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Hello all, I have a simple question. Should we be feeling the 1 & 3 or feeling the 2 & 4? And this is a questions for more up tempo tunes, say for e.g. Cherokee etc. Thank you.
I know many times I prefer to feel a fast tune like Cherokee in 2 and not 4 because it is cranking by in 4 and if you try to feel it that way you can sound a bit frantic and rushed. I tell students to feel it in 2 and the difference is immediate. It's more relaxed. Swings more. The ideas are better and more varied, etc..... Since feeling it in 2 is basically 1 & 3 then that is my answer to your question..........Hello all, I have a simple question. Should we be feeling the 1 & 3 or feeling the 2 & 4? And this is a questions for more up tempo tunes, say for e.g. Cherokee etc. Thank you.
While that's GENERALLY true, tempo still has a lot to do with it, as some songs are simply too fast and are instead going into cut time (I can't imaging trying to count Kim in 4). Also keep in mind the different sub genres. IE Latin charts tend to have more even emphasis across all four beats than swing. Manteca's a great example for hearing the difference.I always thought that the important beats were given first by the style of the music (with the general rule of thumb that classical music would give more importance to 1 and 3, and jazz, rock, ... would give more importance to 2 and 4), with the additional subtlety of the eventual alterations caused by what the composer/player intend to say. Was that completely wrong ?
When I was listening to this duo version of Cherokee I was hearing the 1 & 3 more. I feel it's a little easier in a duo scenario to have a handle on the time when feeling in a 1 & 3 rhythm/beat. Metronome work on the 1 & 3 is a new practice tech for me. i use to always have the metronome on the 2 & 4. i suppose it does not hurt to do both.The faster the tune, the more likely you are to rest on the first part of the measure with a new chord, at least until you get used to it - and it does depend on the song too. For example, the melody of 'Cherokee' starts on the one or three for most of the phrases. I think 'Cherokee' is one of those tunes that are certainly '1-3'. BTW, that player in the vid has definitely spent years listening to Stan Getz and it shows. Very nice.