Rhythm subdivisions: quarters, eighths, triplets and 16ths
One bar each of quarter notes, eighths, triplets and 16ths, two, three and four notes to a beat, on palm-muted notes that climb A, C, D and E as the rhythm gets busier. Dividing the beat evenly is the base of all rhythm: you can't place a note on the 'and' or the 'e' until you can feel where they are. Counting out loud through each bar trains it fastest.
Opens in the player looped and counted in, with drums playing along, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 80 bpm. No account or microphone needed.
- Goal tempo
- 80 bpm
- Starts at
- 48 bpm
- Length
- 4 bars, looped
- Tuning
- E standard
- Time
- 4/4
- Level
- Beginner
- Plays with
- Drums
How to play it
Count out loud: '1 2 3 4', '1 and 2 and', '1 trip let', '1 e and a'; the first note of each beat stays on the beat.
The beat stays the same for the whole loop; only how many notes fit in it changes. Bar 1: one note a beat. Bar 2: two, the eighths. Bar 3: three, the triplets. Bar 4: four, the 16ths. Then back to one.
Count out loud: '1 2 3 4' for quarters, '1 and 2 and' for eighths, '1 trip-let 2 trip-let' for triplets, '1 e and a' for 16ths. The first note of every beat is accented and lands with the drums.
Rest the side of the picking hand on the strings at the bridge for the palm mute, and alternate the pick down and up. In triplets, each beat starts on the opposite stroke from the one before.
Mistakes to watch for
- Speeding up in the 16th bar and slowing down in the quarter bar: the beat doesn't move.
- Triplets that sound like two 16ths and an eighth; all three should be equal.
- Not counting. It feels silly at first and works better than anything else.
A speed plan
The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:
- 48
- 52
- 56
- 60
- 64
- 68
- 72
- 76
- 80
That's 16 loops and about 4 minutes before you're playing at 80 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one.
Questions
How fast should I play Quarters, eighths, triplets and 16ths?
The goal is 80 bpm in 16th notes, which is 5.3 notes a second. Start wherever every note is clean: the player begins at 48 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.
Why are triplets so hard?
Because most music divides the beat by two and four, so three feels foreign. Counting 'trip-let' out loud, with the accent on the beat, is the fastest way to feel it.
What comes after this?
Switching between subdivisions within a bar, and rests: the Notes off the beat exercise takes the beat itself away.
More fundamentals exercises
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