Mel Bay's Creative Keyboard® Webzine | Per Danielsson - Tempo Workout

Tempo Workout

One of the most intriguing aspects of jazz is its unique sense of time and feel. The only way to learn and understand the rhythmic concept of jazz is to spend countless hours listening. Some students understand the concept faster than others. However, it is possible to teach the concept by using different exercises.

One way to perfect your time is to systematically practice different tempos. Most jazz musicians have tempos that they are more comfortable playing in than others. Therefore we must practice the ones that do not feel natural to us. The tempos that we usually have trouble with do not necessarily have to be the fast ones. Some medium tempos can be just as hard. I personally think that each person hears music in his/her own way, including how we hear tempos.

The most economical way to practice tempos is to pick one tempo and explore it for a while. Let's pick a quarter note value of 60 as a base tempo and then practice around it. Needless so say, the following exercises require diligent use of a metronome.

1. Practice a slow ballad at the tempo of 60. Play eighth notes, sixteenth notes and triplets and focus on being relaxed and secure with the transition between the note values.

2. Play a medium swing tune at the tempo of 120 but have the metronome set on 60 and count on 1and 3. This way you are actually playing the same tempo as before but with a different feel. Do the same thing here, practice eighth notes, sixteenth notes and triplets.

3. Play a fast swing tune at 240. If you have been successful in steps 1 and 2 this should be easy, at least if you are playing quarter and eighth notes.

4. Jazz waltzes are a great vehicles for practicing tempos. Set the metronome at 60 = quarter note.

5. Next make 60 = dotted half note. In other words, the metronome is now clicking on beat one of each bar.

5. A common way of sub-dividing the tempo in a jazz waltz is to feel the beat of the dotted quarter note. This might be a bit harder than the other exercises but set the metronome to 60 = dotted quarter note and try to feel the subdivided beat.

By practicing this concept you will develop a sense of security with your time. If you can play a ballad with a double time feel at the tempo of 60, you can automatically play a medium swing at 120. If you can play sixteenth notes in a medium jazz ballad, you should feel secure with playing eighth notes in a fast swing tune of 240. Going between sixteenth notes, eighth notes and triplet notes will further secure your timing.

The examples below can be used as a guide. I would encourage the student to improvise while practicing this concept, but the notated lines can be played if you are a begining improviser. The chord progressions are fairly simple in an effort to make it easier to focus on the time. Make sure to use a metronome with all of these exercises.

= 60 Ballad

Play nice and relaxed without rushing the sixteenth notes and the triplets.

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