Playing 4/4 to 6/8 question

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Spagnuolo
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Playing 4/4 to 6/8 question

Postby Spagnuolo » Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:34 pm

If im playing a 4/4 rock beat with steady 8ths on hihats... and i want to move to 6/8 - do the speed of the 8ths in 4/4 equal the speed of 8ths in 6/8?
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Lucas Ives
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Re: Playing 4/4 to 6/8 question

Postby Lucas Ives » Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:36 pm

Not if you want to keep the bar line in the same place. :)

If you're thinking the "traditional" modulation, your ride needs to move to quarter note triplets.
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Spagnuolo
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Re: Playing 4/4 to 6/8 question

Postby Spagnuolo » Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:42 pm

ok so i would play 6 over 4 where the 6 quater notes over 4 become i bar of 6/8

or

do i divide the 6 over 4 quarter notes into 8ths and then have 2 sets of 6 eight notes over the original 4/4 time; making 2 bars of 6/8 over the original bar of 4/4?
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Lucas Ives
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Re: Playing 4/4 to 6/8 question

Postby Lucas Ives » Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:08 pm

If I'm understanding your goal correctly, the latter.

But I wouldn't divide them into 8ths first .. keep them as "quarter notes", but in the original reference of 4/4 they'll actually be quarter note triplets since you need to fit 12 of them in for 4 beats to the bar.

Once you can play quarter note triplets on the ride vs. quarters on the left foot:

(1) keep the stepped HH going in quarters
(2) play double paradiddles with an 8th note triplet subdivision split between cymbal and snare, accenting beat 3 on the snare to give you a basic half-time 6/8 groove
(3) alternate x bars of 4/4 with x bars of 6/8, keeping the HH going in 4/4 quarters throughout.

(Steve covers this idea in Shed Some Light, btw.)
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Spagnuolo
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Re: Playing 4/4 to 6/8 question

Postby Spagnuolo » Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:17 pm

it would essentially be triplet eights over the quaters ?[

like this?


thanks for your help man! its been bugging me steady!
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Lucas Ives
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Re: Playing 4/4 to 6/8 question

Postby Lucas Ives » Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:35 pm

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Spagnuolo
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Re: Playing 4/4 to 6/8 question

Postby Spagnuolo » Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:57 pm

didnt work but i get what ur saying now thanks for ur help ! :)

i can feel the pulse of 4 within the 2 bars of 6/8 and go in and out back/forth
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Re: Playing 4/4 to 6/8 question

Postby john lamb » Wed Jan 04, 2012 10:21 pm

primary pulse (if written correctly) is always the quarter. 4/4 is really a compound meter - two 2/4 measure together. 6/8 is really 2/4 subdivided into triplets. (wheres 3/4 is ... well, 3/4 w/o specifying the subidivision)

If you want to turn two 2/4 measures into one 2/4 bar subdivided into triplets, you HAVE to drop the pulse by half, so the half note is the pulse instead of the quarter note.
Instead of
Boom chick BAP chick Boom chick BAP chick
you get
Boom chick chick BAP chick chick

in the same amount of space.

That is with the primary (quarter note) pulse. You can more around the smaller wheels as well. If you want to modulate the 8th note pulse, then you can do the same thing, but 2x as fast. You can keep the 8th note pulse the same, and re-arrange the groupings, but that usually makes the groupings (aka measures) a different size. The so-common-its-cliche-but-cliche-because-its-so-awesome way to avoid this dilemma is to do groupings of 3/3/2. Not a true polyrhythm but it gets the job done without putting much strain/tension on the pulse.
Check out my books:
Anatomy of Drumming
A Matter Of Time
Strt Playng Drums
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Isaac Lee
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Re: Playing 4/4 to 6/8 question

Postby Isaac Lee » Wed Jan 04, 2012 10:42 pm

Lucas Ives wrote:Not if you want to keep the bar line in the same place. :)




:D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :lol: :x :D :lol: :D :twisted: :mrgreen:
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Isaac Lee
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Re: Playing 4/4 to 6/8 question

Postby Isaac Lee » Wed Jan 04, 2012 10:44 pm

you HAVE to drop the pulse by half


Why is that?

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