Why practice scales in 16th notes?
I have been practicing scales. I started with quarter notes and then moved on to eighth notes, just to change it up. I have been building up my speed with this. Today, I tried doing 16th notes, and I noticed my max bpm was about half of my max bpm on 8th notes (this makes total sense, as I am fitting in twice as many notes). It made me question: is there a real reason for doing eighth notes vs. 16th notes (or 32nd, 64th, for that matter)? These are just arbitrary divisions in time, right? Any multiple of 4 would work just as well, right?
I can understand why practicing triplets is necessary, as it's a different division of time.
From a practical standpoint, how fast should I get? Generally, in what bpm range do most blues songs fall?
If I could do _________ (triplets, 16th notes, eighth notes, etc.) at 100-110 bpm, would that be fast enough for most songs on the stage?
Hello Marc. Try for eighths at 200bpm, triplets at 110bpm, and sixteenths at 95bpm.
Hello Marc. It's a good idea to practice triplets and sixteenths. Triplets are used everywhere (both swing eighth and straight eighth grooves) and sixteen notes are more commonly used in straight eighth grooves. You are correct in regards to subdivisions, but it's always best to play what the actual end result will be.