In the first part of this short series we did some work using an example based on a simple quarter note bass line in the style of Dance The Night Away by The Mavericks.
To remind you if you’ve not looked at that for a few days, a harmonic metronome is a metronome that clicks on Beats 2 and 4 only and does so with a harmonic piece of information, in this case a midi style guitar skank. So it gives both rhythm and harmony.
Practicing in this manner forces you to start working on developing on your inner sense of time because YOU have to be responsible for Beats 1 and 3.
The next step from playing with a harmonic metronome that sounds on beats 2 and 4 is to drop one of those beats. So have the guitar skank click on either Beat 2 or Beat 4. This makes you responsible for three beats per bar.
Being able to do this is a good test of your inner sense of time – your internal clock.
Below are two examples using either the ‘2 Only’ harmonic metronome or the ‘4 Only’ harmonic metronome. There are backing tracks you can download below and use and you can cross reference from exactly what I’m playing.
(This info is lifted from my HTPB 50 Songs Course so the graphics in the video refer to that)
Example 1 – Dance The Night Away – ‘2 ONLY’ 120 BPM
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