Rhythm Stretching July 3, 2014 No CommentThis is a fairly standard idea. Simply take a rhythm and stretch the duration of each chord in the progression (or note in the riff) equally. Use the same chords (or notes) from the original rhythm in the stretched rhythm. To make this idea as clear as possible, the original rhythm that I use will be quarter notes. In each example, the numbers above the quarter-notes correspond to the numbers above the notes in the stretched rhythm example. Example 1 For the first example, I’ve stretched each quarter-note equally by an eighth note. This… …becomes this. Example 2 You can stretch whichever note(s) you want. Here I’ve stretched beats 2 and 4. Example 3: Gradient rhythm Another idea is to stretch the notes in an ever-increasing gradient. In the next example, each succeeding note gets longer than the one before it by an eighth note. To be perfectly clear: Beat 1 – quarter note Beat 2 – quarter note plus eighth note Beat 3 – quarter note plus two eighth notes Beat 4 – quarter note plus three eighth notes Beat 5 – quarter note plus four eighth notes Don’t be monotonous Use this technique as a way of brainstorming variations and generating new ideas. Stretching a couple of notes in the original rhythm creates a related rhythm. Moving from the original rhythm to the stretched rhythm and back relieves monotony. Composition, UncategorizedShare : Tweet
Rhythm Chunking 3: Riffs June 28, 2014 No CommentRiffs are generally thought of as the repetition of a short melodic unit, or a short chord progression. The rhythm always stays the same. Conventionally. Let’s not be conventional. Melody + rhythm = riff First, we make a five-note melody. Now take those five notes and superimpose them on different rhythms. I’ll use the ones we made in the last posts (The last chunk is new. I needed something to complete the five-note melody I started on the second note of the second-last chunk). Superimposing the five notes on different rhythms creates a nice kind of tension. It allows you to predict (as a listener) what the five notes are without being able to predict when they’ll repeat. Make your own Make your own stuff. Create a short melody – anywhere from 4 to 8 notes. Then make 3 or 4 different rhythms and string them together in different ways. rhythm 1, rhythm 2, rhythm 3 rhythm 3, rhythm 1, rhythm 2 rhythm 2, rhythm 1, rhythm 3 etc. If you spend some time superimposing your melody on these different rhythms, you’re bound to come up with stuff you like. Long melodies Once you’re comfortable doing this with short melodies, try it with long ones. Restrict yourself to one rhythm here. If the melody is really long, it can be difficult to hear when it repeats. Using different rhythms makes that even more difficult, and the whole thing can lose focus. But do some experimenting and see what works. Start with one rhythm. Then try it with two. Go crazy and use three. Stay sensitive to when it stops sounding good. Composition, guitar, UncategorizedShare : Tweet
Rhythm Chunking 2: Chord progressions June 26, 2014 No CommentIn the last post, I talked about possibilities for creating different rhythms by taking smaller, 3 to 5 beat chunks of rhythm from a longer stream of notes. I superimposed chords and pitches on these rhythms to create a rhythmic chord progression, a riff, and part of a solo. Let’s focus on chords in this post. The first example uses a single rhythm chunk repeated three times. Now string different rhythmic chunks together using those same chords. Creating variety By the way, I’m not trying to make this sound awesome. I’m just randomly plugging in chords to make a point. The point is that you can create a crazy amount of different progressions by using the following procedure: Take a few rhythmic chunks out of a stream of notes. Repeat one of those chunks with a single chord or with different chords. Mix the chunks and superimpose a progression of chords on the result. Use the progression from number 3 on a different combination of rhythm chunks. Limit yourself Try using just three chunks. Combine those chunks in different ways to create a variety of different combinations. Example: Chunk 1, Chunk 1, Chunk 1 Chunk 1, Chunk, 2, Chunk 3 Chunk, 2, Chunk 3, Chunk 1 Don’t let these get too long (Chunk 1, Chunk 2, Chunk 3, Chunk 1, Chunk 1, Chunk 3, Chunk, 2). This sacrifices focus and doesn’t communicate directly. Experiment with length and see what you like. Composition, guitar, UncategorizedShare : Tweet
Rhythm chunking June 22, 2014 No CommentBy chunking I mean taking a chunk out of a rhythm you’ve made, and using it as the main action. You can create chunks from a longer rhythm, say 4 or more bars. Three chunks For now, take chunks of 3 to 5 beats from this longer rhythm. Here’s a 4-beat chunk. Where did I find this chunk in the 4 bar phrase above? What beat does it start on? Here’s another one. Here’s one that doesn’t start with a rest. It’s not 4 beats long, either. Remember to experiment with different lengths. Strumming Make that last chunk a strumming pattern… Riffs …or change the notes and create a riff. Solos You can also use this idea to create part of a solo. So the basic idea here is to take a longer rhythm, take a chunk out of it, and then repeat that chunk to create chord progressions, riffs, and solos. The range of possibilities is endless. I’ll look at using this idea in a chord progression in the next post. Composition, UncategorizedShare : Tweet
Erasures 2 June 19, 2014 No CommentThe next step is to take the patterns you’ve made (see last post) and play them in all the possible orders. Some examples: Original + erasure 1 + erasure 5 Erasure 4 + erasure 3 + erasure 1 + erasure 6 Erasure 5 + original + erasure 2 + erasure 4 + erasure 3 Get the idea? You can probably see that the number of possibilities is fairly large. I’m not going to write them all down, but you can. Or just write out three, and then play them. Tomorrow, do a couple more and play around with those. Really, all you have to do is one a day. New stuff Working in this way gives you new stuff to explore everyday. Some of what you make you may not like, but some you will. And that stuff can turn into entire pieces, or just a really cool groove. In any case, your rhythm playing will get better, and you’ll develop an attitude of experimenting. You’ll become fine with failing because you’ll discover that finding stuff that works is worth looking at the stuff that doesn’t. Composition, UncategorizedShare : Tweet
Rhythm: Erasures June 14, 2014 No CommentArnold Schoenberg said that the eraser was the most important part of the pencil. I’m there. Erasures Take that rhythm we were working with in a previous post. Erase the first note of the rhythm that you wrote. I’ll call this act of erasing an erasure. Play that. Now erase just the second note. Play that. Erase the third note, and you get this. You now have 3 new rhythms. Simple. Continue this erasing process with the 4th, 5th, and 6th notes. Combining rhythms We’re not done. Play the original rhythm and follow it immediately with the first erasure. Loop this. See if you like it. Now play the original followed by the first and the second erasure. Loop that for a while. This one is interesting because it’s three bars long, which messes with people’s expectations (people tend to expect 2 or 4 bar phrases). You get the idea. Erase one note but keep the others. There are six notes in the original rhythm, so you’ll have 7, one-bar rhythmic ideas when you’re finished (the original and 6 erasures). Longer rhythms Take the original rhythm and add each erasure to it one at a time. This will give you 7 different rhythmic patterns. Here they are: original original + erasure 1 original + erasure 1 + erasure 2 original + erasure 1 + erasure 2 + erasure 3 original + erasure 1 + erasure 2 + erasure 3 + erasure 4 original + erasure 1 + erasure 2 + erasure 3 + erasure 4 + erasure 5 original + erasure 1 + erasure 2 + erasure 3 + erasure 4 + erasure 5 + erasure 6 Play around with this. You’ll almost certainly find some really cool rhythmic patterns. And then check out the next post. We’re still not done. Composition, UncategorizedShare : Tweet
