SUBDIVISION EXERCISES OVER 1
Now let’s move into some exercises
designed to help you hear a variety of
subdivisions more naturally. We are
going to simply be playing subdivisions
over a single quarter note, played at a
VERY slow tempo for starters. I suggest
30-40 bpm as a starting point. The
medium to long-term goal is to be
able to naturally feel (and change) the
resolution of subdivisions we play in an
instant, so that we ultimately stay in time
and pulse given any context of tuplets.
We will start with ‘1 over 1’, which
will have us playing a single long note
over the full duration of the beat, and
then move on to ‘2 over 1’, which will
put 2 equal-length notes in the space
of each single beat. This would be like
playing eighth notes over a quarter note
pulse. From there, we keep adding on
a tuplet (‘3 over 1’, ‘4 over 1’, ‘5 over
1’, etc. through ‘8 over 1’!), making
sure that we are playing the individual
note lengths as accurately as possible
for each iteration. Of course you can
go beyond ‘8 over 1’ if you like, but my
recommendation is to instead focus
on just a few at a time in order, until
you feel comfortable internalizing their
subdivisions. After you are able to do
this naturally, then practice switching
between different resolutions back and
forth, getting used to the change in feel
between the tuplets in real time.
1 Over 1
2 Over 1
3 Over 1
4 Over 1
5 Over 1
6 Over 1
7 Over 1
Have fun practicing, and remember to
keep it groovy!
Adam Nitti
Nashville-based Adam Nitti balances his
roles as a solo artist, sideman, and educator.
He has filled the bass chair for Kenny
Loggins, Carrie Underwood, Dave Weckl
Band, Michael McDonald, Susan Tedeschi,
Steven Curtis Chapman, Mike Stern, Brent
Mason, Wayne Krantz, and Christopher
Cross, while also releasing five solo CDs to
date. As a Nashville session bassist he has
played on multiple Grammy-winning and
Grammy-nominated albums, and is also
the founder of...
AdamNittiMusicEducation.com
8 Over 1
August 2020
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