This lesson is to be used in conjunction with both the “3 On 1 Off” and the “1 On 3 Off” chains founds in the “Timing Chains” Rhythm Pack available in the SYNKD store.
The following exercises are designed to challenge your endurance and even out your hands.
The top line represents the right hand and the bottom line represents the left hand.
In exercises 1-3 we will be simply reversing the sticking every bar.
1. The leading hand of each bar plays quarter notes while the other hand fills in the remaining 16th notes. Notice that when the hands change going from beat 4 to beat 1 the following hand plays four 16th notes. This can be tricky, especially when starting on a different part of the beat.
2. The next step is simply to do two notes with the lead hand. Once again the following hand fills in those same three 16th notes. We are now into overlapping hand territory. This can be a bit of a coordination challenge with the hands if you are new to this sort of approach. Notice that the following hand will now do five notes going from beat 4 to beat 1.
3. Finally we are going to add another note to the lead hand and create a three note pattern. Once again the following hand stays the same. Notice that the following hand now has to play six notes going from beat 4 to beat 1. This can be tricky. Go slowly and make the transitions seamless.
Exercises 4 and 5 are simply just two drill patterns to help turn this into a great workout for both the hands and the mind.
4. We are simply going to combine exercises 1-3 into an eight bar pattern. It is organized by the lead hand and every time it comes around we simply add a note and then we go back down again. I find it easy to think of it like "1-2-3-2". You can think of this as a ladder if you’d like.
5. Finally we are going to do the natural extension of the previous exercise but we will be doubling the length of each pattern. This makes for a great workout.
Once you get comfortable practicing these exercises with a standard click I recommend challenging yourself by using both the “3 On 1 Off” and the “1 On 3 Off” SYNKD Rhythm Chains. By not having the click on certain bars we are forced to really focus on our own internal sense of time.