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Jazz Mandology

On the "Up and Up": Jazz Articulations

by Ted Eschliman

Download an MP3 example of Up and Up

In the previous issue, we explored the importance of "Line" and sustain. Our emphasis was on the left hand fingers, keeping a firm pressure that held up the tone between the notes and through the phrase. Hopefully you've worked on the accompanying exercise and observed the integral relationship of finger grip and Right hand/Left hand coordination.

Now we want to turn our focus to the picking hand and explore some picking concepts that might be unfamiliar terrain to players in the Folk or Bluegrass world.

What goes up must come down…

The more developed mandolinist understands the picking concept of Down Up Down Up or DUDU. It goes beyond mechanical efficiency, it transcends into smooth sound and good pick control. The faster you go, the more you need to divide the duty, get more bang for your buck with the even distribution of DUDU motion. But there's more to it than that, there is understanding the nuance and inherent tonal difference between the Downstroke and the Upstroke.

It's not just gravity at work here, it's the way your hand was built. The drive is strong with the Downstroke so it makes perfect sense that the strong pulse of most music is best expressed in a Downstroke, the weaker "upbeat" or subdivision jives best with the subsequent Upstroke.

This is perfect in a world of strict time, evenly divided or "straight" eighth notes; but what happens when we want to "swing???"

Somewhere out there.

You may have heard Swing described as a pulse of triplets, evenly divided in three, and emphasis on the first and last of the three notes. This would be a gross oversimplification at best, and a terribly sterile interpretation of a rich tradition of music at worst!

If we look at the above diagram of notated beat division potential we see three possibilities of offbeat placement, straight 8ths, triplets, and subdivided 16ths. So where does the beat occur in time?

Answer: Somewhere out there…Somewhere between the 8^th and Triplet division, in a zone very hard to quantify. You have to feel it…

This is the beauty of jazz. You not only can't write it, you can hardly describe it. It's a "groove," something of an aural tradition, and it behooves the jazz enthusiast to listen to great swing and interpret from listening to great recordings.

The secret of the Upbeat.

This is where the rubber meets the road. How you treat the upbeat in articulation can separate you from the Mickey "Ricky-Ticky" player to the nuanced, seasoned jazz sophisticate. One way to go about it (besides intense listening) is to work on your Upstrokes.

By naturally (or unnaturally) accenting your Upstroke when practicing scales, you can begin to develop an interesting jazz sound that can swing at any tempo. It can be as simple as swing on scale patterns (try the FFcP, for example!) while accenting the Upstroke, or working on any tune and overemphasizing the Upstroke.

This discipline will free you from the stronghold of folk tradition and open up a whole new world of jazz feel and interpretation. To get you started to think and play less "square," we've developed the following exercise to "tongue" your notes like a clarinetist or trumpet player. Think doo DAH doo DAH, or be Frank Sinatra and phrase "Doo BEE Doo BEE Doo" as you pick.

As in everything else we've tackled, your success in phrasing is tied to how well you connect one note to the next. Seamless string vibration is crucial; sustained finger pressure from sweet spot to sweet spot between the frets will give you that magic "wind instrument" sound.

Accenting every upbeat in your playing is NOT the purpose of this exercise; you'll not play this way all the time. The intent is to get you to drag, shuffle, SWING your Upstroke.

Notice we sneaked in a little jazz theory, too! The above tidbits are the first part of a 'ii V7 I' cadence, the 'ii V7' in all 12 keys. These are riffs you can build from in improvising, and a comfortable way of getting you into those scary "Jethro" or horn keys of Eb and Ab. (That wasn't so bad, was it?)

Thanks again for all your offline questions and comments. Feel free to weigh in at ted@jazzmando.com. If haven't been there for a while, check out the new revised JazzMando.com site as well. There's always something new to dig up there, and of course, click on the "Back Issues" button at the top of this page for the a treasure of old Jazz Mandology articles.