Rick Washbrook guitar teacher will explain what rhythmic displacement is.  It generally refers to taking a musical short melody, lick, riff, or motif and shifting it to a different beat in the bar where you start to play your part while the band is playing.

Take the musical idea you have and use quarter notes to play it.  Play the notes starting on the one beat of the bar to the backing chord.  I advise you to record the correct chords you are playing these licks or musical phrases on and keep a log of which beats you are starting the musical idea on.  Keep track of the examples you like.  

The rule of thumb when explore this musical displacement concept is to displace your musical idea again on another starting beat in many different divisions of the one bar. Now start on the second beat of the bar of music you are playing.  Try this displacement method again on the 3rd and then the 4th beats.

The next step would be to play your musical idea on the ‘and' of the 1 beat.  This expression ‘and' is a slang expression musician's use.  The quarter note is divided into two eighth notes so you will be starting on the second eighth note of the 1 beat. The ‘and' expression is the second 6th note in this example of the one beat.

Logically move forward with this technique and start your musical ideas on the ‘and' of the 2 beat.  Then start it on the ‘and' of the 3 beat.  Then start it on the ‘and' of the 4 beat.

You can take it even further and divide the bar into 16th notes and try playing your musical idea starting on a 16th note division of the bar.

You can also take it even another step further and start playing the lick or musical phrase staring on the one beat of the second bar, or even the and beat of the first beat of the second bar.

It is an incredible technique that will develop your phrasing skills.  You teach yourself how to get a feel of how to swing.  It also teaches you how the melody may cry out for other notes to complete your musical idea, and you may so decide to add other notes or not. . These are extra notes you may never have thought of that sound genuine with the phrase after is has been displaced in the meter of the bar.

The number of notes you use has an effect on the use of the rhythmic displacement method.  You will find this technique interesting and it can have a very hypnotic trance like effect when you are playing with the band that is keeping perfect time.

Real hard core blues players like famous Mr. James Cotton are masters at this.  The audience really feels that the band is grooving 4 beats to the bar, and James Cotton will be playing a musical idea and he will take it to the point to where it feels consistently against the 4 beats to a bar.

It is awesome to see how an audience responds to this, they go nuts, they start to howl and express their feeling, and because what he is doing the crowd responded on an intuitive level.  

The crowd uses more of a musical tone with wooo, or a scream in tune, and clapping at the high point of James Cotton's rhythmic displacement sections.  They hear the repeated musical idea and its changes as the music moves forward.  

It is a flowing confident accurate shift using rhythmic displacement against the bands 4 beats to the bar steady groove.  Actually he gets it to the point where he is playing a different meter to the meter of the bands 4/4 meter.  For example he could be playing ¾ against the band members that are playing 4/4, but I tell you when you really see a master on stage doing it you feel your animal instincts come out, you don't know where he is taking it you just respond so animal like..

There is so much for you to research using the licks, riffs, and melodies you already favor.  Try adding all of them using the rhythmic displacement method.

By: Rick Washbrook

June 16th, 2011

http://www.washbrookmusic.com

 Guitar Lessons Aurora How To Learn To Use Rhythmic Displacement