Note lengths

Music Lesson: Entering the Piece

The first challenge we've got on this piece is actually getting into it. Those three quavers come after beat three. It's what's called an anacrusis.

Introduction

The introduction has four beats, and then the next bar has three beats. So it's:

• 1, 2, 3, 4.
• 1, 2, 3.

Da, da, da da.

Let's try and do that now. I'm going to play all the quavers short. See what that sounds like:

• 1, 2, 3, 4.
• 1, 2.

Making all the quavers short makes this piece sound rather different. It doesn't sound bluesy anymore. It doesn't sound rocky. It sounds spiky, the wrong kind of style.

Adding Longs and Shorts

Let's now add some of the longs and shorts:

• 1, 2, 3, 4.
• 1 do.

By adding the longs and shorts, it starts to have a groove. We need to dig into that groove. We need to really feel those four rock beats.

It's quite slow, this. It's down and dirty. It's four beats in a bar. Bluesy rock.

See if you can copy me with the first phrase while really digging into those beats:

• 1, 2, 3, 4.
• 1, 2.

Now you have a go. I'll count you in:

• 1, 2, 3, four.
• 1, 2, 3.

Now we've got the shorts and longs in that first phrase.

Looking at the Last Phrase

Let's take a look at the last phrase. It's the last line, including the three quavers leading into that, another anacrusis.

You'll notice that there are a lot of phrase marks or slurs written across the top of those notes. So you can see that something is going to be different there. It's going to sound different:

• 1, 2, 3, 4.
• 1, 2, 3.

You could hear then that the notes of the quavers were long. They sound a lot different from the ones we were playing short earlier.

They still need to be emphasized, though. Note the emphasis that I'm playing with:

• 1, 2, 3, 4.
• 1, 2.

Even that last bar, doo da da da da da, that last beat needs to be right on that fourth beat and played with a hard tongue and placed beautifully on those long notes.

You can really play through them right to the end, giving them full value and full intensity. That helps to keep that grit in this bluesy style.

Listen to me do that:

• Three, four.
• One, two, three.