Often I describe back-phrasing to singers as purposefully starting late and pulling on the time and catching up. I've seen this work for many singers, but one of the dangers is that the resulting singing can end up completely lacking in rhythm or even get the band lost.
Something I've been meaning to do for a while is write out a 'tripletified' version of a melody -- essentially worked-out back-phrasing. I used the first eight bars of "My Funny Valentine" as a basis. You can click here to hear me playing the melody straight.
In this next one I take it a little further, starting each phrase a little later and catching up through quarter note triplets again. Half-note triplets are like pairs of quarter-note triplets tied together. Click here for the sample.
In this final example I use other types of rhythms, some faster triplets, some phrasing on off-beat quarters and eigths, and quarter-note triplets starting on beats 2 and 4- the final one is notated as eighth-note triplets to make the notation cleaner. Click here for the last example.
The plus side of rhythmically backphrasing is that your band will be able to lock in with you instead of having to be a backing track underneath you.
Something I've been meaning to do for a while is write out a 'tripletified' version of a melody -- essentially worked-out back-phrasing. I used the first eight bars of "My Funny Valentine" as a basis. You can click here to hear me playing the melody straight.
In this first example I keep it very simple- starting on time but getting behind just to the next quarter-note triplet. Click here for the recording.
In this next one I take it a little further, starting each phrase a little later and catching up through quarter note triplets again. Half-note triplets are like pairs of quarter-note triplets tied together. Click here for the sample.
In this final example I use other types of rhythms, some faster triplets, some phrasing on off-beat quarters and eigths, and quarter-note triplets starting on beats 2 and 4- the final one is notated as eighth-note triplets to make the notation cleaner. Click here for the last example.
The plus side of rhythmically backphrasing is that your band will be able to lock in with you instead of having to be a backing track underneath you.