This week we'll explore some exercises that use more complicated 16th note patterns and I'll show you a trick for translating them into something more familiar. Below the exercises is an audio only YouTube video which demonstrates each of the exercises, and gives you something to play along with to practice.
Again, the demonstrations are at 60 beats per minute and when practicing the exercises without the video, use a metronome! (see Confession #5 - Use a Metronome!)
Exercise #6
The 6th exercise shows the impact of sustaining 16th notes over the beat (in this case, Beat 2).
Exercise #6
(Click to Enlarge)
Count and pick this exercise as follows:
1 & uh (2) ee & 3 & 4 & d d u u d d d d d
At first glance this pattern may seem complicated, but watch what happens when we double the duration of each note:
Once you know how the folk rhythm sounds, it only takes a little bit of practice to translate it into a faster 16th note based version. Steve Miller's 'The Joker' uses a 16th note folk rhythm pattern in the chorus.
Exercise #7
The 7th exercise shows the impact of sustaining 16th notes over the 'and' of the beat (in this case, the 'and' of Beat 1).
Exercise #7
(Click to Enlarge)
Count and pick this exercise as follows:
1 ee (&) uh 2 & 3 & 4 & d u u d d d d d d
Again, doubling the duration of each note may make it easier to understand this rhythm:
1 & (2) & 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 d u u d d | d d d d
Once you've got the feel for it using 8th notes, you can translate it to 16th notes.
Video
Next Week's Confession - Repeat & Vary (Improvisation 1)
This week we'll explore some exercises that put two pairs of 16th notes in a measure, the rest of which is filled with steady 8th notes. Below the exercises is an audio only YouTube video which demonstrates each of the exercises, and gives you something to play along with to practice.
Again, the demonstrations are at 60 beats per minute and when practicing the exercises without the video, use a metronome! (see Confession #5 - Use a Metronome!)
Exercise #4
The 4th exercise puts four 16th notes in each beat in the measure, one at a time.
Exercise #4
(Click to Enlarge)
Count and pick this exercise as follows:
Beat 1
1 ee & uh 2 & 3 & 4 & d u d u d d d d d d
Beat 2
1 & 2 ee & uh 3 & 4 & d d d u d u d d d d
Beat 3
1 & 2 & 3 ee & uh 4 & d d d d d u d u d d
Beat 4
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 ee & uh d d d d d d d u d u
Exercise #5
The 5th exercise puts four 16th notes together, starting on the "and" of one beat and stretching into the next beat.
Exercise #5
(Click to Enlarge)
Count and pick this exercise as follows:
Beat 1 into 2
1 & uh 2 ee & 3 & 4 & d d u d u d d d d d
Beat 2 into 3
1 & 2 & uh 3 ee & 4 & d d d d u d u d d d
Beat 3 into Beat 4
1 & 2 & 3 & uh 4 ee & d d d d d d u d u d
Beat 4 into Beat 1
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & uh 1 ee & 2 d d d d d d d d u d u d d
Video
Next week we'll look at some exercises that use more complicated 16th note patterns and a trick for translating complicated looking patterns into something more familiar.
Next Week's Confession - 16th Note Boot Camp (Part 3)
16th notes were the source of much stress and anxiety in the early days of my playing. With time and practice, I've come to grips with them. In this confession, we'll work on some exercises to help you get comfortable with 16th notes.
Single Notes vs. Strumming
In general, you are going to encounter 16th notes in two scenarios.
For either of these to sound good, you must be able to play the underlying rhythm correctly.
Right Hand vs. Left Hand
The ability play the underlying rhythm correctly is primarily the job of your right hand. Whether fingerpicking, hybrid picking or using a pick, its generally your right hand that causes the strings to sound (ignoring for now phrasing techniques such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, etc.).
The ability to finger the single notes or chords correctly is the job of your left hand. Your left hand has to have the dexterity and speed to finger the notes before the right hand plays them.
The focus of the exercises that follow is on 16th note rhythm training, so they will be developing your right hand's sense of rhythm.
You can use any of the various warm-up exercises and finger independence exercises in previous confessions to work on development of your left hand's speed and dexterity.
Basic Training
This week we'll start with some exercises that put one pair of 16th notes in a measure, the rest of which is filled with steady 8th notes. Below the exercises is an audio only YouTube video which demonstrates each of the exercises, and gives you something to play along with to practice.
The demonstrations are at 60 beats per minute. Yes, this is quite slow. Once you've mastered the exercises at 60 bpm, you can pick up the tempo. Note that you should only increase the tempo 2 - 4 bpm at at time. Get comfortable at the new slightly faster tempo before increasing it any further. Big leaps in tempo will generally just lead to mistakes and frustration.
You may want to apply a bit of palm muting when playing the exercises so that the string doesn't ring as much (see Confession #20 - Palm Muting! (Part 1)).
Counting
By now you are probably aware that we use the word "and" when counting measures containing eight notes. For example, one measure of nothing but 8th notes would be counted as follows:
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
When playing measures containing 16th notes, we add the sounds "ee" and "uh" to our repertoire. Thus a measure of nothing but 16th notes would be counted as follows:
1 ee & uh 2 ee & uh 3 ee & uh 4 ee & uh
Personally, I find it doesn't roll of the tongue that easily, but I've never found a better answer. Since this is very standard, you'll need to learn it to be able to communicate with other musicians.
Picking
For all the exercises that follow, you should be using downstrokes on the beat, and on the "and" of the beat. So for the 8th note rhythm pattern above, the picking would be like this:
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & d d d d d d d d d = downstroke
You should be using upstrokes on the "ee" and "uh" of the beat. So for the 16th note rhythm pattern above, the picking would be like this:
1 ee & uh 2 ee & uh 3 ee & uh 4 ee & uh d u d u d u d u d u d u d u d u d = downstroke u = upstroke
You may be used to using alternate picking for 8th note rhythms, so it will take a bit of adjustment to get used to using strictly downstrokes for the 8th notes.
Exercise #1
The 1st exercise is just the steady 8th note rhythm pattern from above. The purpose of the exercise is to get used to using all downstrokes for eight notes instead of alternate picking.
Exercise #1
(Click to Enlarge)
Count and pick this exercise as follows:
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & d d d d d d d d
Exercise #2
The 2nd exercise puts a 16th note after the "and" of each beat in the measure, one at a time.
Exercise #2
(Click to Enlarge)
Count and pick this exercise as follows:
"uh" of Beat 1
1 & uh 2 & 3 & 4 & d d u d d d d d d
"uh" of Beat 2
1 & 2 & uh 3 & 4 & d d d d u d d d d
"uh" of Beat 3
1 & 2 & 3 & uh 4 & d d d d d d u d d
"uh" of Beat 4
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & uh d d d d d d d d u
Exercise #3
The 3rd exercise puts a 16th note before the "and" of each beat in the measure, one at a time.
Exercise #3
(Click to Enlarge)
Count and pick this exercise as follows:
"ee" of Beat 1
1 ee & 2 & 3 & 4 & d u d d d d d d d
"ee" of Beat 2
1 & 2 ee & 3 & 4 & d d d u d d d d d
"ee" of Beat 3
1 & 2 & 3 ee & 4 & d d d d d u d d d
"ee" of Beat 4
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 ee & d d d d d d d u d
Video
Next week we'll look at some exercises that use four 16th notes per measure.
Next Week's Confession - 16th Note Boot Camp (Part 2)
Have you ever looked at a TAB like the one below, and wondered, how does the guitar player make that chord change while still getting all the 16th notes to sound?
(Click to Enlarge)
The answer in many cases is that they are not getting all the 16th notes to sound. It's more likely that they are really playing something like this:
(Click to Enlarge)
The strum of the open strings on the last 16th note is called the secret strum. Hitting the C chord on beat 1 of the second measure cleanly is very important, so the guitar player uses the secret strum to buy some time to make the chord change.
It's important that you don't overthink this! Just focus on strumming the series of four 16th notes, and making a clean chord change to the C. The secret strum will happen naturally.
The other thing to note here is that if you only hit strings 2, 3 and 4 on the secret strum, you'll be playing the notes B, G and D which are the notes in a G chord! You're not strumming all six strings so the chord voicing will be different, but it will still be a G chord.
Don't worry if your strumming isn't that accurate. Even if you catch some other strings, the duration is so short that it won't sound bad. In fact the slight variation in sound is actually interesting to our ears.
The best example of this is 'Gloria' by Them. Gloria uses a 1 bar chord progression and strumming pattern. The secret strum is used on the 'and of beat 3' and the 'and of beat 4'. This is what gives the song its pulsing feel.
What makes the folk rhythm interesting to our ears is the way that the strum on the 'and of 2' is held for a quarter note's duration. This emphasizes a beat that is normally not accented (i.e. the 'and of 2') and de-emphasizes a beat that is normally accented (i.e. beat 3, which is not played).
EMPHASIZE THE 'AND OF 4'
A variation of this is to strum on the 'and of 4' (e.g. counting eight notes in 4/4 time: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & ) and hold it for a quarter note's duration. Beat 1 of the next measure is de-emphasized because you don't strum on that beat.
Here is a 2 bar strumming pattern that demonstrates this technique:
(Click to Enlarge)
CHANGE CHORDS EARLY
What makes this variation even more interesting is if we change chords early. Typically we change chords at the beginning of a measure. But combining a chord change on the 'and of 4' and sustaining it into the next measure is very interesting to our ears.
Here is a 2 bar strumming pattern that demonstrates this technique:
(Click to Enlarge)
ADD SOME 16TH NOTES
Finally, throwing in just a couple of 16th notes into a strumming pattern can really spice it up.
Here is a 2 bar strumming pattern that demonstrates this technique:
(Click to Enlarge)
The pair of 16th notes at the end will take some practice. Start off slowly and gradually increase the tempo (see Confession #5 - Use a Metronome! ).
To play this successfully you need to think about your strumming strategy. I've included Down and Up markers in the TAB. Until you get to the pair of 16th notes, you are using an eight note down-up approach (i.e. strumming down on the beat and strumming up on the 'and' of the beat). When you get to beat 4 you are going to break this pattern and strumdown on beat 4, down on the 'and of 4' (i.e. the first of the two 16th notes), and up on the second 16th note. This will be a bit confusing to your strumming hand at first.
Now let's apply all 3 of these techniques over a I-vi-IV-V7 chord progression in the key of G (see Confession #14 - Know What Chords to Play! to understand what the Roman numerals mean).
Finish this progression by switching back to the G chord and strumming it once. I don't show this in the TAB above, but that's how the progression ends in the video below.
Have fun with these techniques and try to incorporate them in your playing!
The 'folk' rhythm is a very common rhythm pattern in music. It is used as a strumming pattern in hundreds of songs (e.g. The Eagles 'Best of my Love'). It is used as a rhythm pattern in melodies (e.g. the descending scale pattern on the B string in The Cure's 'Just Like Heaven'). It is used across many genres of music. This is one rhythm pattern you need to have in your arsenal of guitar skills!
BASIC FOLK RHYTHM
At its most basic, the pattern goes like this (using an open G chord):
The D's and U's under the TAB stand for Downstroke and Upstroke.
Some beginner guitar books suggest that you count a continuous 1/8 note pattern like this "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &", but only hit the strings with your pick on the appropriate beats. I call BS on this!
If you are counting "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &", then you are making a different rhythm pattern with your voice than the one that you are tying to play with your right hand! This will only cause confusion.
At some point, you'll want to separate your strumming hand from your voice so that you can sing and play, but now is not the time for that (I'll cover singing and playing in a future confession).
What you count should be the same as what you are trying to play, like this: 1 2 & (3) & 4 Ooone Two annnnnnnd and Foooour
To be clear, your right hand will be moving up and down in a continuous 1/8 note pattern. It has to if you are to play this rhythm pattern. But don't focus on this. Focus on the rhythm you want to hear.
VARIATIONS
There are a few variations that can be made by adding in some extra eight notes, like this:
Variation 1
Variation 1 would be counted like this:
1 2 & (3) & 4 & Ooone Two annnnnnnd and Four and
Variation 2
Variation 2 would be counted like this:
1 & 2 & (3) & 4 & One and Two annnnnnnd and Four and
Variation 3 The Eagles 'Tequila Sunrise' takes it one step further and adds in a couple of 16th notes, like this:
Variation 3 would be counted like this:
1 & uh 2 & (3) & 4 & One and uh Two annnnnnnd and Four and
Note that in all the previous examples, we were strictly using downstrokes on beats 1, 2, and 4, and upstrokes on the 'ands' of each beat.
Variation 3 requires you two adjust your approach. The strum on the 'and' of beat one is a downstroke! It will take some getting used to, but it is doable with practice.
Master the previous 3 examples before trying this one. Next Week's Confession - Learn Root 6 Barre Chords!
