importance of adding "color" notes to arpeggios

Lango-Django

OK, Jay, I stand corrected on Tatum, but all those other cats had little or no formal training... So what? they were who they were and they managed to create some wonderful music...would the Beatles have been even greater had they had formal training?

As far as I've been able to find out, Grappelli was also a self-taught musician.

I'm not saying training is a bad thing, but it's not always necessary for every musician..

Plus I'd Django went to music school, it would have had to been one where they would have allowed his visiting cousins to all stay in his dorm room and his pet monkey run around loose defecating on everything..

Jazzaferri

Will, obviously there are a number of highly respected performers who had only one on one training and some of these had little or no theory training..

Stephane Grappelli did four years at the Conservatiore de Paris. But he taught himself to play at an early age.

I dont know how one would measure greater but if McCartney had had a formal musical education I suspect that he would have done a little more composing for larger ensembles...about he only thing I can think of...I doubt it would have changed him as a person much...just given him a little different canvas. If all four had had that maybe something would have been lost too.

Passacaglia

Hemert wrote:

Best way to work on timing is start practicing everything with a metronome on beats 2 and 4. Try to play WITH the metronome and not on top of it. If you change the beat around you'll know your timing is off. Start slowly and work your way up to 130BPM (so that's 260 BPM). From 140BPM you can start working with the metronome on beats 1 and 3.

Christiaan, sorry for my ignorance. When you say play with the metronome...I can only ask in a rhythm context because that's most of my experience. I set my Korg to, say 85 bpm, as a decent pace (say, common progressions as warmup). I can choose to have it click on 8th notes, making keeping time easy, or just "0" and it's up to me to play 1 and 3 in between the clicks. Are you suggesting one should play their 1, 3 on the click? I seem to recall Stephane talking about this in his book as helping to keep the melody, while the usual (1, 3 is on the off-beat) keeps the groove. Anyway, if you could clarify, much appreciated.

Passacaglia

Ugh, my post deleted. I'm getting sick of seeing my own surfeit of words. In a word, thanks, Will. Great post. Yep, there are some things that have had to be let go - can't conceive of moving very far afield from what I've been focusing on the entire year...celtic fiddle, flamenco, classical...not enough lives left.

Thanks, buddy.

Bones

Hey Paul,

I think he means setting the metronome on your 85 and then counting yourself in like this:

one-click-3-click

where the clicks are the metronome (i.e. 1-2-3-4 = one measure).

Therefore, the clicks of the metronome are on 2 and 4.

I tried it. It's pretty fun. Kind of swingy feeling but if I get my timing off and try to come in I turn it around and start counting click on 1 and 3 so I have some work to do.

Passacaglia

Bones wrote:

Hey Paul,

I think he means setting the metronome on your 85 and then counting yourself in like this:

one-click-3-click

where the clicks are the metronome (i.e. 1-2-3-4 = one measure).

Therefore, the clicks of the metronome are on 2 and 4.

I tried it. It's pretty fun. Kind of swingy feeling but if I get my timing off and try to come in I turn it around and start counting click on 1 and 3 so I have some work to do.

Hey Bones - thanks. That's actually how I practice, beats 1 and 3 in the silence between the clicks, 2 and 4 on the clicks, it's how I've always worked it, anyway (and floating so that my rhythm hits 1 and 3 on the clicks is a great if humbling lesson). I just wasn't sure what specifically what Christiaan meant by playing "with" and "not on top" the metronome. I'm interested!

BTW - beautiful guitar - forgot to say so. Congratulations, man.

Paul

kevingcox

I *think* what he is referring to is how some people will play in reaction to the metronome beat instead of just playing with it, but I could be wrong.

Passacaglia

Great clips, Denis, thanks. I recall another one, a younger student, who also pursued your way in, an impressive testimony. Hadn't seen the one of Eric. Who's your student in the Caravan clip?

Jazzaferri

In jazz the beat emphasis is on beats 2 and 4

Da DAH da DAH kinda thing. Most modern metronomes shpuld have a srtong and weak beat settings .

Hemert

What I mean with "playing with the metronome" instead of "on top of the metronome" is that you shouldn't use the metronome as a score keeper. If you use it as a score keeper you would use it like this: turning on the metronome and playing trying to keep the tempo untill it goes wrong and concluding that you went "wrong after one and a half minute" or something similar.

If you play "with the metronome" you treat it like another band member and you react to it. Your goal is to make the metronome sound good, make the machine swing! You're always aware when it's clicking and you play your lines WITH it. It's good practice for real life situations in which you're expected to play with other musicians. There are many players who just do their thing without paying PRECISE attention to the rhythm section. Usually these people are rushing as well. It really doesn't matter how good your lines are when you play like that, it won't sound good.

Putting the metronome on beats 2 and 4 (so silence on beats 1 and 3) will put you to the test: how good is your timing really? You will notice that if your time is not solid (really on top of the beat or a little laid back) you will start turning the metronome clicks around to beats 1 and 3 within eight bars. This means you were rushing and if you do this wih the metronome you will do it live. It is very important to be able to react to beat 2 and 4 in live situations as well up untill 270BPM. If the tempo gets higher you're probably better off feeling beats 1 and 3 or sometimes only beat 1 (tempo 300 and higher).