The Vinnie Challenge

**zmorton** · January 10th, 2005, 05:12 AM

I thought I'd share an interesting exercise that one of my former rudimental instructors taught me; something I like to call The Vinnie Challenge.

First off you need Vinnie's solo album; specifically track #3 "Chauncy" and just a practice pad and some sticks. Play this pattern over and over in a triplet rhythm along with the track. (RlrrllRllRlrrll) The capitol R's are accented and this pattern goes right with the bass line.

Now when the tune switches to 4/4 keep this pattern going at the same speed but now it's in a 16th note subdivision. The accents will not follow the music but if you keep this patten going when the original time signature of 5/4 fades back in, and the 4/4 fades out, you'll still be with the original 5/4. It's pretty tricky keeping the pattern over the 4/4.

In doing this I actually discovered that on the very first bar of the 4/4 section it's actually not a 4/4 bar but a 17/16 bar with a 16th note breakdown of 5,4,4,4.

It was a late night when we figured this one out, haha.

Enjoy.

[ January 10, 2005 01:22 AM: Message edited by: Zak Morton ]

**PocketPlayer** · January 10th, 2005, 07:24 AM

Hey Zak
You pretty much summed up a lot of how I practice. I do this to my favorite CD's and focus on a particular tune. Once I "get it" I then go to the drum machine and either slow or speed the tempo to get away from the CD tempo, continuing the pattern as before.

Somehow your thread encouraged me.

**matricks** · January 10th, 2005, 11:45 AM

I have worked a little with that concept that Pocket is talking about, but instead of just using the slowed down click, i THEN slow the tune down in Sound Forge... yeah baby!

What is killer about the Sound Forge is this:

Say you play a tune, maybe, 10-20 times. Really 20+ times, probably. REALLY have it in your memory. Then, you slow it down in Sound Forge by about 15-25%... OH MAN!!! To me, i call this 'latency reduction'. Since you know the tune very well, and you are comfortable with it; for some reason when you execute something and it is about to be that tad bit off (when you are playing the slow version), since your mind and body know the tune, cognitively and kinesthetically, you find yourself AUTOMATICALLY correcting yourself, without thought of it... that extra little time you give yourself by slowing the tune down gives you just enough time to pull together what you may have missed on. It is the single weirdest thing i have found out about myself on the drums. That extra time that you get when you slow down by that 15-25% REALLY irons out the kinks in your tightness. It is like you knew the tune before, but it may have been on the verge of being 'in there'... that little extra bump down in the tempo gives you that time to correct those wanna-be mistakes. You can feel your mind and body pulling it together as you practice... tis hard to explain, really! It is more than practicing slow, it is learning something, a song, then teaching yourself how to reduce the latency on the spot.
Trust me, try it... great stuff.

Back to the topic!!! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Wow, that right there Zak, that is some serious delving into a tune... props for that one! Good ears and focus you must have! Ok, i gotta try this now... i will let you know how i do!

**Muphkin Man** · January 10th, 2005, 11:55 AM

Cool exercises Zak and matricks.

I remember reading a Vinnie interview somewhere where he talked about that 17/16 bar, and how it was caused by a computer glitch!

[ January 10, 2005 07:56 AM: Message edited by: Muphkin Man ]

**Greaseleg** · January 10th, 2005, 03:39 PM

Yo Matricks, thats a cool idea. I actually speed things up 10 to 20%, so when its played at the real tempo, it feels like relaxed and greasy. But I like your idea too.

**matricks** · January 11th, 2005, 10:47 AM

I think your idea, Grease, is a good one too. I think those approaches would compliment each other quite well.

If you really wanna groove hard as hell and own it by playing it exactly as you want, whether it be greasy, stiff, in between, whatever... yeah, work EVERY tempo! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

Bumping it up would a few notches fast, i am sure, would serve a great purpose also [img]cool.gif[/img]

**Cameron_Mahoney** · January 12th, 2005, 12:58 AM

Originally posted by Muphkin Man:
Cool exercises Zak and matricks.

I remember reading a Vinnie interview somewhere where he talked about that 17/16 bar, and how it was caused by a computer glitch!

[ January 10, 2005 07:56 AM: Message edited by: Muphkin Man ]

Yeah, in clinic he says he was messing around with a loop, and it kept getting cut off, so he decided "hey, that's something Zappa would do... say 'let's see people dance to that!' and I thought it was funny, so I kept it that way" or something like that.
EDIT: I believe it's "Attack of the 20 lbs pizza" I'm thinking of; not Chauncy.

[ January 11, 2005 08:58 PM: Message edited by: Cameron Mahoney ]