test your timing I wish I knew about this when I first started

[diverse379]

I am curious to know how many of you would have trouble with the following exercise
if you practice mostly without a drum machine or a metronme or you dont play with a band often
you may have trouble with this one

It is something I started because I notice i have terrible timing when I play organ by myself
from years of practicing without a metronme or drum machine
and not playing with other musicians

if there is no drummer I seem to jump beats speed up
and just overall mess up the groove,
when I try to play brooklyn style
if I am fully walking the pedals I am not too bad
but when I try this old school style I often jack it up
if there is no drummer



I created this exercise to combat it and to be honest on this first day it is kicking my butt

I just wonder how many of you can do this with no problem and how many of you find some difficulty



tools you will need a metronome or a drum machine set to a click  (no drum beats)

or a recording of a metronome  or click track for at least five minutes on your cell phone or mp3 recorder
 you will also need an organ with pedals


set metronome to anywhere between 60 -100 bpm

pick a key
and play the one and five with the pedal

so if you are in C play C and G on the pedal you can also throw in the A quickly after the G to set up a new orleans feel


but play the C and G
in between the clicks
and play the left hand on a C13 chord on the clicks
maybe EABbD

so in other words the click is like the snare and the one has to be felt and supplied by you


now play the right hand on a single note in this key C or C octaves or a c minor chord just to make it interesting

play the right hand on the cliks and in between the clicks in other words

quarter notes 1 2 3 4


then play the right hand
in eighth notes 1&2&3&4&

then in 16th notes 1e &a 2e&a 3e&a
 4e&a

make sure your foot doesent drift to playing on the clicks you have to keep the foot in between the clicks and left hand on the clicks

next play triplets with the right hand


to be honest with you
I am embarrased to say that I have trouble switching from quarter notes to eighth notes let alone sixteenth notes

next thing I know My foot is playing with the clicks instead of in between


I hope it doesent take too long for me to correct this timing deficiency,


give it a try and tell me how you do with it
I want to know if I am the only one who has difficulty doing this.




but do not use a full drum beat because that defeats the purpose anyone can keep time if the one is being supplied for them


The table looks like this


Beats


 1      2        3        4
     mtrnme            metrnme
foot            foot
    lfthnd             lefthnd
rt    rt        rt       rt
rt rt rt  rt   rt   rt   rt
rtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrt
rtrtrt rtrtrt   rtrtrt    rtrtrt


please let me know how you do with this pm me if you dont want to put your business on blast

   

[under13]

Sounds like some of the stuff Roger Jean was teaching on his dvd. I dont even have the coodination to do this kinda stuff

[diverse379]

Sounds like some of the stuff Roger Jean was teaching on his dvd. I dont even have the coodination to do this kinda stuff

its not even as deep as that

for there is no changing of rhythm with the left hand.

but fundamentally I would admit it is similar
it is an old but effective style of organ
especially suited for solo organ

it requires coordination just like a drummer.
I am glad I am not by myself.

but I am determined to master this type of control.

because there is not always a drummer near by,



I wonder why it is harder to play the foot in between the beats

playing a walking bass on the pedals is almost easier then to keep the gap in time.


There are far more things that can be done with the left hand but this fundamental two and four hit is important to master.
for when you go to some of the other variations

such as playing half of the left hand chord on the one and three and  the other half on the two and four

and inserting small syncopated single notes in between the chord hits or in place of the chord hits

single note lines like  these below the numbers represent the beats that the notes should be played on
 
2  3 4 1  2

G F# F E EGABbC
    1  2  3    4
or F, Eb, E, EGABbC


the next thing is to try to play this pattern over a song keeping the beat

I find that once I can get a good groove going in a key

when I go to switch keys I suddenly find myself shifted over
and now my foot is landing with the clicks

I cant wait until I get this thing mastered.

because it is truly a tiring task

[blessedhammond]

This looks Good, can't wait to get on it. This is one of the areas that I need improvement in my playing. I will let you know how this goes or if I have any questions.

[diverse379]

songs like "one day" (he's coming back glorious day)

work well with this style you can make it even more syncopated by playing off of the left hand with the right

but be careful chord changes and such tend to cause your foot to end up on the click


you will notice if you do walk ups with your foot it helps you stay in time

so there is something about this root fifth bass that is a little tricky

[docjohn]

good post bro! got to work on this myself(a lot)  a lot of keyboard players get into this (imo) by playing free form;so it's not as noticed-until you DO notice and work on it.be blessed,practice hard!

[diverse379]

good post bro! got to work on this myself(a lot)  a lot of keyboard players get into this (imo) by playing free form;so it's not as noticed-until you DO notice and work on it.be blessed,practice hard!

I seem to be getting better on this day three of this rhythm drill

I am able to hold the groove much longer

every so often when i stop focusing or start to get excited with the groove

I find my foot landing on the click again
but i am able to get back in between the clicks pretty quickly now

another thing i notice

moving from triplets in the right to swung eighth notes and back again  seems to be the most troublesome

also
I see that when i start trying to do poly rhythms (more funky syncopations between the right hand

such as playing the right hand a sixteenth note before the left hand etc

I find my self slipping off of the one


but as I said I am doing much much better than I was on day one


I imagine after doing this for good period of time

the groove will start to become rock solid.


another good thing to do
is to switch from walking bass to this oom pah type rhythm on alternate chords

for example

walk the bass on the one chord

and when you move to the four

do the oom pah

then walk back up to the one

[docjohn]

trick! what a beast you are bro,thanks for the help and encouragement

[B3Wannabe]

Sweet deal!

[diverse379]

trick! what a beast you are bro,thanks for the help and encouragement

i am far from a beast

but thank you

still having trouble sometimes with this drill

and that means it is a good drill