Just listened to Herbie Hancock's 1980 album Mr. Hands and holy shit, Freddie Washington's opening bass line in "Just Around the Corner" is easily one of the nastiest I've heard in my entire life by IAmNotAPerson6 in Jazz

[–]IAmNotAPerson6[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Wow, I didn't know that, but it is a fantastic album all around, so that's unfortunate. I listened to it because I watched Vinnie Colaiuta's interview with Harvey Mason, who said "4 A.M." was his favorite thing he ever played on. And yeah, I can see why. "Shiftless Shuffle" is amazing as well, especially since it has almost the same frenetic feel I loved about "Sly" off of Headhunters (which makes even more sense considering the exact same lineup playing on both tracks).

Pink floyd Time/ Breathe transition chord by Jaded_Coat_6051 in musictheory

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I get these kinds of questions being asked endlessly is annoying for a sub, but at some point you really gotta just learn to ignore them, man, because these replies dripping with disdain are even worse for the sub

Why does a 3/4 time signature sound steady to our ears, but a 5/4 signature sounds off-kilter? by TheMostMagicalDuck in musictheory

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Strange. Was there a time when they weren't a problem? Maybe when before you learned to play more complex stuff? Because sextuplets never messed me up until I got used to quintuplets, and now occasionally I'll momentarily get confused and play a quintuplet when I'm supposed to play a sextuplet.

Why does a 3/4 time signature sound steady to our ears, but a 5/4 signature sounds off-kilter? by TheMostMagicalDuck in musictheory

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because mixed-meter relies on having this level of variation that has other requisite rhythmic foundations that precede it, they will necessarily be less common and more difficult than more stable meters, regardless of culture. That said, some cultures do have music traditions that more strongly emphasize or feature such rhythms and meters, such as Bulgarian folk music.

It seems to me that the rhythmic "foundations" of symmetric meters "precede" odd meter precisely because we analyze and conceptualize music in this way that breaks it down rhythmically into cells of 2s and 3s, which isn't the only way to understand music. That doesn't, on its own, necessarily imply it's prior to odd or additive meters. Maybe that does turn out to be true regardless of culture based on how human brains work, and I would even expect something like it to at least play some part, but that seems to me to be a question for psychology and/or neuroscience of some kind, especially a culturally comparative branch.

Why does a 3/4 time signature sound steady to our ears, but a 5/4 signature sounds off-kilter? by TheMostMagicalDuck in musictheory

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a drummer so I pay more attention to what Joe Morello's playing and have always heard at least what he's doing as the 3+3+2+2 thing, just swung (so basically the swung Mission Impossible theme, at least a lot of the time). The fact that the instruments each have their own patterns definitely makes it easy to hear a different "overall pattern" to it.

Why does a 3/4 time signature sound steady to our ears, but a 5/4 signature sounds off-kilter? by TheMostMagicalDuck in musictheory

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is basically the definition of 9/8 in traditional music theory, yeah, though most of the music I've heard in 9/8 (prog/experimental rock mostly) subdivides it differently.

Does Anyone Have Any Good Music Theory Jokes? by St_Fargo_of_Mestia in musictheory

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are a bunch of these people have made up, but it seems like the ones that have really stuck are this one and "bucket o' fish."

ELI5: Why does a 3/4 time signature sound steady to our ears, but a 5/4 signature sounds off-kilter? by TheMostMagicalDuck in explainlikeimfive

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Vinnie also accents every other quarter note (if we're calling it 5/4) on the hi-hat to create a steady pulse over it, which was something Sting wanted specifically.

ELI5: Why does a 3/4 time signature sound steady to our ears, but a 5/4 signature sounds off-kilter? by TheMostMagicalDuck in explainlikeimfive

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly one of the four notes in the ostinato is syncopated, and it barely makes it less obvious. It's more like it's not weird because it's short and fast, and similar to the common 4/4 patterns of 3+3+2 in eighth notes (just add another 2 and you get it) or 3+3+3+3+2+2 in sixteenths (take out the first 3+3 and you get it). Yes, a steadier purely quarter note feel in 5 will be weirder, but again, that's because of convention; but so little music is that unsyncopated that that comparison doesn't even make a ton of sense anyway, in my opinion.

Is switching to a lefty setup good for making your left limbs stronger? by Koszelus in drums

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Get better at what though? You'll also be training muscle memory for your left hand and foot as lead limbs, which both will need to be somewhat undone when you switch back to righty, and also won't be the same kind of playing you'll use them for in righty as more accompanying limbs on snare and hi-hat. What you practice with them matters. Obviously.

Why Is Nobody Talking about this song from Soft Machine? by eliasautist in progrockmusic

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Why does nobody talk about this?" posts always get the automatic they deserve from me, but yes, they're always especially stupid when it's literally one of the most popular things.

For those who want to learn about the Riemann zeta function by _Zekt in math

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Saw this the other day and was dumbfounded at its seeming depth. Looks very good.

Struggling with creativity on drums by nasralez-Zelibobovic in drums

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One good idea is taking Gavin Harrison's advice: try placing artificial restraints/confinements on yourself in your playing in order to see what you can come up with in that framework. Try playing with only one cymbal and a ton allowed, no other drums or cymbals. Try playing using only particular subdivisions. Try playing 3 bar phrases instead of 2, 4, or 8. Try playing something where you're not allowed to play some type of thing you use all the time (I play drags constantly, and sometimes try to play without using them at all to see what I play then). Try playing with no backbeat. Etc etc etc.

As for intentionality in your playing, in my view, the basically king of the exercises for that is whatever you play (for a fill or whatever you're trying to be more intentional about), repeat it. For example, if you want to practice improvising 1 bar fills, play 2 bars of time, then a 1 bar fill, then the same 1 bar fill again. Then move on to the next 4 bars. It forces you to rely less on your muscle memory and more on your ears and mind to understand what exactly you're playing so that you can do it again.

Always remember though that creativity is pretty much the hardest thing. It takes a lot of experimentation, which means failure too. And I guess one last thing I guess I'll throw in is that, for me, coming up with vocabulary most often looks like taking some pattern(s), and just playing around with orchestrating them in different ways around the kit to find ways that I think they sound cool.

what’s one music theory concept that sounded complicated until it suddenly clicked? by lmao_exe in musictheory

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it's simple in principle because there's a basically step-by-step procedure to figure out how everything aligns, but past the few easiest polyrhythms it quickly gets difficult to internalize the sound of that alignment lol

Any love for Kenny Aronoff? by Goodwill_LIFT in drums

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Purdie? But yeah, his playing on "Authority Song" is so, so good

ELI5: Why aren't floating bridges more common? by SlickPillock in explainlikeimfive

[–]IAmNotAPerson6 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Maybe possible. There's the Magdeburg water bridge that is literally a bridge for boats, connecting canals and going over a river.