Help with this solo - accenting and chunking

Playing Technique
#1

hey all,

I’m currently working on this solo and could use some help figuring out the chunking and accenting strategy behind this one measure:

Timestamped video:

Tab (Eb Pentatonic Lick, tuned 1 step down):

Pentatonic Lick
Pentatonic Lick1532×386 24.5 KB

  • First, did I transcribe it right? I’m playing it along at half speed and all the notes seem to line up to my ears, but please let me know if I missed something.

  • I marked the tab with a Downpick symbol where I believe the notes should be accented. I’m curious how would you accent and “chunk” this lick? From what I can tell they’re 16th note triplets, but accenting every 6 notes doesn’t feel right and it’s hard to keep up with the metronome. To me it seems easier to accent every 8 notes, even though they’re 16th note triplets. Accenting every 8 notes is also hard to do with a metronome, since the accent doesn’t fall with the metronome click, but somehow easier with the track/drums. So I wonder if in this one measure the solo is not played by following a metronome click? I have the impression that I should practice this by playing 32nd notes with a metronome, that way the accent every 8 notes matches the click. Then once it’s up to speed, play it with the track and try to follow what the drums are doing (which I think help with this 8 note accent) instead of a metronome. Thoughts?

Thanks

#2

Hey there, some misc thoughts only, nothing prescriptive. I don’t know if anything will help :stuck_out_tongue:

  • To me, “chunking” is just a term to help your brain and body come up with things that can make chunks. There’s no right/wrong. I often chunk things according to accents, but can also do them by position shift (if I have to make a shift from one spot to another to play something, then having each of those things as chunks means I only really have to work on the transition/shift). For this particular lick, I’d start with chunks of 4 notes (2 nps) and get each of those feeling natural, and then join the chunk.
  • For accents, you can pick again, but given that the highest note is going to naturally stand out, it feels like accenting the first note of each 4-note group will be very natural, and will result in a simple sincopation. Then you could hit the first note of each 12-note group a bit harder as well, to firmly stress the rhythm, and not get lost yourself. So, for me, I’d hit the first 18th fret hard, and the 21st fret about halfway through hard as well. Too many accents will become too much to manage/hear, and those two strong hits which fall directly on the beat will help you keep it straight.

Ideas only! Cheers, jz

#3

hey @jzohrab thanks for sharing your thoughts! To clarify, you’re saying you would prefer to accent only 2 times, on the 1st and 3rd beat? I never thought about accenting every 12 notes, it actually works pretty well. So I guess it wouldn’t be considered a sincopation anymore since now all the accents line up with the beat.

I agree that too many accents are hard to manage. I remember making good progress on some 16th note runs once I realized I could just accent every 8 notes instead of 4. It seems to me that 2 accents per 4/4 measure is the sweet spot

#4

You could try different variations. You’ll proabably naturally slightly accent the first note of each group of 4, just because of the layout and the fact that it’s the highest note.

Stressing 1 and 3 can’t go wrong :slight_smile:

Edit re accents: basically, accenting every beat is good practice, but all accents aren’t equal. In 4/4 music, beat 1 has the strongest accent, beat 3 the second strongest, and 2 and 4 have weaker. This helps structure the sound for the listener and player. At least, that is what piano pedagogy recommends, though I rarely hear it clearly myself, and I have pretty decent ears.

It’s easy to overthink. Just keep it in mind. And for long runs like this, making extra sure to stress the beats will keep your playing and thoughts nice and clear. Good timing and good rhythmic stresses are extremely important. Z

#5

I don’t ever hear the pattern change, just the same 8 notes 3x in a row:

image

It is a little weird to play in that offbeat timing, like you mention but I think your accents make sense. Great work!

#6

The note grouping itself is what will dictate the accent. Since you have them grouped as 16th note triplets, you would accent on the 1st and 4th note. If you had tabbed them as Sextuplets, which is the exact same number of notes played in the exact same time, you would only accent the first of every six notes. They both contain the same number of notes played in the same amount of time, but sound different due to the accent. So you would tab it out how it sounds (triplets vs groupings of 6)

this is also going to dictate how you set a metronome to practice them at first. With the 16th note triplets version you may want a click on the start of every subdivision, so a sound on every 8th note which is going to help you accent them in the right place, then you can use what ever subdivision you want. With sextuplets, it will be a standard quarter note click

#7

I just realized it’s almost the same lick as this one in Miracle man

The contour is a little different but I think it’s the same mechanically where it’s 2 notes on the E string, 2 notes on the B string but it’s 6’s (or 3’s) rather than 4’s just like the Alexi lick.

#8

That’s likely where he got it. Alexi mentioned Zakk was his favorite guitar player.

#9

Huh. I always thought he said Vai was his favorite. I’ve read way too many Guitar World interviews over the years. I likely conflate like crazy. I definitely always heard the Zakk influence, not so much the Vai.

#10

He likely said a number of things, but he did mention Zakk a lot, and you can for sure hear it and see it, it’s all over his playing. It’s down to his gear use as well. That metaltronix gp1000 preamp he was famous for reviving from the dead was no random choice. (Cough cough no rest for the wicked)

1 Like