion band, so 16th ghost notes are very common.

Well, I'm not counting (for myself) repeating notes or ghost notes. I'm sure I can do those faster, but the lines that concern me (and where I'm trying to improve) are the lines that involve my fretting hand. So, as someone earlier pointed out, I'm using a somewhat different yardstick than the OP who did say repeating notes were ok.

There are some great examples in here. Keep 'em coming

 

[grimjim]

So... 16th notes are 4 / beat

you're saying you are doing 380 plucks per minute??

Is it? I ain't so good at gazintas. Whatever the sheet music I posted says.

 

[grimjim]

Is it? I ain't so good at gazintas. Whatever the sheet music I posted says.

I am playing the same notes as the guitar players in the video.

 

[rutrho]

They get played as fast as they need to! Not any faster or any slower. They just are what they are.


I tend to play (or try at least) thrashy stuff, which ends up being pretty quick most of the time, fwiw.

 

[smeet]

I finally got around to trying it out with a metronome. I didn't put anything in the survey, because speed like anything else is relative depending on what you are playing. I topped out at:

110 bpm - sustained complex playing (Teen Town) with good control
120 bpm - shorter bursts of actual melodic (but short) phrases (Immigrant Song)
150 bpm - Sustained 3 finger Sheehan (3213 2132 1321 3213...) on-beat string changes
160 bpm - 3-finger, bursts of 16ths on a single string, controlled but barely.

It's funny, these numbers are higher than back when I practiced to build up speed. I rarely play fast with other people now (no fusion since the 80s. OK, 90s). I'm never going to be Feraud, no matter how much I practice, but I g was faster than I expected.

 

[Nakoatron]

Worked my way up to 160 last night, kept pushing. Can do 190 before it starts to need attention.

 

[Mark Porter]

How fast can you pluck and how do you do it.

For example, i can play sustained 16th notes at 95 BPM, with bursts to 120. Doesnt matter if its single note or scale. My plucking hand is my constraint in playing fast.
I use index and middle finger.

 

[Mark Porter]

As 16th note players go, I'm a great accountant.

 

[jdc866]

It used to be pretty low. However I've actually been focusing on it for about 6 months or so and 145 is probably my fastest sustained speed. I can do scales and whatnot, starts getting tricky depending on string crossings but that is mitigated with 6 strings.

Been watching Gary Willis stuff...the right hand is 50% of your skill. So I started practicing specifically the right hand.

If you want to get faster you have to work at it. I've made it a point to pick up the bass every single day for at least 5 minutes and do SOMETHING. Every little bit helps. Also I don't sit down to watch Netflix without my bass. Super easy to work on right hand speed without plugging in. Just run scales or even do singles and focus on even speed. Caveat: still need to plug in and make sure those notes sound the same with even attack. But you can still get a lot done in a 45 minute episode

 

[jdc866]

I've never measured my 16th note speed per se, but given a key or progression i'm somewhat familiar with I can consistently walk impromptu jazz lines for a whole tune at about 260-280bpm.

The fastest I've ever done before losing my place and not playing sloppy was about 320 or so with an awesome drummer.

Not sure how that correlates with 16ths though? Walking lines are more left hand/right hand coordination...

Quarter notes at 300bpm is around 75bpm with 16ths for reference.

So 8ths at 300bpm would be equivalent to 16ths at 150 bpm