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The Life of Tempos

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 7:01 pm
by Pocketplayer
Thanks to the HOD'er for 7Metronome...been diggin' that app.

Wondering if anyone else has challenges with certain tempos.
For some reason 90bpm mess with me. I was thinking about
that Vinnie story from an engineer that said during a complicated
tempo change, Vinnie (who missed rehearsal smoking outside)
nailed the change effortlessly. I admit, I love the drum superhero
stories.

Bump up the tempo a few beats and I lock in playing the same
pattern. Drop back to 90, and effort. Wondering if anyone else
has these 'bugger' tempos that are doable, but you know it doesn't
flow?

Re: The Life of Tempos

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 7:16 pm
by chris perra
Do you go with a quarter click or some other subdivision.

I went nuts one day and converted an old netbook into a click machine with ableton live. Assigning a shaker to fill in subdivisions make playing slow or fast stuff alot easier.

Or is it just a physical thing for you at that tempo?

Re: The Life of Tempos

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 7:54 pm
by Pocketplayer
Not sure...just one of those things I guess...I'm sure it is not just 90bpm lol
Of course, keeping the metronome at 90, in time smooths out the edges.
As noted by most, playing slower tempos are more difficult to keep groove
and flow...dropping down to 70 from 90 in practice is a jump as well.

Brings to mind any practice styles...anyone bounce tempos 90 to 70 or
visa versa to maintain the "lock" during a routine within a song or otherwise?

I took a phrase from a GTR song, Imagining, played it at the given tempo
then slowed it way down and sped it up about 30 bpm over the studio tempo
working on this particular run. For me, it comes down to maintaining the feel
at each tempo...which can be hard as I slow way down. Fun exercises for me.

Steve had a phrase in one of the weekend chattys...posted one of his shred videos
and I took the tempo he played at...slowed it way down, and then sped it up and
finally back to the original tempo Steve played it at in one routine at 4-8 bars per
tempo. All this came from watching Simon's warm-up routine and I added the tempo
changes for fun and jumped on whatever patterns speak to me breaking into phrases.

The great thing about these apps is trying to nail each core tempo first then to see how
far off I am...70bpm feels like (without thinking much)...; play; then see where I fit, etc.,
trying to really get each core tempo inside from 40-160 bpm per se.

Re: The Life of Tempos

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 6:38 am
by mcraeh
i find the best way is to make the quarter notes the upbeat, maybe you have done that but I will say I do that alot and it really makes you dig into any rhythm. make sure no accent is on so there is no 1, just straight click 1,2,3,4 then count 1 and 2 etc.. the "and" turns into the metronome click or sound you are using. has really helped me, i usually start around 80, then up to about 120, gets a little harder to count like that when its faster, at least for me.

Re: The Life of Tempos

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 6:28 pm
by langmick
Have you tried doing the Chester thing and singing the quarters?

I find this helps me get time cinched in a bit deeper. I can tell when I practice that vs when I don't. I started up again just doing the first page over and over reading BD.

On a side note, I sat in at a blues jam session last night and the other players complemented me on my steady time, "it was right there the whole time".

And that's what I want, all the time. That's the shit.

Re: The Life of Tempos

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 8:19 pm
by Jim Richman
langmick wrote:Have you tried doing the Chester thing and singing the quarters?

I find this helps me get time cinched in a bit deeper. I can tell when I practice that vs when I don't. I started up again just doing the first page over and over reading BD.

On a side note, I sat in at a blues jam session last night and the other players complemented me on my steady time, "it was right there the whole time".

And that's what I want, all the time. That's the shit.
Singing the quarters+1

Re: The Life of Tempos

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 8:48 pm
by Julián Fernández

Re: The Life of Tempos

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 5:16 pm
by Paul Marangoni