Quarter Note Triplets - Please Help.

[Quinn]

I've been reading music long enough to be embarrassed to have to ask this question, but how exactly does one count quarter note triplets? I'm never sure if I'm playing them right.

 

Thanks for any and all help!

[dcr]

If you can play in 6/8, you can play quarter note triplets. There are 3 quarter notes in the space of a half note.

 

I've never tried this myself, but it seems like it would work. Count 6/8 time, and play straight 8th notes, counting "1 2 3 4 5 6." Now, without changing your playing, start counting, "1-te-te 3-te-te" (or however you count your triplets). And suddenly you're playing quarter note triplets in 4/4!

[jeremy c]

This might help

 

I like Libby's idea of playing every other eighth note triplet. This will get you where you want to be if you practice very slowly and listen to what you are doing.

 

You could also just tap your foot twice in a 4/4 measure. Then your quarter note triplet would just be three notes over one beat instead of three notes against two beats.

 

Here\'s a great instructional page by my friend Matthew Montfort.

[dcr]

Originally posted by jeremy c:

You could also just tap your foot twice in a 4/4 measure. Then your quarter note triplet would just be three notes over one beat instead of three notes against two beats.

Right. You should do this with the 6/8 to 4/4 method, too, since you should be feeling the beats on the 1 & the 4 in 6/8, anyway.

[Quinn]

Great, thanks for the help, fellas. I'll try each method when I get home tonight.

 

[ATM]

Trip-el-let Trip-el-let Trip-el-let Trip-el-let

 

One Two Three Four

 

Not so hard once you have it demonstrated to you.

 

ATM

[Yogi]

You wanna get REALLY crazy, take a look at this .

[PhilMan99]

Is the counting on triplets different in Jazz? I'm more a rockin' country bumpkin myself, but with the "swing feel", don't triplets have more of the feel of two 16ths and an 8th?...

...or something like that?

[ZeroXtrem]

1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a

 

thats how i was taught not to sure if i remember it correctly though XD

[Quinn]

Originally posted by Yogi:

You wanna get REALLY crazy, take a look at this .

 

That's so totally over my head it might as well be Pluto.

 

Interesting, though!

[Quinn]

Originally posted by ZeroXtrem:

1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a

 

thats how i was taught not to sure if i remember it correctly though XD

Actually, that seems to be the notation for counting 16th notes. That's cool though, thanks for responding.

[Quinn]

Originally posted by PhilMan99:

Is the counting on triplets different in Jazz? I'm more a rockin' country bumpkin myself, but with the "swing feel", don't triplets have more of the feel of two 16ths and an 8th?...

...or something like that?

Hey Phil,

 

Actually, when playing with jazz/swing phrasing, eighth notes are usually interpreted as triplets with the first note being held for two of the triplets and the second note being a regular triplet. Kind of like:

 

Onetrip let, Twotrip let, Threetrip let, Fourtrip let

 

Just think of the feel of a blues shuffle rhythm and you'll probably get a better idea than my confusing attempt to explain it.

[Seamy ALB]

Thanks for those pages Jeremy, some nice material.

[jeremy c]

If you can read music, this example may help:

http://members.aol.com/jeremyzone1/3against2.GIF

[dcr]

Originally posted by ATM:

Trip-el-let Trip-el-let Trip-el-let Trip-el-let

 

One Two Three Four

Good approach to 8th note triplets. Swing & shuffle feels are based on these.

[jeremy c]

Originally posted by Yogi:

You wanna get REALLY crazy, take a look at this .

Cool, Yogi!

 

I've practiced that kind of stuff and occasionally assign it to advanced students.

 

I used to play with a drummer that would do things like play a syncopated rhythmic figure that was based on 5 over the space of 2 beats.

 

I just had to trust that he would finish in the right place.....and he always did.

[John W.]

>>Originally posted by PhilMan99:

Is the counting on triplets different in Jazz? I'm more a rockin' country bumpkin myself, but with the "swing feel", don't triplets have more of the feel of two 16ths and an 8th?...

...or something like that? <<

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

>Hey Phil,

 

>Actually, when playing with jazz/swing >phrasing, eighth notes are usually interpreted >as triplets with the first note being held for >two of the triplets and the second note being a >regular triplet. Kind of like:

 

>Onetrip let, Twotrip let, Threetrip let, >Fourtrip let

 

>Just think of the feel of a blues shuffle >rhythm and you'll probably get a better idea >than my confusing attempt to explain it.

 

Yes!, I agree, and I'll add one observation from my Jazz experience; if you're soloing on a swing tune that is not overtly "bluesy" or in a real idiomatic shuffle style, especially when getting above 112-120 bpm or so, "straighten out" the 8th notes in your solo line a bit. You'll be going for a more legato line with a slight accent on the 2nd (upbeat) 8th note (doo-Dah doo-Dah..). The line will flow better and you'll avoid that old "one-potato, two-potato" corny feeling that a pure shuffle articulation will evoke.

[bottomend]

Metric modulation... drugs without the side effects! Love it!!!!

 

Rhytmic displacement is a gas too!!!!! ye haaaa!

[Snowdog79]

I'm starting a project with a drummer right now doing all sorts of strange rhythmic/metric things. We're writing a 70's prog-rock style album about the book "Flatland", and we're messing with complicated time signatures where the eight note doesn't stay the same--for instance, playing a measure of four, then one of five, then one of seven, and keeping the length (if you measured it with a stopwatch) of each measure the same. Fun stuff.

[Eric VB]

Originally posted by ATM:

Trip-el-let Trip-el-let Trip-el-let Trip-el-let [sNIP]

In the school band we counted more like ZeroXtrem:

 

1 & a 3 & a (if we're talking quarter-note triplets)

 

Yeah, it could be confusing if you're used to 1e&a for 16ths, and tri-pel-let makes more sense, AND Quinn's version 1-trip-let 2-trip-let let's you count the downbeats, BUT ... I'm stuck with what I learned first. (Besides, I get confused when the guy on my left is making 3 syllables out of "triplet" and the guy on my right is only making 2.)

 

Even though I count (for 8th trips) 1 & a 2 & a ... it's NOT the same as 1 (e) & a 2 (e) & a ... that's an 8th and 2 16ths! If this is confusing, just stick to Quinn's version, but be aware that you might run into weird musicians like myself that count this way.

 

For further musings ... for piano, when one hand is playing a triplet and the other is playing a duplet, my wife's instructor taught her to use the phrase "nice cup of tea", where "nice" is the downbeat for both hands, "cup" is the 2nd triplet, "of" is the 2nd duplet, and "tea" is the 3rd triplet. Might come in handy for some crazy two-handed tapping.

[Yogi]

Originally posted by jeremy c:

I've practiced that kind of stuff and occasionally assign it to advanced students.

Obviously, the music of Frank Zappa is filled with all that seriously demented rhythmic stuff, and people like Vai and Mike Keneally are carrying on that tradition. I stick in a few things in my own music every now and then - we have a song we're working up right now that has a lick that's 7 sixteenth notes in the space of 8. You can use stupid math tricks with a sequencer or drum machine to practice the rhythms and get them feeling right.

 

I've found that odd groupings of notes, like quintuplets (5) or septuplets (7) have a similar feel to triplets (3) once you really get used to them. It's a fun way to spice up stuff you're working on, but you do sort of have to create your own excuses to do it - you won't find too many groupings like that in most Western music.