Nu-Tuplets ©2005 paul brook A different approach to playing some of the more advanced tuplets.
The Problem...
How can we play this figure accurately? A bit slower And this one? A bit faster than 8th. tan 16th. notes probably isn't going to cut it. notes? Let's try another way...
15:8 9:8 The Solution, Step One...
What we're going to do is establish a kind of metric "stepping-stone" to get from the underlying four feel to some of the more exotic tuplets. Check out bar 2. Above the "four-feel" of the hi-hat foot, we play hand-to hand eighth- note triplets on the snare drum. (Lefties may wish to reverse the sticking) Now look at bar 3. This is just another way of looking at bar 2, (it will sound the same), but it'll become easier to read it in the 12/8 format as we progress...
- is equivalent to -
R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L 1 3 3 3 3 2
Now let's highlight every fourth note by playing it on the ride cymbal...
R L R L R L R L R L R L 3
Got that? Okay. Double the ride beats with bass drum...
R L R L R L R L R L R L 4 Once that pattern feels secure, take out the snare beats in-between the ride/ bass drum beats. (You may wish to tap the in-between notes on your knee for a while, to get used to the timing)
R (L) (R) (L) R (L) (R) (L) R (L) (R) (L) 5 2 What we now have is a polyrhythm of 3 even beats over the hi-hat's four even beats... three R R R 6 four
Another way to look at it...anyway, this is our "stepping-stone" which we can use as a bridge to the weirder tuplets.
R R R 7 The Solution, Step Two...
Let's concentrate on the "three-feel" or "stepping stone" we've established with the hands...it may help to imagine this as a 3/4 bar. Count: 1 2 3 R R R 8
If we play evenly spaced snare strokes between each ride/bass drum beat, we get 6 evenly spaced beats to the bar... Count: 1 and 2 and 3 and R R R 9 With the hi-hat back in, it looks like this...(6 over 4 polyrhythm) Count: 1 and 2 and 3 and R R R 10 Returning to the the "three-feel"... Count: 1 2 3 R R R 11 3 Let's split each "stepping stone" beat into three... Count: 1 and er 2 and er 3 and er R L L R L L R L L 3 3 3 12
With the hi-hat back in, we now have a 9 over 4 polyrhythm...
Count: 1 and er 2 and er 3 and er R L L R L L R L L 3 3 3 13
Here's the "stepping stone" split into 3 even groups of five...a 15 over 4 polyrhythm...
R L R R L R L R R L R L R R L 5 5 5 14
...or split into 3 even groups of 6, giving an 18 over 4 polyrhythm...and so on...
R L R R L L R L R R L L R L R R L L 6 6 6 15
How about subdividing each stepping stone beat in a different way?
R L L R L R L R L R R L 3 5 16
After a while, you should be able to take away the bass drum/ride "prop" and feel patterns like this naturally...
R L L . . R L L . . R L L . . 5 17 5 5 4 Here's a nice metric modulation for you jazzers out there...
R L L R L R R L L R L R R L L R L R 6 6 6 18 heel toe heel toe
The Hierarchy of 3-Base Tuplets Written In 4/4...
THE STEPPING STONE BEAT 3/4 3 6/4 3 3
3 9/4 3 3 3 12/4 3
3 3 15/4 5 5 5 18/4 6 6 6
3 21/4 7 7 7
24/4 3