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Re: Tips & Licks

Paul,

Believe me... I feel the pain. By all appearances, I am it for cajun music in Eugene, OR. For me, it's been a long, lonely journey but I love the music so much.

Some of what is said has merit. You really are there in the heart of this music. Get thy self to the regular jam up the road at Savoy Music. Gobs... the Blue Moon Saloon is right there where you can sit (or stand) and see what they are doing. Nobody is gonna put this on a plate for you. It takes work. Lots of it. I've been at this hard for 7 years now and am just now starting to get a clue.

Okay... I'm gonna challenge you since you stood up. Sort out the triplets. I hear folks talk about them, but I got no clue. Learn about triplets and post a video on them. I want to know. You want folks to give to you - well... pay it forward.

There...

John in Oregon

Re: Tips & Licks

I still have no idea what people mean by triplets.

Re: Tips & Licks

@Bryan: A triplet is omly possible with a triangle

Re: Tips & Licks

Ron, there would'nt be much time to work on embellishments if you had triplets!

Re: Tips & Licks

Re: Tips & Licks

Bryan.. an example is this recording of Marc Savoy.. That cool little riffle that he does... first one at 23 second mark.



I've heard folks refer to this as a triplet. You do it a 6 seconds and 9 seconds on the Tolam Waltz



For the life of me... I can't figure this out.

John in Oregon

Re: Tips & Licks

Well, if that what everyone calls a triplet, it's just a few fast notes in combination with a bellows change. The 5,6,7 buttons are tailor made for this. If not mistaken, I think that video by Wilson Savoy may delve into that some.

I'd call it a trill, not a triplet

I would say that the lick in the video is not a triplet, rather, it is a trill.

A triplet is three notes dividing up a single beat. But in the video, it is a sequence of 4 notes, not 3. At least, that's what it sounds like to me.

Triplets

Triplets are three notes replacing one in a waltz usually but also in 4/4 time. In a waltz = 3/4 time, 1-2-3 becomes 123-123-123 where the note is divided into three parts. It is that great bunch of licks that makes Cajun accordion sound so friggin' cool in the hands of a skilled player. Yeah, I'm a bit mystified myself. Ray Abshire is a whiz at playing them.

Re: Triplets

At link#2 some theory about triplets.
A lot of theory and music notation, but it's understandable.
Takes nine minutes.

Re: Triplets

9 minutes is a lot of time in this modern age. I'm not patient enough for this.
I would say triplet is a group of three small notes that you can sing as "diddely".
For instance in a waltz: /daaa daaa diddely/daaa daaa diddely/ etc:
The last beats in this case are triplets.
I think/hope this explains it all. No notation needed.

Re: Triplets

Well done Peer Thanks
Is this how it is in a two step daaa diddely/daaa diddely ?
In the video and also on other sites a triplet is playing three notes in the same time as two notes.
I think I do them the same way as you wrote

Triplets

The way I see it:

If you count three notes in a measure (in a waltz), I'd say the triplet covers one count/beat , be it the first, second or third.

In a blues the same thing; if you count two beats a measure, it also covers one beat.
In a twostep triplets are very rare and fancy, and more a kind of embellishment.

The best example ever of playing triplets is in Chris' lesson of Love Bridge Waltz. That really opened my eyes. (my ears in this case)

My version of Blacktop Blues on YT is pure crap , but it shows more or less how a triplet in a blues works.

Re: Triplets

...
I'm afraid I have to correct myself here.
A triplet is a group of three short notes. That's correct.
But I just realized that you can distinguish two kinds of triplets.
The one that I mentioned (the diddely), but there's also also a short triplet, that is being used as an embellishment.
The short one doestn't fit "diddely" at all, because it's too fast for that. You hear them all the time, especially in waltzes.

Re: Triplets

That explains why the late Bo Diddly is "Diddly," not "Diddely. He played his fast triplets in 4/4 time.

Re: Triplets

Re: Triplets

Music is mathematics. You might stretch it like taffy but it is all coherent to the time. A triplet is three notes in place of one, period. How you play these notes might make them sound different but the principle is still the same.

I only know this from studying an endless stream of music theory when I first started playing the pedal steel guitar circa 1972. Those suckers will get your eddicachun of all things musical up and running in a hurry...

Re: Triplets

So - y'all can use computers but find the idea of three notes played in one beat rather than two notes played in one beat something about diddling. Outstanding.



Jamey Hall's most excellent Cajun Accordion Music Theory

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