Using Triplets to Play Bass Guitar Rhythm

Video Transcript

CASEY CORMIER: Another rhythmic phenomenon you might come across in your reading would be a triplet. You might have seen these before. Basically, three notes connected with a slash and then a 3 written underneath, and you might be like when you had seen it before but kind of confused, but now will kind of explain what that means. So if we look here, here's an example of an eighth note triplet. See, we have three notes connected above as eighth notes would be, but usually we would have maybe four or two. Now it has 3 and we to put that 3 underneath to signify. This basically takes up one beat, the three notes in one beat, but within a measure where we are in quarter notes, four quarter notes, so this rhythm would sound [HUMS AND PLAYS RHYTHM], but the way you're kinda--or maybe you would even count it as one-two-three, one-two-three, two, one-two-three, four, one-two-three, two-two-three, three-two-three if they were all triplets. Eighth note triplets are a little bit easier to understand 'cause you can feel them as being one beat. More difficult are the quarter note triplets. Three quarter notes connected as triplets take up the space of two regular quarter notes. So this is almost serves a function of metric modulation we would call it, where you feel when you play this, like you were playing in a different tempo. So if we've played, pretending this measure right here was all just quarter notes, one, two, three, four then [HUMS RHYTHM], one, two, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two. It is very difficult to hear it. Sometimes you have to have a metronome to help you out. So let us [TURNS METRONOME ON] one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three, one, two, three, four, one-two-three. So you'll notice, quarter note triplets are rare but they're used to make that you feel like you are out of time when you play.

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