Timing Exercise on Bass Guitar – 16th Notes in Groups of 3 – Bass Practice Diary – 11th August 2020
The concept of this timing exercise is very simple. You take any sequence of three notes, and play the sequence as continuous 16th notes in 4/4. So, you subdivide the beats into four, but you play a pattern of three, which creates a simple polyrhythm. Each time you play the sequence, it will start on a different 16th note. After three bars, you will have played all of the different permutations of where that sequence can start in a bar of 4/4. So, if you play the sequence correctly for three bars, the sequence should begin again on beat one of bar 4.
The Exercise and Variations
This would be a simple version of the exercise. It’s a “one finger per fret” exercise, but each note is played three times.
![Timing Exercise - 16ths in three note groupings - One finger per fret](https://johnnycoxmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/3-timing-exercises-3-1024x297.png)
I would more commonly play the exercise using triads, as I have here.
![Timing Exercise - 16ths in three note groupings - Fmaj and Em triads](https://johnnycoxmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/3-timing-exercises-1-1024x156.png)
You could also apply the same idea to practicing scales. Here is a C major scale played in three note groupings. First ascending and then descending.
![Timing Exercise - 16ths in three note groupings - C major scale ascending](https://johnnycoxmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/3-timing-exercises-4-1024x350.png)
![Timing Exercise - 16ths in three note groupings - C major/A natural minor scale descending](https://johnnycoxmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/3-timing-exercises-5-1024x330.png)
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