Hey Dr. Wally - I learned this technique only a couple years ago and it is truly MAGIC! Between SLOW practice and this technique, I am conquering all my tough passages! From the community concert band to working Chad and Nathan’s etudes, to Steve Kortyka stuff, to other Jazz Language, as well as transcription passages. (Once I figure them out!) and the list goes on. Thank you for sharing this because I never learned this until I was over 60. I think everyone needs this as soon as reasonable in their music making life! I wish I would have learned this 45 years ago!

This is timely! The community big band I play in is doing Buddy Rich’s version of Don Menza’s Groovin’ Hard. It includes some 16th-note phrases to be played at 140 bpm, and I can barely manage them at 100 bpm. I’m going to try rhythmic hacking to see if it will help me with this. Thanks! So, here is my experience with using this technique after a week: it is helpful up to a point. At half-tempo or slower, it helped me to more cleanly play passages I was struggling with previously. It seems to help even out my 8th or 16th notes and play phrases more smoothly. But, as Dr. Wally says in the video, it’s not a magic bullet, or at least not for me. This technique does not allow me to suddenly play fast 16th-note phrases at tempo that I couldn’t play a week before. I still have to practise them for hours and hours to play them at even near the required tempo. But then I’m in my 60s and my co-ordination has always been below average. What I would say is that “rhythmic hacking” helps me to first learn phrases that are difficult for me and saves me a bit of practice, but that’s about it.

Thank you Dr. Wally. This was extremely helpful

Another masterpiece Doctor Wally! I am so glad I got to join the Saxophone Academy! Way better then Gryffindor! Thanks for permitting me to process the teachings at my own pace. 56

Thank you for all your great videos!!

Wow. I learned something new. You had a PODCAST since Jan 2019!!! I've been "Rhythmic Hacking" forever and teaching a similar form. Ever look at all the crazy rhythm permutations in Rascher's 158 Saxophone Exercises on page VI? Just the idea of switching rhythms between fast-slow and slow-fast really can smooth out the physical and mental bumps, along with using half-speed, full-speed. Personally, I'm not a big fan of gradually increasing the metronome speed. Instead, I prefer challenging the body to execute even just one beat at full speed after closing your eyes and practicing at half speed. This method allows for a smoother transition from rough, unfamiliar territory to eventually mastering the phrase. Great stuff as always. Now I have a bit of catching up on all your PODCASTS!

A great video as ever and brilliant accompaniment to the latest podcast. Thanks, Dr Wally.

Another gem! Thankyou Dr Wally, have to go shopping, but will get to grips with this later! Have agreat weekend!

Hi Dr. Wally, thank you very much for this fantastic lesson. I started applying your method last night and quickly observed a noticeable improvement in my speed of execution. I'm regularly following your channel since a few months and I try to follow your suggestions. Thanks to them I have improved and continue to improve my way of practicing and playing. The improvements I am getting in sound quality and sense of rhythm are evident first of all to myself and then also to the friends who listen to me.🙂

Absolutely great lesson, I also play the violin and I learn phrases the same way to help me pick up speed and different Rythms.

Thank you so much for this! The method of reversing the swung 8th is new to me, I started learning saxophone in October and do not shy away from slow, methodical metronome practice.

This is BIG! I cant wait to make it work for me, as it hits on the head one area in my playing that needs help! Thanks Dr Wally!

This is a good lesson. I can recall getting this sort of instruction long ago. It did have the benefit of not having to put up with youtubes offensive interruption.

Interesting. Up until a few weeks ago I had always practiced the way I was taught piano all those decades ago: block and repeat. Starting around 1/2 speed and slowly working all the way to tempo. But I often felt like I hit a brick wall at about 3/4 tempo and up. This was the only practice method I had been taught. Then I was introduced to Macro and micro chaining and all it’s variations which is practiced at full tempo and had huge breakthroughs immediately. At the same time I was told about rhythmic variations but didn’t know how to do it. Your video came at just the right time. I am still having a couple problems on a few 16th note runs on the songs I’m learning and haven’t been able to get them smoothed out. Now that I understand your rhythmic hacking method I’m going to try it out and post my results in another comment. Thanks. I love your videos and have been watching them since I started sax 3 years ago.

Always so helpful

The line at about 2min from Sonny Rollins playing under my skin

Really useful! Thanks Doc. I'm going to the shed. No I'm not. It's hot, stuffy and smells like garden equipment, oil and gasoline. I can never figure out how that is good for learning. How did some of the greats survive that??? :::puzzled::::

Great stuff! First 4 bars are (at least rhythmically) from "Dewey Square" by Bird..Just saying because it is one of my favorite Parker tunes.Thanks for the video!

Good stuff! Thanks Dr. Wally. I recently struggled with the triplet run in Ellington's Overture from the Nutcracker. It's not even that hard, but I just couldn't get it at speed. I finally "hacked" it by dropping the middle note of each triplet and then added them back in as I got it more under my fingers, but it never felt comfortable. This would definitely have helped!

I was first shown this technique in the music department of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. My teacher had studied with Joe Allard. I like how you are showing it in time with a metronome. When I first learned it, I was doing it out of time with exaggerated longs & shorts. Looooong-shrt-loooooong-shrt etc. and shrt-looooong-shrt-looooong etc. Then the intervals that are causing the most problems jump out at you to fix. I got into this habit but I'm going to incorporate more of this in time with the metronome. I am currently working on the fast line in the middle of the guitar solo in Sweet Child o Mine. I transcribed it for Alto sax. I took it off the record with the ear (without writing it down) but I did write out that really fast line to work on with this technique.

I've been chunking and teaching chunking a lot more often in the past few years, even if just for it being less monotonous than bumping up the tempo incrementally on the metronome. I also like displacing one-beat chunks by half or quarter of a beat, to even my technique. I do worry with the "swung" and "reverse swung" pattern that I'll put unnecessary finger stress on the longer note, so I am being more mindful when I practice. I also sometimes like to hold out the long notes a *lot*, practically fermatas, especially when learning passages. I've been doing this a lot with the Diatonic 7ths and 1-2-3-1 and 1-3-2-1 patterns. Debra Richtmeyer's method books have really good process learning applied to Ferling etudes, if you and Dr. Fancher are ever interested.

Well that was fun, I heard the word "advanced" so I'm getting there, cos I did it! I also found that playing each note twice at a reasonable speed helped to get each phrase into the wee brain..Thankyou again, quite the challenge!

GENIUS!!!

Hey dr. Wally a loyal Italian follower here, just 2 quick thoughts: -being a non native English speaking person I found the transcription Sooo useful, thanks a lot! ❤ -I tried your podcast (Atomic habits ep.) but ms. Susan is laughing all the time so loudly and so often that I had to quit. I'm sure she's nice, but it was hard to follow... Let me know your opinion thank you very much

This makes so much more sense hearing it in practice from the podcast discussion! But the Scottish "oh snap" gives my anxiety, I just hear my old teachers yelling at me for swinging backwards haha.

Nice work, thank you 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Hey man, I’ve been obsessed with your stuff for a while now, I’m 15 and I’ve been playing tenor sax for a few years and I’ve really gotten into jazz in the passed six months. I was just wondering if you’ve considered making a lesson on Avant-Garde improvisation? Or let me know if you’ve already made a video on it? 🙏

I wish you used the Tenor sax during all the lessons.🙏

You had me at The Little Wizard. 🧙‍♂

This video is definitely worthy of more click-baty title. "THIS TRICK WILL REVOLUONIZE YOUR SAX PLAYING" "LEARN ANY SONG EASILY BY USING THIS METHOD" etc

Good stuff.

Since you asked... it's not the arpeggios themselves, but the leaps of a sixth from one to the next that would give me the most trouble. And long tones by themselves don't help with this. So how about a video specifically about making clean transitions of a fourth or more?

The piece giving me trouble right now is Escapades by John Williams. Holy moly.

Cookin’ Wally!

Very cool! I would assume this is based on some psychological principal, maybe even a study. I'd watch a video on academic papers related to psychology of music.

I'm working on playing the horn riff from "Sir Duke" (Stevie Wonder).

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Hey Wally! I think I’ll try this on Diversion. I still haven’t actually played it, despite everyone in studio back in the day having played it. It’s been a goal for a while. Would you recommend it when it isn’t an arpeggiated passage?

I’m sure I’m not the first but your logo looks like the banner for House Gryffinhorn at Hogwarts

Graphics and sound effects !! 😮 Hot damn !

🤔🎶🎵🎶🎷………👀