four crossed wands
Junior Member
Hi,
Lately I've been working a lot on keeping quarter, dotted quarter, and clave patterns on my hi-hat pedal, as I'm starting to find this often adds more interesting rhythmic counterpoint to the mix than playing eighths with the foot. But when I play in odd times, say 5/8 or 7/8, I'm having a hard time deciding how to place my pedal notes:
- playing quarters straight through has a cool, smooth sound but puts each bar in contrast with its neighbor;
- playing the accents sparsely (imagine our 7/8 is broken up as 4 and 3, I'd play quarter quarter dotted-quarter) leaves at least one uneven gap;
- and filling in the gaps with eighth notes (quarter quarter quarter eight, or quarter quarter eight eight eight) can sound too busy, and maybe even a little unsteady, emphasizing the off-ness of the odd time.
These problems are exacerbated when it's a signature like 11/16.
They're all useful tools, but which one do you prefer? Which one do you think helps the band stay in time better?
Lately I've been working a lot on keeping quarter, dotted quarter, and clave patterns on my hi-hat pedal, as I'm starting to find this often adds more interesting rhythmic counterpoint to the mix than playing eighths with the foot. But when I play in odd times, say 5/8 or 7/8, I'm having a hard time deciding how to place my pedal notes:
- playing quarters straight through has a cool, smooth sound but puts each bar in contrast with its neighbor;
- playing the accents sparsely (imagine our 7/8 is broken up as 4 and 3, I'd play quarter quarter dotted-quarter) leaves at least one uneven gap;
- and filling in the gaps with eighth notes (quarter quarter quarter eight, or quarter quarter eight eight eight) can sound too busy, and maybe even a little unsteady, emphasizing the off-ness of the odd time.
These problems are exacerbated when it's a signature like 11/16.
They're all useful tools, but which one do you prefer? Which one do you think helps the band stay in time better?