Can anyone give me tips on how to play fast triplets? Guides and challenges would be great.

Think of triplets as a sounding like a 'gallop' and then your half way to mastering them at a good speed. Just increase (gradually) the speed at which you gallop and you will be fine.

Off the top of my head, here's an example from Zero Signal by Fear Factory. Dino plays it (very fast!) just after the intro. Start slowly and only increase the speed when you feel comfortable playing it.




Also, if you know the end part of The William Tell Overture by Rossini - it might help to practise that. I'll see if I can tab it out for you when I get home.

__________________

I hate this gallop-picking!!!!!
But i have to play it, because we cover Kreator.
There you can listen to many of these fast gallops.

__________________

Use your wrist, not your forearm.
Try Metallica's Battery.

__________________

...or Slayer's Raining Blood. It's quite slow on Reign In Blood, but I think it's faster on Decade of Aggression and probably any other live recording.

__________________

or iron maiden's "2 worlds collide"

for triplets man, As I Lay Dying.... godly band, they use triplets a lot

lol, i think i use my forearm when i do triplets, but im crazy fast when i do it:P, its funny.

__________________

Put emphasis on 6th strum rather than 3rd each beat. Racer X switches on and off with them in Scarified and Technical Difficulties

battery is a great example. it's not *too* tough, either.


do you guys do strict down-up-down, down-up-down picking for triplets, or d-u-d-u? for things like on the low e. i always do d-u-d, d-u-d, but i know some that like to alternate it completely. i like to keep strict alternate picking most of the time, but not for low end riffs.

McTriple is right, Metallica's "Battery" and Slayer's "Raining Blood" are both good songs for easy triplets.

1. These songs are good for easy open E triplets.
Metallica- Battery
Slayer- Raining Blood
Slayer- Epidemic

2. A bit more difficult, now you are picking alternating notes
Slayer- Piece by Piece
Cannibal Corpse- Meat Hook Sodomy

3. The most difficult, these alternate notes AND strings
Possessed- Seven Churches
Death- Killing Spree

It gets VERY easy when you get used to it.

Strictly d-u-d, d-u-d for me. Remember, a triplet is 3 notes followed by a slight pause so effectively we all play d-u-d-u for triplets but with the last up-stroke not striking the string. To see what I mean, this is what most of us do subconsciously:



Of course, the rhythm is different but it's still effectively alternate picking.

__________________

For the love of god/satan/your mom/whoever, NO!!!

A triplet is a group of three evenly spaced notes. For example, an eigth note triplet would be three notes played evenly in one beat (one quarter note).

What you're talking about in this thread is two equally long notes followed by one note of twice the length (for example, 2 sixteenth notes followed by 1 eigth note).

[Edit]
To give an example of triplets in a song, I'd like to mention Iron Maiden - Infinite Dreams from 03:13 to 03:45, Children of Bodom - Silent Night, Bodom Night from 00:00 to 00:39 (for uninterrupted triplets, listen to the double bass drumming), Dark Tranquility - Shadow Duet, the descending guitar rhythm, from 00:16 to 00:24. I hope that will be enough examples for everyone to be able to get hold of something to listen to...

__________________

Hey, I didn't claim it to be the exact musical definition. Layman's terms can work just as well as, if not better than, full blown theory when explaining something.

__________________

Not meant as any flaming on you John, it's just that I find it very annoying when people help spreading incorrect information.

What you're saying about "layman's terms", I could agree with, if it wasn't for the fact that what you explained and what you called it are two completely different things.

__________________

No worries, my friend. I was just passing on to this chap what somebody told me when I first asked about triplets. It worked for me, so maybe it'll work for this fellow, too.

__________________

what is tripleting? i think i use it in alot of my songs but im not sure what it is :-\

When you do a 'gallop' with your picking, like in Rossini's William Tell Overture at the end.

__________________

uhh, not helping me... like this maybe?
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------20----------420---------20--------------------------------|
|---232-----3---232---------232-----3---232-222222000000------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|000---000---000---000---000---000---000----------------------------|

In the song Edible Autopsy by Cannibal Corpse there are a lot of triplets (if I know exactly what a triplet is).

__________________

Yeah, the part that starts around 00:54 or so consists mainly of triplets. But 01:30 or so is NOT triplets, but instead this 'galloping' that is what is discussed in this thread.

__________________

So these are triplets
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
--------4----------3------------------------
--------4----------3------------------------
--------2----------1------------------------
-3-2-1----0-3-2-1---------------------------
the '321' being the triplet?

And this is not a triplet?
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
--------------------3----------------------
--------------------3----------------------
--000-000-000-000-1-----------------------
So the 'galloping' sound is not triplets to my understanding, right?
Or is G_urr_A wrong?

__________________

I'm getting confused, too. For 9 years I've believed that playing three notes in a gallop fashion was a triplet - this cannot be incorrect as everyone I've ever met who plays the guitar describes triplets in this way.

__________________

the second one u did is a triplet, u want the galloping sound.

__________________

The best song for getting good at the 'gallop' sound in my opinion is Coming Curse by Iced Earth. when you hear the guitar part youll know what i mean. its a really great excercise. just start a bit slower and work your way up. thats the best method.

__________________

Actualy, the more I think of it, a triplet is supposed to sound like-
trip-el-et
1---2--3
trip-el-et

That fits into this riff showed before
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
--------4----------3------------------------
--------4----------3------------------------
--------2----------1------------------------
-3-2-1----0-3-2-1---------------------------
the '321' from the riff
E:-3---2--1
--trip--el-et
If thats making any sence.

Definition:
Music. A group of three notes having the time value of two notes of the same kind. Also called tercet.

__________________

The galloping is not triplets, your first example is.

So your last post is correct.



Sadly, this is a major misconception (spelling?) among (at least) guitarists. I've seen what you say said here, and I've seen it in other places, but ask anyone with serious musical schooling, and he will agree with me. And this major misconception is the reason I'm being so stubborn in correcting this and
not letting you believe the wrong thing.

I just hope you all are going to make it worth the effort.

__________________

Im agreeing with G_urr_A on this. I think hes right.

__________________

here's some audio examples
first 1 is gallops, 2nd is triplets.

the misconception is somewhat understandable, since both have 3 notes.
a gallop is 2 sixteenth notes followed by 1 eighth note, while a triplet is 3 'eighth' notes in the space of 2.

Attached Files

ex1.zip (65.4 KB, 123 views)

__________________

Thanks atif!
U's COOL!!!!!

__________________

I always believed that -000-000-000-000- was defined as 'triplets' too.

I know that the second half of this are real triplets, because they are played with the feel of "threes" if you will... (while the palm muted notes are the groupings that most people would call triplets (including myself)):

I call this my happy Leprechaun riff, I invented it to practice string skipping.


|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------12-10----10--------------------------|
|--------------------11----------12----12-11-12-11-----11-------|
|-------11----12------------------------------------12----12-11-|
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|-9-999---999---999---------------------------------------------|

(all notes on the bottom string are muted)



The tab shown is the second part of the two variations in the mp3, but you ge the idea.

And here is an mp3 of the riff being played a few times. (excuse the playing!)

Dave's happy leprechaun riff. (Rhapsody here I come...)


Anyway, out of interest... what is the correct definition for -000-000-000-000- ??? Is it just 'gallops'? As much as I love 'em, mine don't sound like Iron Maiden....

There must be some kind of easy to swallow term for it, so I can tell my drummer to "follow the guitar low E triplets with the kicks..."

__________________

I wanted to make a correction. I said that "Piece by Piece" by Slayer is a good song for triplets, and while it's a good song to work yourself up to playing triplets, the intro actually is NOT consisting of triplets. Triplets would be better defined as 3 notes played in the space of two (or as speed picking with a pause in between every three notes). The other songs I name are all still A#1: The Bomb.

Ah, now I get it. Thanks.

__________________

a great way to develope fast triplets is to practice by starting each triplet on an upstroke and ending on an upstroke. when you switch back to starting on a downstroke as usual you will be much faster.

Are you still refering to triplets as the galloping sound?

__________________