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NOODLE AROUND | DAYS 05, 12, 19, 26

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<< Back to the Tutorial PagePractice Workbook open to the Noodle Around Exercise

The goal here is to create a little something spontaneous each and every week.

 

You don’t want the act of practicing to become procrastination for actually making music. I’ll often come back to these little noodles and find many of them to be a perfect jumping off point for a new song - but don’t pressure yourself to create a masterpiece here. That’s not what we’re here for. Let it tumble out of you without judgement. Easier said than done for sure, but the more you do it, the more comfortable it will feel.

I know, this one looks real intense at first. Don’t be scared, it’s mostly reference tables of chords and rhythms to experiment with when you feel like you're in a rut rhythmically. Try a different one each week or go on your own journey.

*Note: If you’re just crushing it and find you’re on songwriting roll, there’s space back on pages 48-57 to keep that train going.

HARMONIC RHYTHM

A note on Harmonic Rhythm section, on a basic level the top bar with the "1+2+3+4+" represents a full measure in a song, split up into 16th notes. Directly underneath is an example using the chords C, F, and G. Each alternating black and white block on the graph represents a chord change so you can see in that first example the C chord last for the two beats 1+2+, then it switches to F for one beat "3+" and finally ends on the G for the last beat "4+". 

With that in mind you can use any chord progression you've chosen either within that section on the left, or one that came from noodling on an instrument and give the different progressions a try. For example using that same "C, F, G" chord progression you can scan down all the different options that have 3 blocks (as you have 3 chords in this progression) and try out the different variations. 
So then if you're using a 2 chord progression you'd choose one with only two blocks such as that very first one, and if you're using a 4 chord progression you'd choose a graph with 4 blocks - the last example in illustration photo below. 

Harmonic Rhythm graph explainer


 

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