OT: The RHYTHM INTENSIVE (basic one beat sycopations) for Live Looping Musicians

["RICK WALKER" <looppool@cruzio.com>]

Here unless there is objection, is the basis of the rhythmic system that I 
have worked up
called the RHYTHM INTENSIVE

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**********************************************************
Here is the system of 16 notes and triple eight notes I talked about in 
earlier posts.
Again, with all of these things, If you ever teach this to anyone would 
you 
please
credit me for coming up with these systems of thinking about rhythm.


THE BASIC ONE BEAT SYNCOPATIONS   c 1978 Rick Walker
(audible groups arranged in parenthesis)

BASIC 16th NOTE SYNCOS:
(with the basic one beat ride rhythms to the right in quotations)

"ONES"
A) X * * *                   "Quarter Notes"
     1 (e + a )

B) * X * *
   (1) e (+ a )

C) * * X *                 "Offbeat 8th Notes"
   (1 e) + (a)

D) * * * X
   (1 e +) a


"TWOS TOGETHER"
E) X X * *                "Downbeat 16ths"
     1 e (+ a )

F) * X X *
   (1) e + (a)

G) * * X X             "Upbeat or Offbeat 16ths"
   (1 e) + a


"TWOS APART"
H) X * X *            "8th Notes or 'straight'  8th Notes"
    1 (e) + (a)

I) X * * X
   1(e) + (a)

J) * X * X
(1) e (+) a


"THREES TOGETHER"
K) X X X *        "ride popular in Reggae/Caribbean rhythms without a name"
1 e + (a)

L) * X X X
(1) e + a


"THREES APART"
M) X * X X         "Galloping Horse Ride"
     1 (e) + a

N) X X * X
     1 e (+) a


"FOUR"
O) X X X X        "Sixteenth Notes"
     1  e  +  a


"NONE"
P) * * * *
   (1 e + a)


BASIC TRIPLET 8th NOTE SYNCOS:

"ONES"
Q) X * *          "Quarter Note"
     1 (+ a)

R) * X *
  (1) + (a)

S) * * X        "The Shuffle Note"
   (1 +) a

"TWOS TOGETHER"
T) X X *        "Downbeat Triplets"
    1 + (a)

U) * X X        "Upbeat Triplets"
   (1) + a

"TWO APART"
V) X * X        "Shuffles"
    1 (+) a

"THREE"

W) X X X       "Triplets"
      1  + a

"NONE"

Q) * * *
   (1 + a)

NOTE: A) and P) are the same written rhythms as Q) and X)
(respectively quarter notes and quarter rests both)
But A) and P) are counted as 16th notes whereas
Q) and X) are counted as 8th note triplets.

This is the reason for this redundancy in the system.

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Each one of these figures has a distinctive rhythm personality and affects
the nervous system differently (more on that later)

However, it is not enough to memorize these 24 different rhythmic figures 
for this salient reason:

Let's take Syncopation N = X X * X as an example

If you heard this rhythm combined with a quarter rest (Syncopation P)

It would sound like a double hit and a single hit, where the double begins 
on the downbeat and the single occurs
right before the next downbeat, like this:

N P
X X * X * * * *
1 e (+) a (2 e + a)

If , however, you were to play syncopation N two times in a row,
it produces an entirely different rhythmic pattern (or audible grouping)
to your ears:

N N
X X * X X X * X
1 e (+) a 2 e (+) a

Audibly, this pattern has a DOUBLE followed by a TRIPLE followed by a 
SINGLE 
note audible grouping.

If you were to hear a string player play this particular rhythm, your 
brain 
doesn't come in and say
"That's not a TRIPLE, That's a DOUBLE on the last beats of 1 and a SINGLE 
on 
the first beat of 2

Because the brain won't differentiate
this means that in order to master all of these rhythmic possibilities,
we need to play all of them in TWO BEAT combinations. I add two beats of 
rest (P followed by P)
just so we can hear the figures clearly.

So, you would practice this system this way to master all the 
possibilities 
(then it becomes modular for
all rhythms using Quarter notes, 8th notes, 16th notes or triplet 8th 
notes)

your exercises would begin like this:

A A P P
A B P P
A C P P
A D / /
A E / /

all the way to
A P P P

Then you would start on
B A P P
B B P P
B C P P
etc., etc.

This will produce 24 pages of rhythms............ Does this make sense?

The next time you take on any technique...............try playing that 
technique (interspersed
with non-accented strokes on all rests) by utilizing this system.

Do it every day, all the way through all 320 exercises and in a month , 
watch what happens to both
your technique and to your drumming. It's pretty powerful

ENJOY!

Rick Walker


* This posting is incredibly far away from an advertisement just so you 
know, but
if you are interested in learning more about how to utilize this 
information
in your own musical studies, I will begin, in the new year,  to offer 
online 
advanced tutorials
in using and understanding how this system works in arrangement, 
improvisation, composition and live looping.

I'll be setting up an I sight web camera with my laptop computer so that 
lessons can be taken
remotely as long as one has a computer fast enough to run a chat/video 
program
like Yahoo Messenger for anyone who is interested in this.   I've had a 
lot 
of people fly in to California
to take this four week course but it's a new age and it's time we took 
advantage of all of this technology.
Let me know if you are interested by emailing me offlist at 
rickwalker@looppool.info