Bursts

Summary: Play parts of a passage at half speed, and parts at full speed.   ☆☆☆


Playing a short section of a lick at half speed (a.k.a. half time) can let your brain “lock in” to the rhythm that the lick should fit into. For example, if you play the following 2-beat lick for several beats, your mind can quickly wander, muscles tire, and you lose accuracy:

options scale=0.85 font-style=italic tabstave notation=true notes =|: :16 6-8-6-5/2 6-8-6-5/2 =:|

Sixteenths

Playing a short section of the lick at half speed lets you relax for the fast attempt, and you can compare your relaxation of the fast attempt to the slow portion, and try to sustain the relaxation. Also, you can let you really feel the beat, which helps “fit the playing to the time allotted”, if that makes sense.

options scale=0.85 font-style=italic tabstave notation=true notes =|: :q 6-8-6-5/2 | :16 6-8-6-5/2 6-8-6-5/2 :h 6/2 =:|

Sixteenths, with bursts

For sextuplet licks, try playing parts of the lick in slower triples:

options scale=0.85 font-style=italic tabstave notation=true time=12/8 notes :16 =|: 8-5-7-8-7-5/1 8-5-7-8-7-5/1 =:|

Sextuplets

And with bursts:

options scale=0.85 font-style=italic tabstave notation=true time=12/8 notes =|: :8 8-5-7-8-7-5/1 :16 8-5-7-8-7-5/1 8-5-7-8-7-5/1 =:|

Sextuplets, with bursts

In the mid-90’s Paul Gilbert had advised guitarists learning sweep picking to work on small sections, and ensure rhythmic accuracy. The lick he suggested used this idea of “bursts”, though he didn’t call it that:

options scale=0.85 font-style=italic tabstave notation=true notes =|: :8 8d/1 5u/1 6u/2 5u/3 8d/1 5u/1 6u/2 5u/3 | notes :16 8d/1 5u/1 6u/2 5u/3 8d/1 5u/1 6u/2 5u/3 8d/1 5u/1 6u/2 5u/3 8d/1 5u/1 6u/2 5u/3 =:|

The trouble with bursts

One small issue with bursts to be aware of is that it creates a slightly different set of conditions for your nervous system.

For example, if you’re playing a steady stream of 16ths:

options scale=0.85 font-style=italic tabstave notation=true tablature=false notes =|: :16 5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5/1 =:|

That’s quite different for your nerves than playing this:

options scale=0.85 font-style=italic tabstave notation=true tablature=false notes =|: :q 5-5-5/1 :16 5-5-5-5/1 =:|

In the first example, you’re doing a “steady-state” motion, with regular movements and impulses. In the second, you’re starting and stopping, more or less, and it can create subtle difficulties. For example, when I first started using bursts, I’d actually start them from nothing, like so:

options scale=0.85 font-style=italic tabstave notation=true tablature=false notes =|: :q ## :16 5-5-5-5/1 :q 5/1 ## =:|

My bursts always started incredibly sloppy – I was missing notes, out of time, etc. After careful observation, I realized that during steady-state picking, I had a very slight engagement or activation with my picking arm triceps, which I figured was stabilizing my arm. When I slightly engaged my triceps before starting the burst, everything started to work again. This engagement/activation may be a weak point in my technique, I’m not sure! But at least it illustrates the potential difficulties of bursts.

I still believe bursts are potentially a useful technique, but if you’re still working on your picking motion, you may want your bursts to be slightly longer, e.g. 2 beats of 16 notes (8 pickstrokes). The longer duration ensures that you can get into the rhythm and feel of the motion, but it’s still short enough that your mind and body won’t try to introduce extra extraneous effort in the motion.