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if you had to choose timing vs. the right note
- Thread starter ericmknight1906
- Start date
A sour note is one bad note, playing at the wrong time is no right notes. Perhaps even more so in Bach, wrong time is a mistake far worse than a wrong note or 2.
oh..are we talking about only one or two wrong notes? If thats the case i agree with you.
One or two is how I read it.
I was at a rehearsal last night where a bassoonist had written out his part that was missing from the music. He had all the right notes, but from bar 57 to the end he was 2 beats off. Unfortunately he has more enthusiasm than ability and we finished the piece by him starting his part and the orchestra joining him.
Those 2 little beats in the context of 5 minute piece were more significant than the random missed accidental or outright wrong note.
I was at a rehearsal last night where a bassoonist had written out his part that was missing from the music. He had all the right notes, but from bar 57 to the end he was 2 beats off. Unfortunately he has more enthusiasm than ability and we finished the piece by him starting his part and the orchestra joining him.
Those 2 little beats in the context of 5 minute piece were more significant than the random missed accidental or outright wrong note.
Note.
If I work the timing fault into the next few bars, then it was intentional and part of a solo or stutter beat section.
Everyone will realize it, but it will be part of the song.
With the wrong note, you can't make up for it through BS.
If I work the timing fault into the next few bars, then it was intentional and part of a solo or stutter beat section.
Everyone will realize it, but it will be part of the song.
With the wrong note, you can't make up for it through BS.
Another vote for timing, although a really loud wrong note right on the 1 can be very distracting, in a bad way, as well. Don't ask me how I know this... hahaha.
Even then, it still depends on the situation. If I was bowing in unison with five other bassists, I'd be willing to come in a tad late to make the right note. If I were soloing Bach, or playing in a jazz, rock, metal, etc. group where I'm the only bassist and I have to setup timing and groove (with or without a drummer), I'd rather omit a difficult note to stay in time. Or if a bad note worked its way in (which happens to everyone), I'd get away from it but do so in time.
And yeah - if there were a ton of bad notes but perfect timing, or always perfect notes but bad timing, I'd expect to not make the audition anyway. It's important to be able to play the right notes in time with few exceptions. The exceptions shouldn't throw off the feel of the piece being played. I'd say 90% of the time, a grove or timing mistake is far more noticeable than a wrong note.
So if this were a poll, my opinion would be that the time is more important than note.
Yup. But give me a solid mistake over a weak suckyness any day!
Way back in the day, there was a cute girl across town that was my stand partner at festivals all over the region. We would dare each other to make a bigger UNINTENTIONAL mistake than the other could. We were absolutely fearless on entrances and it was extremely rare for either of us to make a mistake. We generally kicked @ss all over the state, not to mention being in demand as players who really got the job done. Sure we missed notes now and then, but our timing was killin, and everyone knew who we were - in a good way.
Yes that is what Master Wooten said. I take it more as a don't panic statement as yu can slide to a "good note" . The problem is the good note may or may not be the note you want and the panic will still be in your playing causing you to lose the groovedalkowski said:
I think it boils down to groove, but is of course dependent on the type of music being played.
Part of what Vic is teaching in those clinics, as mentioned by others so far, is the hope to get players and students to begin to distance themselves from the idea of a "right note", and allow themselves as players to be comfortable with a range of usable and musical departures from that one "right note", especially in groove based playing.
Part of what Vic is teaching in those clinics, as mentioned by others so far, is the hope to get players and students to begin to distance themselves from the idea of a "right note", and allow themselves as players to be comfortable with a range of usable and musical departures from that one "right note", especially in groove based playing.
Nope. Sorry, no offense, but if you play the "right" note, but it is at the wrong time, then it's the wrong note. Period. If you play the wrong note at the right time, then you got half of it right. Right note at the wrong time is 100% wrong. So I, along with most of the music world, say that time is more important than the note. In college (music major), we were taught that the three most important components of music are: rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. Words to live by, IMHO.
if you had to choose timing vs. the right note ...
I'd choose a new bass player! It isn't one OR the other ... BOTH have to be there.
I'd choose a new bass player! It isn't one OR the other ... BOTH have to be there.
Yet another for time.
As someone once pointed out to me you could play "Happy Birthday" with a bunch of flat notes and it might sound vaguely off but still be recognizable as "Happy Birthday." However if you swap some quarter notes for eighth notes it will quickly become completely unrecognizable.
As someone once pointed out to me you could play "Happy Birthday" with a bunch of flat notes and it might sound vaguely off but still be recognizable as "Happy Birthday." However if you swap some quarter notes for eighth notes it will quickly become completely unrecognizable.
