Trip-a-lets

**Jonathan Peck** · Oct-31-2006, 9:51am

Does anybody have any exercises for praticing triplets?

-jonathan

**thiggins** · Oct-31-2006, 9:57am

Learn and play jigs. Then play them over top of 4/4.
Switch between 6/8 and 4/4. Listen to Casey Driessen's new
CD. He's a master at this.

Tim

**adgefan** · Oct-31-2006, 10:12am

I got some good advice the other day. I thought I couldn't move the pick fast enough to play triplets properly, and always use hammer-ons/pull-offs instead. But I was told to think of triplets as a slow tremelo rather than a series of fast single notes. It's the most simple thing but suddenly triplets seem so much easier.

**jmcgann** · Oct-31-2006, 10:31am

3 good ways:

1) down/up/down down/up/down. Also known as "jig picking", Puts the emphasis in groups of 3.

2) down/up/down/ u/d/u- alternate picking grouped in 6's or 2's...this is what you hear in the blazing Theile/Marshall stuff

3) down/slur/up- a great trick from Sam Bush; you hammer (or pull, depending on the direction of the line) the MIDDLE note of the triplet...so you have to finger a descending scale so that you don't get stuck on an open string, but it's very effective, and much less like typing than picking every note

**fatt-dad** · Oct-31-2006, 10:39am

Learn Harvest Home. That'll work up some triplets for you!

f-d

**jmcgann** · Oct-31-2006, 11:18am

Harvest Home is an Irish hornpipe; most hornpipes are great for not only triplets but arpeggios too...I'd also suggest the Strathspeys from Scotland; they tend to have plenty o' trip-o-lets too...

**Jonathan Peck** · Oct-31-2006, 2:30pm

Originally Posted by (adgefan @ Oct. 31 2006, 11:12)

I got some good advice the other day. I thought I couldn't move the pick fast enough to play triplets properly, and always use hammer-ons/pull-offs instead. But I was told to think of triplets as a slow tremelo rather than a series of fast single notes. It's the most simple thing but suddenly triplets seem so much easier.

Thanks,

The song I was going to tackle is notated in triples, but when I listen to it it sounds like tremeloClose By

I'm going to go with the tremelo feel instead of trying to count it off

**Jonathan Peck** · Oct-31-2006, 2:43pm

Originally Posted by (jmcgann @ Oct. 31 2006, 11:31)

2) down/up/down/ u/d/u- alternate picking grouped in 6's or 2's...this is what you hear in the blazing Theile/Marshall stuff

I've got a few TAB's of Thile breaks where he does this. I've been preparing myself to start working on these more advanced versions of some tunes that I know and thought if I could work on some triplet exercises before hand, it might go a little easier....but what the heck, I'll just take my time and go at it it slow and use it as practice material.

-jonathan

**twaaang** · Oct-31-2006, 4:36pm

Another vote for Harvest Home: the beauty of it is that the triplets are embedded in an overall 4/4 setting, so you have to deliberately switch from eight-to-the-bar mode to the triplets. So in that respect it's more challenging than regular jigs, especially if (like me) your jigging pick-control is based on a faithful duddud approach. When you have Harvest Home under control, I recommend The Laird of Drumblaire for a much longer trip-a-let burst over a wider range of the fingerboard. (You can hear it on one of the Bothy Band albums.) -- Paul

**MandoJon** · Nov-01-2006, 3:39am

Just sing the song as 'diddlies'

Lots of people have lots of ways of 'getting' the rhythm (often involving the names of fruit). But if you're learning by ear the just sing in a 'diddly' style and you'll hear the rhythm.

So, for a nice folky 12/8 rhythm, sing with me - all together now: "| diddly dee di dee di diddly | diddly diddly diddly dee | etc.

(Next time we'll do it with feeling)

**kudzugypsy** · Nov-01-2006, 5:52am

i have a question about counting triplets in notation-

- i have always counted them mentally as TRIP-A-LET until my violin teacher stopped me on a piece saying it sounded like i was holding the TRIP part to long before releaseing to the A-LET, thus it had a dotted feel.
so i am experimenting with the old Mel Bay tip of "1-TRIP-LET, 2-TRIP-LET, etc
anyway, its interesting how that one tiny difference actually fixed the problem.

**angrymandolinist** · Nov-01-2006, 10:24am

Having a cruddy memory, I can sometimes forget what beat I'm on when I count "trip-a-let" rather than 1-trip-let 2-trip-let etc.

**twaaang** · Nov-01-2006, 5:42pm

Trip-a-lots! -- Paul

**MandoJon** · Nov-03-2006, 3:02am

Originally Posted by

i have a question about counting triplets in notation

Diddly
Ta-te-ti (I got this one years ago out of a beginner's book on how to play Irish Mandolin)
Strawberry

The thing I like about the first two is they can help with the 'derivatives' triplets for instance when you've got a rest in the middle or at the end:

Rest in the middle:
Dee di
Taa Ti

Rest at the end:
diddle
TaTe

The other nice thing is that 'diddles' and 'tateti' is that you can sing the tune as fast as needs be in your head without getting tongue-tied. If you know the tune then just sing it with emphasis and you don't to count consiously either, just feel the pulse of the rhythm.

**AlanN** · Nov-03-2006, 6:37am

Forget the name of the tune, but there is a hornpipe on Dave Peters' Art in America recording that he just nails. The 2nd time around, he does the B part in all triplets. It sounds like he is picking all the notes, not doing hammer/pulls, but whatever he is doing, it is tough. To keep the accents right is a challenge.

Alan Bibey usu. picks all the notes when he triplets.

**MandoJon** · Nov-06-2006, 8:06am

There's a million ways to count it but take a 12/8 tune (say) 1-2-3, 2-2-3, 3-2-3, 4-2-3.

Now think 1-2-3, 2-2-3, 3-2-3, 4-2-3 and actually think the emphasis (shout it in your head). I'm not perfect but this helps me.

(When I mentioned triplets with rests I was slightly misusing the term and was refering to a tune in 6,9,12/8 time where, depending on the swing, you might not have all the notes in a group of three)

**ald** · Nov-07-2006, 5:50am

I've long had a problem with triplets when crossing strings. For instance, I like to put triplets into the second part of The mason's apron but have never managed to achieve 100% accuracy (messing up the triplet, failing to gain contact with the string to be tremeloed in time, etc., )when crossing strings, although the triplets themselves are reasonable. Any tips, hints on remedying this shortcoming?

**Peter Hackman** · Nov-07-2006, 2:26pm

Originally Posted by (jmcgann @ Oct. 31 2006, 11:31)

3 good ways:

1) down/up/down down/up/down. Also known as "jig picking", Puts the emphasis in groups of 3.

2) down/up/down/ u/d/u- alternate picking grouped in 6's or 2's...this is what you hear in the blazing Theile/Marshall stuff

3) down/slur/up- a great trick from Sam Bush; you hammer (or pull, depending on the direction of the line) the MIDDLE note of the triplet...so you have to finger a descending scale so that you don't get stuck on an open string, but it's very effective, and much less like typing than picking every note

I always feel like cheating when I use hammerons
on mando; also there's a weak feel to them (the guitar
is a different matter altogether).

I used to mistake Thile's approach on triplets for sixteenths
because of the flowing accenting. Now I will try it out.

I'm fond of d (one course) - # # d-u (next higher course),
or d-d (split-string) - u (same or next higher
course).

**jmcgann** · Nov-07-2006, 11:50pm

Originally Posted by

I always feel like cheating when I use hammerons
on mando; also there's a weak feel to them

Sam Bush sounds pretty strong to me...it takes a good bit of work to get the slurs (hammers or pulls) to sound as strong as the picked notes.

I don't think it's cheating; horn players don't tongue every note, fiddle players don't attack every note with the bow. Picking every note all the time (at the same dynamic level) sounds mechanical to me. Some notes are good to "ghost" or "swallow". For turns in Irish music, I use that kind of articulation often.

**Peter Hackman** · Nov-08-2006, 5:32am

Originally Posted by (jmcgann @ Nov. 08 2006, 00:50)

Originally Posted by

I always feel like cheating when I use hammerons
on mando; also there's a weak feel to them

Sam Bush sounds pretty strong to me...it takes a good bit of work to get the slurs (hammers or pulls) to sound as strong as the picked notes.

I don't think it's cheating; horn players don't tongue every note, fiddle players don't attack every note with the bow. Picking every note all the time (at the same dynamic level) sounds mechanical to me. Some notes are good to "ghost" or "swallow". For turns in Irish music, I use that kind of articulation often.

I was thinking specifically of single-direction triplets; I certainly
use hammerons for effect, e.g. in steelguitarlike doublestops.
And pulls can be made very strong with little effort.

The secret with hammered triplets seems to be to space them
very evenly.

**AlanN** · Nov-08-2006, 5:56am

Joe Carr is a good puller-offer

To string these together into a cohesive pattern takes some skill. I was listening to Tony Rice from the 80's and Richard Greene did a flurry of these on one tune, maybe Mar West, where he gets this descending thing going, very effective.

**jmcgann** · Nov-08-2006, 8:14am

Sam's deal is to use the slurred note (hammer or pull) as the middle note of the triplet- it lets you keep the alternate down/up used for 8th notes in effect for notes 1 and 3, with 2 getting the slur. I love that sound...

**AlanN** · Nov-08-2006, 8:25am

Yes, that sound is way cool.

I mentioned that Bibey picks all the notes. On Black-Eyed Susie (off a Baucom-Bibey-Reid recording), the tune is in B. In measure 2, it goes to the E chord. He does 0-2-3-4-3-2-0, all in the space of 3 quarter notes, all picked with alternating strokes. It is very clean, and it has a different vibe than the Bush way.

Both good, both hard

**Peter Hackman** · Nov-08-2006, 9:18am

Originally Posted by (jmcgann @ Nov. 08 2006, 09:14)

Sam's deal is to use the slurred note (hammer or pull) as the middle note of the triplet- it lets you keep the alternate down/up used for 8th notes in effect for notes 1 and 3, with 2 getting the slur. I love that sound...

Done that for years, it's really an obvious shortcut, but it
never felt quite right. But it could be
more of a physical thing.