TECHNIQUE PRIMERS :: how each part is played ====================================================================== GUITAR The relaxed skank Upstrokes on the and of every beat. Downbeats are muted: release fretting pressure, brush the strings, let the click land in the mute. Drill: one chord, count ONE and TWO and, two minutes at 90 BPM, accent the and. Then change chords every two beats. The fast skank Same as the relaxed skank but the wrist does all the work: elbow still, pick loose, strings brushed not dug. Drill: sixteen bars on one chord at 120 BPM, then 140, then 160, stopping the moment the shoulder tenses. Speed is relaxation. The mid tempo skank Upstroke skank with room to breathe: let the chord ring a hair longer before the mute. Drill: alternate two bars muted, two bars ringing, at 120 BPM. The one drop chop Short downstroke on beats 2 and 4, nothing else. Release pressure the instant you strike so the chord is a click with a pitch. The silence on 1 and 3 is the groove. Drill: metronome clicking only on 2 and 4, play with it for two minutes, then add the chords. The nylon chop One drop chop played with the fingers: thumb and index pinch the strings together on 2 and 4, warm and short. Drill: same as the one drop, softer. The palm mute chug Heel of the picking hand rests on the bridge saddles, pick digs in, all downstrokes. Chunk, not buzz. Drill: eight chugs on one chord then one open ring, repeat, at 100 BPM. Open the mute completely on the chorus. Thrash downpicking Every note downpicked from the wrist. Drill: one power chord, eighth notes, 120 BPM for thirty seconds, then plus five BPM each pass until the note loses definition. Back off five. That is your ceiling for today; it moves tomorrow. The acoustic chug Palm mute near the bridge on an acoustic, eighth notes, then lift the mute for the chorus. Drill: four bars muted, four bars open, keep the volume even. The gallop One beat is DA da da: an eighth note then two sixteenths, all downpicks except the last sixteenth if you must. Say it before you play it. Drill: one low string, 100 BPM, thirty seconds, plus five BPM per pass. The chord on beat one is the bell; the gallop is the horse. Tremolo picking Alternate picking as fast and light as possible on one string. Small motion from the wrist, shoulder loose, pick barely touching. Drill: sixteenths at 120 BPM for one minute, then 140, then 160. If it stutters, lighten the touch, do not push harder. Doom sustain One chord per bar, struck hard, allowed to bloom. Vibrato on beat three with the whole hand, slow and wide. Drill: play a bar, count to four slowly, do not touch the strings until the count ends. Patience is the technique. The clean ring Clean tone, every chord rings into the next; lift fingers late so notes overlap. Drill: change chords on the last eighth note of the bar and let the old chord hang. The breakdown Chugs with rests. The rests are counted, not felt. Drill: chug on 1, and of 1, 2 and, then nothing until 4. Say the empty beats. The stab One chord hit on beat one, then let it ring or mute it dead, nothing in between. Drill: hit, count four, hit. Match the drum machine, not your urge to fill space. The clean stab Stab on beat one with a little chorus and the neck pickup. Drill: same as the stab, prettier. Comping sevenths Short chord hits on beats 2 and 4, soft, thumb muting the low string. Drill: play the ii V I ten times at 70 BPM, then let the chords get shorter each pass. Fingerpicking, thumb and three Thumb takes the bass string, index the G, middle the B, ring the high e. The pattern in the tab is your order; keep the eighths dead even. Drill: 50 BPM, one chord, one minute, eyes closed after the first thirty seconds. Change chords on the bass note. The twinkle arpeggio Sixteenth notes across the top strings with the thumb holding the bass note. Drill: 60 BPM, one chord, keep every note the same volume; the ring finger is usually the quiet one, so make it loud on purpose for a week. The soft strum Full strum on 1 and 3, light upstrokes on the top three strings between. Ghost strums keep the wrist moving even when nothing sounds. Drill: mute the strings and just move for one minute, then let notes through. DRUMS onedrop: One drop: kick and cross stick together on beat three, nothing on beat one. Count out loud: one two THREE four. Hats even eighths. onedropsparse: Sparse one drop: quarter hats, rim click and kick on three. Let the room breathe. ska: Fast ska: snare on two and four, kick on one and three, hats eighths. Shoulders down, sticks low. Feels like cut time at speed. skalight: Light ska: same skeleton with rods or brushes. skamid: Mid ska: same skeleton, add a rimshot on four every fourth bar. skablast: Ska with a one bar blast in the bridge: practice the blast alone first, then drop it in. rockers: Rockers: kick one and three, snare two and four, straight eighth hats. Reggae rock backbone, play it slightly behind the click. rockersslow: Slow rockers: rimshot snare, hats soft. brushdrop: Brushes one drop: sweep the snare on the hat line, cross stick on three. brushhalf: Brushes half time: barely there. brushes: Brushes straight: sweep, tap two and four. boombap: Boom bap: lazy hats, kick pushes the and of two, play behind the beat. brushbap: Boom bap with brushes: same pocket, half the volume. trap: Trap: sixteenth hats with rolls on beat four, snare on three, kick syncopated. traphalf: Half time trap: snare on three, kick lands late. trapsparse: Sparse trap: quarter hats, one snare, kick at the edges. club: Four on the floor. The drop is a bar of silence. rockrap: Rock rap: eighth hats, double kick into two. halftime: Big half time: crash the chorus downbeats. dbeat: D-beat: snare on the ands, kick doubling. Fast and angry, arms loose. thrash: Thrash: constant eighth kicks, backbeat snare, ride on the chorus. Practice the kick alone first. metalcore: Metalcore: kick bursts follow the chugs. Learn the guitar rhythm on your kick before the kit. breakdown: Breakdown: half time, china instead of hats, kick with the chugs. blast: Blast beat: kick and snare alternating sixteenths. Start at 120 BPM for twenty seconds, add ten BPM per day. blastsoft: Blast under reverb: ride not hats, lighter hands, same speed. doublebass: Marching double bass: sixteenth kicks the whole bar. Heel-toe or ankle, start at 100 BPM, thirty seconds. softdouble: Double bass at half volume, entering like a pulse. gallop: Gallop kick: eighth then two sixteenths, snare two and four. Say DA da da with the feet. march: War march: snare eighths, roll on beat four, floor tom with the kick. doom: Doom: quarter hats, snare on three, crash every downbeat. Count slow bars out loud. funeral: Funeral doom: half note hats, one kick, one snare. Let the room ring between hits. doomheart: Heartbeat doom: kick pairs like a pulse, snare on three. sludge: Sludge: half time, behind the beat, sway. heartbeat: Floor tom heartbeat only: two hits, twice a bar. claps: Handclaps on two and four, the whole room. clapslate: Handclaps a sixteenth late on purpose. Commit to the bit. urn: Coffee urn as the pulse. Mic it. Do not laugh during takes. BASS eighths: Root eighths locked to the kick, fingers alternating. follow: Mirror the guitar rhythm exactly; if the guitar rests, you rest. 808: Long held root, one syncopated re-hit. Play it on a bass with the tone rolled off, or on an 808. 808slide: Held root, slide into the last beat. The slide is the hook. reggae: Rest on beat one. Every note after the rest is a gift. reggaewalk: Walk root, third, fifth, sixth under the chop. walk: Walking ska line: root, third, fifth, sixth. Keep it bouncing, never rushing. rootfive: Root on one, fifth on three, soft, under the acoustic. doom: One note per bar. Let it bloom. dub: Deep and sparse; the reverb fills what you leave out. reggaesparse: Root then fifth with plenty of air. HORNS AND MELODICA The cousin's rule: pick two notes, play them exactly on the offbeats, breathe on the downbeats. Confidence is a technique. Melodica: breath is the volume knob. Phrase from the pentatonic, one take mindset: play it like you cannot go back, because Destroy cannot. Trumpet parts are written in concert pitch with the Bb reading beside them. Bb trumpet reads a whole step up. THE THREE RULES OF PRACTICE 1. Sixty percent tempo until it is clean four times in a row. 2. Climb in steps of five to ten BPM. 3. Fix the transition, not the whole song.