Eighth Note Triplets Options

[Phil66]

Hello folks,

As part of my injury rehab I'm learning THIS lesson as it's not too demanding on my left arm/shoulder, as a side lesson Gab suggested THIS lesson.

One thing that is confusing me, and please don't say "Just play your guitar" I have a need to understand. My question is this, Why are eighth note triplets called "eighth notes" when there are twelve of them???? Shouldn't they be called twelfth note triplets? I thought eighth notes lasted for an eighth of a bar???

I think this is the kind of thing that makes music theory difficult for me to take in.

I've asked Gab in my thread but I've posted it here to help others too.

Cheers

Phil

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

This post has been edited by Phil66: Oct 6 2020, 08:50 PM

[Storm Linnebjerg]

Hello folks,

As part of my injury rehab I'm learning THIS lesson as it's not too demanding on my left arm/shoulder, as a side lesson Gab suggested THIS lesson.

One thing that is confusing me, and please don't say "Just play your guitar" I have a need to understand. My question is this, Why are eighth note triplets called "eighth notes" when there are twelve of them???? Shouldn't they be called twelfth note triplets? I thought eighth notes lasted for an eighth of a bar???

I've asked Gab in my thread but I've posted it here to help others too.

Cheers

Phil

They are not really called "eighth notes" though, they're called "eighth note triplets".
And if they were 12-note triplets you would have 18 twelve-notes! But twelve-notes are not a thing anyway. How would you flag a 12th-note in notation? Mathematically of course it could probably be considered a thing.

It's in the name "triplet", really, for me at least. Or rather that it means playing 3 notes in the time of two. Whether that is three 16th-notes in the time of two 16-the notes (16th-note triplets) or 8th note triplets. Or quarter-note triplets for that matter. Any note value can be a triplet, though some are not used that much.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

This post has been edited by Caelumamittendum: Oct 6 2020, 09:01 PM

[Phil66]

It's in the name "triplet", really, for me at least. Or rather that it means playing 3 notes in the time of two. Whether that is three 16th-notes in the time of two 16-the notes (16th-note triplets) or 8th note triplets. Or quarter-note triplets for that matter. Any note value can be a triplet, though some are not used that much.

Thanks Ben,

I don't really get the "playing two notes in the time of two", in this instance three notes are played per quarter note . In my head it would make more sense to call them quarter note triplets as each triplet is played on a quarter note. At least then there is some relationship going on. With the term "eighth note triplet", I can't see anything to do with eight anywhere.

Cheers buddy

Phil

Did you see my attempt at explaining it?

I was typing my reply as you were typing that I didn't do the rules in the chronological order, don't know why.

See above.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

This post has been edited by Phil66: Oct 7 2020, 07:18 AM

[Storm Linnebjerg]

Thanks Ben,

I don't really get the "playing two notes in the time of two", in this instance three notes are played per quarter note . In my head it would make more sense to call them quarter note triplets as each triplet is played on a quarter note. At least then there is some relationship going on. With the term "eighth note triplet", I can't see anything to do with eight anywhere.

Cheers buddy

Phil

It's three notes in the time of two though. Not two in two. Two in two would not be a triplet. A quarter note triplet would be three quarter notes in the time of two quarter notes though, so using that term gets some other note values mixed.



Essentially a triplet is 3 notes of a specific note value played over the same duration of 2 notes of the same specific note value.

EDIT: You could also look at it this way: A triplet is 2/3 of that given note value notated by the flag of the rhythm value. I think the answer to your original question of why it can't be twelve-notes is because of the way we notate rhythm with the flags. 8th notes having one line, 16th notes two and so on. Our rhythm notation is in it's simplest form powers of two - 1 (whole), 2 (half), 4 (quarters), 8 (eighth), 16, 32 and so on. To notate a note lasting a "twelvth note" you'd have to notate it in a way that would make sense, and I personally think a triplet rhythm notation makes sense for that.

I was going my reply as you were typing that I didn't do the rules in the chronological order, don't know why.

See above.

No worries, thought you'd missed it

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

This post has been edited by Caelumamittendum: Oct 7 2020, 06:39 AM

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Excellent explanation Cael! This graphic explains it very clearly.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!