Chunking, the pop tars lick, and the metronome

Playing Technique
#1

Hey all,

Normally when I’m learning a new lick and trying to build up speed I’ll start out slow on the metronome and “chunk” on the beat. I’m confused about the pop tarts lick. The first eight notes are two 4-note patterns of 16th notes. It makes sense to me to start each one of these on a click of the metronome. The next 6 notes however are 16th notes and not a pair of triplets, and are a chunk unto themself . How can I make sure I’m staying in time? Then just two 16th notes. I’m confused how to stay on time or use the metronome to slowly build up speed here and ensure I’m playing in time.

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#2

I think of it as ONE two three four ONE two three four ONE two three ONE two three four five

but now I’ve written it out that looks silly

e. Maybe I make that group of five ONE TWO three four five

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#3

The thing about chunking is that on the forum here we’ve had quite a few interesting discoveries.

In one video Troy posted, and this was a while back, he talked about chunking being more of a “conceptual” tool instead of an actual physical accent on the beat. However, a few users pointed out in some of his clips that he tends to hit the first note harder in a group, even though Troy never actually tried to practice in the stereotypical hit-the-first-note-much-harder sort of way.

My theory is that chunking is something that passively occurs as a result of the brain needing to group things together for efficiency purposes. I strongly suggest not trying to hit the notes harder. Your brain is an amazing supercomputer and has all the ability to do the necessary work provided you let it experiment.

Here’s what I would do:

  1. Make sure you get the pattern down at a medium speed where you can clearly hear each and every note. Just think of the sequence as tapping your foot on the first note of every 16th note grouping. You don’t need to hit the notes harder, the tapping is just a method of keeping time without the metronome, which brings me to #2…

  2. Ditch the metronome. You don’t need it to build speed. I never used it once in the traditional “move up in torturous increments and repeat 50,000 times at each notch”. For me, it was more of a check in just to see my limits. You can see this sort of practice here, with a very, very slight desync between both hands occurring that may or may not be noticeable. 220 is my hard limit where synchronization starts failing for a variety of technical licks with medium volume (8 or so note groupings). 200-210 is a comfort zone, and chunking passively occurs. I’m not “thinking” about doing anything other than getting the notes with the right pickstrokes in the right order. If you hit a clean 200-210 BPM you’re done, move on with your life. Beyond those speeds using the rotational mechanic it’s somewhat doubtful players can maintain sync.

  1. Watch this at the noted time stamp. It will help clarify things a bit more:

If you need any more help, I can make a video response.

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