the first 4 Bars of THE FINAL COUNTDOWN solo

Hi ~

i got the probelm with counting the beats of the first 4 bars of the main solo of THE FINAL COUNTDOWN. Can someone has any suggestion or better way to count this kind of rhythm.

Originally Posted by: randy huang

i got the probelm with counting the beats of the first 4 bars of the main solo of THE FINAL COUNTDOWN. Can someone has any suggestion or better way to count this kind of rhythm.

Hey, Randy. That's a tricky one for sure.

It's essentially 1/16th notes: 1-d-&-d, 2-d-&-d 3-d-&-d, 4-d-&-d.

But, 2 things make it tricky.

1. It's essentially a pattern of 3 note triads over a 4 note count (1/16th notes).

2. Each beat actually has 5 notes instead of 4 because he throws a little pull-off in each little arpeggio on each beat.

So, this is the basic pattern with just straight 1/16th notes. Notice that it's a musical pattern of groups of 3, but it gets syncopated because it's played as a rhythmic group of 4s. This is the first measure.

|-----10-14------10-14------10-14-----10-14-------10-14----------|[br]|-12----------12----------12----------12-----------12----------12-----|[br]|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|[br]|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|[br]|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|[br]|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

But because that's not hard enough, he added a pull-off in each triad. :) Like this.

|----10-14p10------10-14p10------10-14p10-----10-14p10-------10-14p10----------|[br]|-12--------------12---------------12---------------12---------------12-----------------12----|[br]|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|[br]|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

So, I count it as: 1-d-&-uh-d, 2-d-&-uh-d. But the "&-uh" part is 1/32nd notes so it's twice as fast as the the other notes. And since each music triad group happens for 3 notes, the next triad starts before you get to the next down beat. LIke this for each beat.

1-2-3-1

2-3-1-2

3-1-2-3

1-2-3-1

And you have to remember that each #3 in that pattern is a pull off with 2 quick notes! Make sense? Hope that helps!

Nice :)