| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: "Rhythm is Everything" | |
| Gordon -- 08/13/2004, 08:57:43 -- #6480 | |
| There is a guy in a nearby bar, who accompanies himself singing "Brown Eyed Girl" in a really rollicking rhythm that just rolls along beautifully as he does his Van Morisson impression on top. He's a bit too busy to actually teach me, but when I asked him about it, he mentioned gospel, and "what I call 'all body music'" (whatever that is). I acknowledge this could be a rather simplistic question compared to some of you guys on your diatonic subtended half diminished quartal bi-chromatic 17ths in 13/9. That's quite a way off for me, but for now, I just wonder if anyone has any tips to getting a funky, rolling backing rhythm for a simple bunch of chords such as these. | |
| Scot -- 08/13/2004, 09:57:22 -- #6483 | |
| Learn to play the drums a little bit and take what you know to the piano. Remember- piano is a percussion instrument, chromatic percussion to be exact. If you treat it as a percussion instruement instead of just a harmonic instrument (like so many people do, unfortunately) then your playing will GROW. 'All Body Music', 'Belly Time'... these statements refer to the internalization of time so that you feel it without thinking about it. I've seen people get their time by simply practicing with a metronome for a couple months. It sounds silly, but it works (worked for me, too). Practice charlie parker omnibook solos with your metronome, get them perfect. The reason this works is because bebop solos are always starting on wierd time spots - the "and of 4", and of 1, 3, etc. So, these solos are pretty tough both rhythmically and melodically. You learn them with the metronome, pretty soon you arent subdividing the time you are instead "feeling" the time and playing the strange rhythms of be-bop in the time without disecting the time. Sorry I can't explain it better. It's just that eventually you dont' have to count anymore. When that happens, you will be able to play with the time in such a way that setting up great rolling rhythms, funky montunoes, and anything else, is a piece of cake. Of course you also have to listen to players like that a lot so you can figure out what they are doing. Hope you got something out of that rambling mess! | |
| Jazz+ -- 08/13/2004, 11:55:31 -- #6486 | |
| Jazz is 20th century music, from an Industrial age, its rhythm comes form the marching bands. Classical music's rhythm is from a different period, its pulse has an ebb and flow, like the human heart. Jazz time is much stricter. The essence of rhythm must come form your subconscious, feeling pulse from your interior and expressing it with your hands... For most of us there is a natural way of synchronization with any other part of our body, as feet, shoulders, head ... Bassist David Friesen advises tapping the left heel when playing in time. Tapping the left heel, which uses the largest leg muscles, is the strongest for a rhythm centera nd least likely muscle group to tire or cause tension. We don't have a digital clock ticking in our brains but we do tend to have a natural instinct for keeping time when we walk (march). Typically, a young child can march in tempo with a marching band. Tapping the left heel while playing jazz piano is very similar to marching along with a band, it greatly helps feel the groove and keep the "one". (Remember, keeping the one does not mean that we phrase lines from the "one".) Tap gently with the left heel in order to connect yourself with the pulse, it's your "meter". The up stroke of the leg tap is as important to feel as the down stroke. It acts as a reference point to place syncopationas against. At fast tempos tap only on beat one and beat three to avoid tension. When you tap a pulse with your foot, your subconscious solves all rhythmic problems, and your performance may be more expressive and easy. Observe the front row of musicians playing in films of the Ellington and Basie orchestra ... most of them are taping their foot on the beat as are most of the finest jazz pianist (not on two and four which is an exercise). I think it's especially important to tap when playing in tempo without a drummer or bassist. Your tap becomes the rhythm section, it becomes an anchor which you can reference any syncopation against. (sorry if this is rambling, I have written it in haste.) | |
| Dr. Whack -- 08/13/2004, 13:53:33 -- #6488 | |
| people can dance to wrong notes but not to bad time...time is everything...play it like you mean it...nothing makes me more uncomfortable than to hear somebody trying to play all this jazzy drivel with no concept of the time...it's like staying awake for three days eating and drinking nothing but black coffee...aaahhhh!!! | |
| Seaside_Lee -- 08/14/2004, 01:58:15 -- #6500 | |
| Hi Guys Here is a good tip I was given... Imagine you are "Stevie Wonder" and sway on your bench while you are practising to get the feel of the rhythm. It made a difference to my playing :-) Lee | |
| 7 -- 08/15/2004, 08:48:21 -- #6514 | |
| Here is a reprint from a recent thread, regarding internalizing the beat: * * * * * * * The beat must come from within. Predicting when the next hit will fall is akin to predicting the future. You'll need to turn your body into a pendulum: 1. Turn on your beat box / rhythm machine / metronome and set it to a nice comfortable speed. 2. Experiment with different parts of your body to find where the rhythm naturally lives inside you. That part of the body is different for eveyone. Some feel it in the feet, some in the thighs, I personally feel it in my shoulders. Whacky said he felt it grinding in his teeth. 3. Once you have found the part of your body where the beat resides, make sure to put that part of the body "into gear" during every count-in. * If you do not feel the beat on the inside, you will always get lost - no matter how loud your drummer is. * * * * * * * 7 | |
| Dr. Whack -- 08/15/2004, 09:12:46 -- #6516 | |
| and wear sunglasses | |
| Gordon -- 08/15/2004, 17:13:31 -- #6523 | |
| Thanks very much for all the great advice - I've been playing around with these techniques all weekend, and things are already feeling better. The stuff you guys write on this site is *very* much appreciated. (And coming from rainy Manchester UK, AFKAW has given me the first reason to wear my sunglasses all summer) | |
| Copyright © 2005 by Scot Ranney. All rights reserved. | |
| Click Here for more information about performances and clinics. Click Here to sign up for Scot's music announcements. | |