How fast can you play 16th notes?

[Whousedtoplay]

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

Then it means, that the following exercise/riff would be very easy for you to play at 120BPM for three (min) minutes.
In the studio, I would require to hear the "evenly-going" normal and (lots of) ghosted 16ths notes.

https://www.talkbass.com/attachments/jzavcs-mp3.3636477/?temp_hash=da20d29695cd1268523a82dbe71a574b

 

[Whousedtoplay]

For those "speedy" bass players,

It means the following passage (a bass run) you'd be able to play without any issues and properly articulated.

https://www.talkbass.com/attachment...0/?temp_hash=4642273e3b04b062cadb9a1a9557c397

 

[Ian Lewis]

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.

I still trying to get Dean Town up to speed. The intro (constant notes) is not too bad, but after that, still working...

 

[Nakoatron]

What did you record that bass with? That tone is strange.

Then it means, that the following exercise/riff would be very easy for you to play at 120BPM for three (min) minutes.
In the studio, I would require to hear the "evenly-going" normal and (lots of) ghosted 16ths notes.
View attachment 3636476

https://www.talkbass.com/attachments/jzavcs-mp3.3636477/?temp_hash=da20d29695cd1268523a82dbe71a574b

 

[basschanges]

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).

View attachment 3635710
https://www.talkbass.com/attachment...1/?temp_hash=dfaedacc10f5ddf61e416646a0296923

Dude this is a killing killing exercise!!! Thank you !

 

[basschanges]

I was curious and checked with a drum machine. I can't really sustain more than 130 with my regular plucking technique for more than 3-5 minutes. I get exhausted after that. With the thumb involved I can do 170 pretty consistently for much longer.

 

[wluffman]

I'll never be a threat to Rocco Prestia.

 

[dfp]

Half-fast

 

[Whousedtoplay]

What did you record that bass with? That tone is strange.

It's not a "live" bass. It's the bass sound coming from Guitar Pro.
To my regret, recently I don't have enough "luxury" time to exercise the bass comfortably.
Between my long hours at work(about 12 hours) everyday (some Saturdays), with all the family/household "duties", plus helping my wife to recover after a joint replacement surgery, I'm very happy if I can just grab my unplugged bass and start noodling, with one earbug from my iphone in my ear with the Metronome's click.
I just turn a small MP3 player/recorder on and start "noodling". And I'm happy that I have even that kind of opportunity to "touch" my bass.
When I'm faraway from my bass, I listen to those clips, and if there are any interesting phrases, transcribe them on Guitar Pro, and save in/for my "catalog".
Let's say, I was "noodling" something with one intention - the first note in the measure is not the root note.
After I've listened to my noodling, I transcribed some interesting (to my taste) notes.
The first measure - D major, the second one - G major. It's a vamp.
With some 16ths at 87BPM (only).

https://www.talkbass.com/attachment...6/?temp_hash=fee2fc927bd2c759e99340041924e3dd

 

[SteveCS]

... I tend to play it mostly with as "Double Thumb".
...

For some reason I was only considering traditional fingerstyle, i/m in strict alternation with every note articulated by the plucking hand. Probably because OP mentioned it.
Once we add in the syncopated or 'distributed duty' techniques like hammer-ons, pull-offs, double-thumbs, slaps, etc, the tempo limit increases significantly. Ornaments like trills and turns at the equivalent of >1000 notes per minute (=1/16 at 250bpm) are not unrealistic.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Here is a simple exercise the way I play the Ab melodic scale.
(I've highlighted TAB.)
It's all about articulation.

https://www.talkbass.com/attachment...3/?temp_hash=dc1f9934fd7df86fe06a49b78e8c8fb2

 

[LBS-bass]

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.

Not to go off topic, but I had a similar experience this week. I had learned a particular song about a year ago that was very hard for me. A few days ago I decided to go back and dust that one off. Once I remembered how it went, I realized I was playing it with great ease. Not sure how that happened because I sure haven't been playing anything else that complicated in the past year. But I'll take it.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

More "riff-ishly" played the Ab melodic minor scale with some specific TAB and articulation.

https://www.talkbass.com/attachment...6/?temp_hash=49b48431360f76202bf47799b8e7f32c

 

[Whousedtoplay]

i/m in strict alternation with every note articulated by the plucking hand.

Here is an exercise with lots of the 16ths notes.
The main goal is to articulated/pronounce each note. It has, purposely, a few slides that also need to be performed. It's my TAB.
No musicianship, just a pure technical (string-crossing) exercise.

https://www.talkbass.com/attachment...6/?temp_hash=6282dcec72a3d9841f2b0f9723d33082

 

[Blankandson]

This is maybe only a little off topic. We recently began putting a metronome through our monitors for the first one or two measures. We're discovering that on some songs 110 BPM is way too fast but 105 is way too slow. Doesn't sound like much difference but there is a noticeable difference in just a few BPM.

 

[James Collins]

When people are talking about their 1/16th note tempo limit, could you play half notes, 1/8th notes, triplets, and 1/16ths at the same rate but with different accents so that each tempo is distinct? That is where I struggle.

For example, assuming 4/4 time, you could play triplets at 180bpm and 16th notes at 135bpm. There would be the same number of notes per time, but the accents would be different.

Excuse me if I have the bpm wrong. I always seem to struggle when a piece will alternate between things like triplets, 16ths, triplets, etc. Especially when I try to get the accents.

 

[SteveCS]

When people are talking about their 1/16th note tempo limit, could you play half notes, 1/8th notes, triplets, and 1/16ths at the same rate but with different accents so that each tempo is distinct? That is where I struggle.

For example, assuming 4/4 time, you could play triplets at 180bpm and 16th notes at 135bpm. There would be the same number of notes per time, but the accents would be different.

Excuse me if I have the bpm wrong. I always seem to struggle when a piece will alternate between things like triplets, 16ths, triplets, etc. Especially when I try to get the accents.

Think in notes per minute, which changes according to note value, not beats per minute (tempo), which does not. And for accent placement, think about the time signature.

 

[Tazziedevil]

Threadjack:

what is everyone using for the music notation in the above examples?

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Threadjack:

what is everyone using for the music notation in the above examples?

I'm using Guitar Pro.

 

[IamGroot]

Ok, I found a trick to go 140+.

Lets say you are plucking the D string.
Line your plucking fingers parallel and almost touching the strings. Drum your fingers back and forth across the top of the D string using the muted A string as a stop.