metronome question

Mr.Scary

A Blues Legend in My Own Mind
I have a metronome has a 1/8 note (2 note symbol), triplet (3 note symbol) and a 16th (4 note symbol). If I am playing 1/4 notes each beat at 60 bpm then switch the symbol to1/8 note, triplet then 16th note symbols am I really playing at 120-180-240 bpm for each note or should I just keep it at 60 bpm and try to play 1-2-3-4 notes per beat. Hope this makes sense.Thx
 

jmin

Student Of The Blues
Mr. Scary, is this one of those trick math questions? I'm not great at math, but I would think that when you play more notes in the same amount of time you're playing an equivalent of those higher bpms. Griff does a lesson on this topic (one of his exercises) I'll try to find it...

UPDATE: Found it! It was in a January 14, 2015 email from Griff:

Last week we talked a little about the "new math" of doubling subdivisions while cutting the tempo in half...
If you don't remember, the basic gist of it was that quarter notes at 150 beats per minute is the same as 1/8th notes at 75 beats per minute (bpm.)
And I sent you a video on how to play and count the quarter and eighth notes... so it's time to do the triplets and sixteenth notes :)




Click here to watch Video 2
Now I won't lie to you, these are considerably more difficult and well worth their weight in gold when it comes time to take a solo.
Just slow them down like molasses and go through the steps - play slowly and count out loud. You'll be surprised how quickly it'll turn around and start to become natural.
 
Last edited:

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
I don't remember if I was watching one of Griff's freebies or if it was in PSTM, but he suggests that you:
Play them all at 60 bpm, then when you can do that cleanly bump it up by 5-10 BPM
Every now and then bump it us by 20% or more. Don't worry about missing notes, because you will. He calls this "letting your fingers know whats expected".
Then go back down to the BPM you were able to play well.
At that point you should be able to bump it up again.
Not sure I made that as clear as Griff does.
 

Mr.Scary

A Blues Legend in My Own Mind
I have the course so I've watched these videos. I was just asking if the bpm were basically the same. Not sure how I interpreted it right when he was saying keep it at 60 then bumping it up.
 

Al Holloway

Devizes UK
My take is yes they are all at 60bmp because you are subdeviding the beat. So triplets at 60bpm the numbers in the 1 and eh 2 and eh 3 and eh 4 and eh are at 60 bpm you are playing 180 notes per minute but at 60bpm.

cheers

Al.
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
If I am playing 1/4 notes each beat at 60 bpm then switch the symbol to1/8 note, triplet then 16th note symbols am I really playing at 120-180-240 bpm for each note

The beats per minute (tempo) stay the same at 60 BPM, but the number of notes per beat increases from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4. Therefore the number of notes you play per minute (speed) increases form 60 quarter notes, 120 eighth notes, 180 triplets and 240 16th notes per minute.

BPM stays the same. Notes per beat and per minute increases. Therefore, each exercise will have fewer measures and take less time as you decrease the note values.

Another way to look at it at 60 BPM:
60 quarter notes would take one minute
60 eighth notes would take 30 seconds
60 triplets would take 20 seconds
60 16th notes would take 15 seconds

Speed increases, but tempo stays the same.

Side Note: Griff's melodic patterns in sequences of 3 have exactly 60 notes.
 
Last edited:

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
Summary Chart at 60 BPM (=1 beat per second):

quarter note = 1 note per beat = 1 note per second = 60 notes per minute = 60 notes in one minute
eighth note_ = 2 notes per beat = 2 notes per second = 120 notes per minute = 60 notes in 30 seconds
triplet_______= 3 notes per beat = 3 notes per second = 180 notes per minute = 60 notes in 20 seconds
16th notes_ = 4 notes per beat = 4 notes per second = 240 notes per minute = 60 notes in 15 seconds
 
Last edited:
Top