hemiolas

[syan]

Hi all,

Hope it's ok to post this here. It was either here or Music Theory and I'm more interested in how to play these than the underlying theory behind them. I get the basic idea, which is you're playing a sequence where the number of notes is sort of uneven with the beats so it keeps switching the starting note of the sequence. But like, does anyone have any advice on coming up with these? Like, I understand the idea, but if you were like, "Ok, I'm going to make a hemiola" where would you start? I basically just want to start experimenting with these to help get that sound in my head, so to speak.

And if any of you guys have some really cool ones you want to show off, that'd be cool too :)

thanks

[mattblack850]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiola


Try this, there's a small piece of notation that shows this technique in it's best light.

[guitarded]

i cant read sheet music and im very interested in this someone please elaborate in further detail.

[jade_bodhi]

I get the basic idea, which is you're playing a sequence where the number of notes is sort of uneven with the beats so it keeps switching the starting note of the sequence.

This is an interesting topic because it sounds like you are referring to something I have been doing in my solos for years without knowing it was even a specific technique: I play arpeggio riffs (three-note arpeggios) over a 4/4 rhythm, which means it plays out like this over, say, an arpeggiated Em chord:

B, G, E, B
G, E, B, G
E, B, G, E

Each time the note played on the first beat changes, though its just arpeggiating.

It's hard for me to describe what I mean. Is this what you refer to as a hemiola? I notice each phrase begins and ends with the same note (never quite realized that before, though I've been playing it for years!), and it gives the solo a kind of syncopated or off-kilter sound.

Jade

[oRg]

Hemoilas are mainly used in compound meters (6/8,9/8,12/8) to give a compund meters a more simple meter feel. I'll upload a powertab of what I'm talking about. Basically hemiolas are the opposite of triplets. Triplets crunch 3 notes into the space of 2, while hemiolas stretch 2 notes into a space of 3. Triplets you'll see in simple meters alot (4/4,5/4,6/4) while hemiolas will be used more in compound meters. They're normally notated like triplets except instead of a 3, they have a 2. But powertab doesn't use hemiolas very well so I had to use them as 2:3 polyrhythms (they're the same thing just notated differently). Like said before, they add syncopation to music, just like triplets.