timing • RT5b • Swung Eighths

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing

See Blues basics for a lesson/tutorial about this test.

Demonstration

Procedure

This test depends on a kitchen timer more than the metronome. You may set the timer to any tempo between 50 and 100 BPM, but slower tempos are harder. Try 80 or 90 BPM on your first attempt.

You will play bars of quarter notes in 4/4 time.

For each step, set the timer to 20 minutes. Trust me, this will feel like an eternity and your mind will wander. Try to remain focused, and feel the rhythm. Try to “bury the click” (lower the volume of your metronome) — if you can hear the click, you aren’t playing on the beat.

  1. Mute all strings and spend 20 minutes just burying the click with swung eighth notes.

  2. Pick any major or Dom7 chord voicing you like, and play it on the down beat of 1, with “scratches” (fully muted strums) on every other beat (as well as the “ands”).

  3. Only after you’ve restricted yourself in the prior two steps let yourself experiment with other accents and articulations. Try throwing in notes from the related scale, other voicings of the same chord, or even chords up a fourth. Make it musical.

Pass criteria

This test is all about time in seat. Spend one full hour (three 20 minute stints as measured by the timer) of truly focused time performing the exercises.

Record yourself. Listen to the playback. Are you consistently ahead of or behind the beat? Does it swing?

You must be your own judge for this one. Did you pass?

Last modified May 25, 2020: change type to rexercises (a401432)