How To Change The Tempo In The Song

[Koopa]

Often in death metal, metalcore, etc. used a change of tempo.

I would like to know how to do it? Who can share some advice?

[john]

Hey

um... count and play faster or slower

ok, not too helpful I know lol but I'm not sure what you are looking for.. I'm guessing you mean time signature changes as much as tempo changes, you know 4/4, 3/4, 6/8 etc.

or do you mean how they make that all flow together by melodic means?

Cheers

John

[Koopa]

Hi John.

I meant BPM.

[Koopa]

For example verse play fast

and then slowed down and play breakdown.

[john]

hey Koopa

I understand. I guess I'm just not sure how you are having difficulty. The music is divided into bars and beats in bars. The rate of count speeds up or slows down according to the tempo changes you want... that ties to the melodic and rhythmic changes, changes in intensity and sound that all help smooth transitions, but in essence it is all counting.

One thing you regularly see is transitions that use silence or they add a bar with a sustained note to draw a line between tempo changes, but in essence it is the players having discipline and the band all changing to the same new tempo at the same time that takes practice whether they use silence, a sustained note or not.

I dunno if that helps.

Cheers

John

[Koopa]

hey Koopa

I understand. I guess I'm just not sure how you are having difficulty. The music is divided into bars and beats in bars. The rate of count speeds up or slows down according to the tempo changes you want... that ties to the melodic and rhythmic changes, changes in intensity and sound that all help smooth transitions, but in essence it is all counting.

One thing you regularly see is transitions that use silence or they add a bar with a sustained note to draw a line between tempo changes, but in essence it is the players having discipline and the band all changing to the same new tempo at the same time that takes practice whether they use silence, a sustained note or not.

I dunno if that helps.

Cheers

John

It is unclear at what point to slow the tempo.

Right at the beginning of this additional bar or after?

And how then taxied back?

It is also interesting how many BPM lower / raise.

Certainly there are some rules about that ...

Do you know where I can read about this?

[inovermyhead]

Try changing the rhythm I've done this and it can change the tempo for instance I have a song that is mainly bass orianted in the verses but in the chorus it changes to power chords and the power chords are all down strokes then they stop suddenly and then you hear the bass part again which leads back into the verse again. It isn't a heavy metal song but with distortion it could be and the tempo does go faster in the chorus, I hope this helps.

Michael

Edited March 16, 2010 by inovermyhead

[Koopa]

Thank you Michael, but I play and compose with a metronome, and I need the exact values of BPM.

At the forum there are people involved in metalcore? I would like to talk to them about it.

[MikeRobinson]

Thank you Michael, but I play and compose with a metronome, and I need the exact values of BPM.

... so, turned the darned thing off! Music doesn't always play to a uniform tempo. It slows down and speeds up; it breathes.

Sometimes the music is simply written with longer note-durations (half-notes instead of quarter-notes and so on) when one part needs to remain synchronized with another. But sometimes the whole tempo simply slows down and speeds up.

[PhilJohnson]

Big giggle to Mike's "turn the damn thing off..."

One common technique used in a lot of metal is either going to double time or half time. You're effectively either doubling or halving your bpm. Though depending on the riff, that exact number may not work perfect. So you tweak it a little one way or another.

Besides those two, you're not looking at a lot of rules. It becomes a feel thing. Not to say you couldn't experiment with taking the tempo down 1/3 or something. But the half and double are the most used.

[FinnArild]

Actually, when producing - small tempo changes (2-5 bpm) throughout the song can really make difference.

[Koopa]

Well guys, what about books?

Maybe there is a book about the arrangement that you read?

[inovermyhead]

Forget books do what Mike said turn the thing off and then let your ears work for you just trust them also have a listen to this it's heavy, it has heaps of changes and you can learn a lot by listening this is a great song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReuBms-qZQk

Michael

PS And here's another with very good tempo changes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whtdQ7iEW3c

Edited March 24, 2010 by inovermyhead

[LarryByrd]

Check out John Fogerty's Ramble Tamble. He plays it both solo and with CCR. There he shows you what it means to play WITH your co-band members, and not with your clicker:p It's amazing what you can do if you really connect with other people. It's rare, though, so... In the bluegrass band I play I think we just doubles and half the tempo, as mentioned earlier. That's the easiest way, no question about it. But if you find some rule about how it is done, I'd be thrilled to hear about it! But totally agree with others here that metronome can be overused. I underuse it though, so...

Another way I've used sometimes is to make a break, and that for instance the bassist or drummer count it up again in a short buildup. That makes it look kinda cool to!

Good luck mate:)

[Koopa]

Check out John Fogerty's Ramble Tamble. He plays it both solo and with CCR. There he shows you what it means to play WITH your co-band members, and not with your clicker:p It's amazing what you can do if you really connect with other people. It's rare, though, so... In the bluegrass band I play I think we just doubles and half the tempo, as mentioned earlier. That's the easiest way, no question about it. But if you find some rule about how it is done, I'd be thrilled to hear about it! But totally agree with others here that metronome can be overused. I underuse it though, so...

Another way I've used sometimes is to make a break, and that for instance the bassist or drummer count it up again in a short buildup. That makes it look kinda cool to!

Good luck mate:)

Check this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhYT-7bzHis

Intro played at the same pace, then accelerated by about 10 - 15 beats per minute and coda are again lowering the rate on 10 - 15.

It seems to be little by little I begin to understand what to do

[inovermyhead]

I had a listen to the song far out I must be getting old as I couldn't understand the lyrics but I see what you mean about the tempo.

Michael

[LarryByrd]

Well.. I think in that movie, it was after that break around 0:40 that the drummer accelerated the tempo. So the drummer choose himself what speed they're going at. So it didn't go little by little I think. But its way cooler and impressive to do it gradually! But alot harder to. The drummer is really the boss behind the tempo. Whatever he does, you have to follow. So just tell him to accelerate as you go.

[MikeRobinson]

When you look at a musical score, you see all kinds of notations like accel and rit(ard) which specifically refer to tempo changes. Or sometimes it's just a note to the performer ... "faster," "with feeling," and so on.

"The beat," then, is really just the regular stream of "stitches" that binds the fabric of the music together. It's a frame-of-reference that we have all agreed upon. It gives all of the things that need to "line up" in time, something to "line up" with. It also gives us a way to meaningfully write it down. We can agree that there shall be (say...) four beats per measure, each one occurring about (say...) 1/60th of a minute apart, and all of the sound-events are to occur more-or-less "in sync" with that more-or-less regular pulse. But that pulse isn't mechanical. It can speed up or slow down as you see fit. As it does so, the various notes and sounds ... being synchronized to it ... also speed up or slow down while retaining their correct relationship (in time) to one another.

Most sequencing and editing programs offer a "tempo track" that allows you to easily describe these "global" changes in the rate at which the song is to be played. They give a concrete meaning (insofar as the computer is concerned) to the vague but important comments like accel and rit(ard).

Edited April 1, 2010 by MikeRobinson

[Nickbrown25]

Probably been said a few times but I think the most common ways to ease into a tempo change is drawing out a note on the last line, then maybe a crescendo with the voice to show climax and annticipation of the ensueing intensifying of the song then BOOM! Or before the boom, maybe the old classic chugging downstrokes on the rhythm guitar, then a bass line then a nice little riff on lead (awesome for a solo musician on a loop pedal), all adding to the climax bar by bar...DAMN that shit makes the breath rise in my throat. Shivers. Gotta love a tempo change, no one forgets that shit soon.