McLaughlin Pickin' Exercise

Hootsmon

What does he mean by playing 4 x 1/4's to the measure and then 6 x 1/4's to the measure! How do you play 6 x 1/4's in a measure made for 4x? Below is the article......can someone decipher for me please?

Can you recommend some rudimentary right-hand exercises?

I have developed a series that is tremendous for articulation and rhythm. Start with the first string and slowly play four quarter notes to the measure, all with down strokes. Then, while maintaining the same tempo - preferably keeping time with your foot, although you can use a metronome—subdivide the measure into six quarter-notes or two quarter-note triplets. Next, switch to alternate strokes and start progressing from eighths to triplets to sixteenths to sextuplets to thirty-seconds to forty-eighths to sixty-fourths. Finally, go back down again. This involves simple mathematics, but to execute it without losing tempo is quite a challenge for the right hand. Of course, you can approach it a little at a time. Now, that's just the beginning. Instead of progressing through multiples of two and three, you can work with odd-numbered figures, moving from one to two to three to four to five to six to seven and so on.

If you were to play two triplets in a row, would the first one start with a down stroke and the second one start with an upstroke?

Yes. You strictly alternate. When you get to five and seven, things become more unusual. The figure of five should be subdivided into a group of two followed by a group of three. It's very important that you accent each group, which is demanding from the standpoint of articulation because one group of five starts with a down stroke, while the next one starts with an up. A figure of seven is two groups of two followed by a three. This exercise forces you to be precise because you have to go from to figure without the flow. If your tempo is suspect, use a metronome. Otherwise just keep time with your foot. The next step in doing these exercises is to do them while changing strings. At some point, you'll be confronted with the necessity of changing strings on either an up stroke or a down stroke without losing tempo and articulation. In a round-about way, these exercises are related to the work I did with Indian rhythmical theory.

That's a vocal discipline, isn't it?

Yes. The whole Indian classical system is essentially vocal. The way they develop rhythm is extremely refined; the mathematics are of the highest order. There is a word for each rhythmic group, and each word is up of syllables corresponding to the of beats in a particular figure. Once you know the system, you can easily work rhythmic compositions. I began using lit
method with Shakti, and I will continue use it for the rest of my life because it's superior to any other approach. The greatest work that has gone on in rhythmic development has been by Indian percussionists. Shakir Hussain, the tabla player with Shakti, who also plays on "When Blue Turns Gold" (Mahavishnu), has an astonishing mastery of thythm.

Grangousier

OK, if I understand correctly, this is something I do when I'm doing bootcamp metronome stuff: Set a metronome playing at about 60bpm, tapping your foot along with the click, and also playing downstrokes along with the click (just play on an open G to begin with).

Now keep the foot doing the same thing, but play six downstrokes in the same amount of time your foot and the click are marking four beats (so, two sets of triplets). You can drop the foot-tapping to get the hang of it, but it's actually useful to have a physical connection to the tempo. 

(What I was taught was to start with one downstroke per bar of four beats, then two, then three - so a slow triplet, then four - one per click, then six - two sets of triplets, eight - two per click, at which point you play alternating down- and up-strokes, twelve, sixteen, and, if you're really shit-hot, twenty - so five notes per click. You need a right-hand grip that's good for cross-picking to do that, though. All the time, maintaining the foot-tap, so the playing hand works independently, but you still maintain a physical connection to the beat). 

I hope that didn't make less sense than his explanation. 

Hootsmon

So to start, 3 notes(the triplet) over the TWO 1/4 notes?

Grangousier

Basically. Getting faster each time, but instead of just doubling the speed, you have this sort of in-between stage based on triplets. When I learned it, the person just showed me, which is a hell of a lot easier to understand.