How Rhythmic Dissonance Can Revolutionize Your Jazz Improvisation...

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[davidtardio]

This is great stuff. Rhythm is what really counts. Look at Wes Montgomery - the notes themselves are often very simple but the WAY he plays them is incredible.

[AdventureAndySnM]

One way I like to practice creating rhythmic dissonance is by playing bebop heads offset by half a beat. It makes the whole thing sound odd but it forces our muscle memory to be less dependent on the downbeat. More rhythmic flexibility 💪

[jimkangas]

I really like syncopation, etc. Trying to play long eighth note lines is good, but it's not my musical impulse. Thumbs up.

[pickinstone]

Next, investigate all the polyrhythms that make a phrase swing. Mike Longo and Barry Harris both spoke about the magic of 3's--3:2, 3:4. Mike went further with 5's, 7's, and offset triplets. But, even before all that. Learning how a measure of time sounds. A two bar phrase. How each eighth note, 16th note, triplet, sounds different depending on where it lays in the measure. Rhythm is the final frontier. I love Barry Harris's bebop pedagogy, but it don't mean a thing without that rhythm-a-ning.

[docstull]

Great Lesson! Simple, but profound. Great tip, too. For those vintage
age...wonderful approach, ! Doc

[Pepsax]

It’s true 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 …Rhythm the King!! Thanks Nick, we want others rhytmic exercises 🙏🏼

[bobblues]

Your concluding 6 minutes are spot on Nick.

[jeromeking]

Wow man, all your videos are unique and interesting. Thank you for your help.

[ChipTheMusicMan]

Very important lesson, Nick. Your examples really hammer that home. Oh, also...I'm currently working through your 60 Days To Crushing The Blues course - fun!

[maringalan]

It's great thanks ! I've been working on being flexin on the rhythm with patterns and scales too.
Though you had me confused with the term dissonance because for me the dissonance you find in jazz come essentialy frome the switching between onbeat and downbeat, not necesseraly adding triplet or 16th notes. Though it work too, in my opinion it is not the core of what makes us shake our head when we listen to jazz . So for example a good workout would be also to stay in 8th notes but trying to displace the accent and make it swing

[CharlesAustin]

It’s a great benefit here ..Thanks very much !! ‘Love the variety !! Just a thought about the notation Re the playing of 2 triplet 8ths on the beat: especially in your 2nd bar).. I’ve encountered those written as 2 16ths (followed by an 8th rest) which maybe, provides for a little more accent on those down beats..

[strat]

Love any and all rhythmic content! More exercises and such please!

[catrpillr]

Hi Nick. I enjoy your channel and videos such as this because it demonstrates actual practice instead of a polished final product. How do you recommend someone approach this kind of practice in a way that improves recall once I'm in a playing situation outside of the practice room?

[strat]

Any tips or tricks to practice interweaving triplets and sixteenth notes naturally? I have to hard switch my feeling for the rhythm to go between those

[georgesember]

I’m very interested in this subject. I have been trying to use accents on different parts of the measure, like the second and fourth of the measure. Since I can’t improvise, I’m trying to use these concepts to make the melody more interesting.

[irawardmusic]

This is a good one!
I started out on drums and developed a natural ear for rhythm but this opened up my thinking.
Using the same melody and playing it in different rhythms is good in many ways.
That last one sounded like a Bird line, nice :).
Thanks for sharing!

[thepianodad]

This is gold, thanks for the knowledge🙌🏾