One beneficial way to spice up your solo lines and add interest to melodies is to incorporate various triplet rhythms in common time. Practicing arpeggios and diatonic and pentatonic scales in triplet rhythms also provides an excellent technical workout for both picking and fretting hands, while improving rhythmic acuity when played with a metronome. Triplets are a hallmark rhythm in all genres of music and can help take your playing to new and exciting places, whether you’re playing lead guitar in a band or composing your own fingerstyle arrangements and need fresh rhythmic ideas.
In this lesson, we’ll explore how to count and play basic eighth-note triplets, integrate patterns from scales and arpeggios, and check out different ways of grouping triplets to create polyrhythms. We’ll also look at how to utilize quarter- and half-note triplets, which are less common but equally potent.
Week One
A triplet rhythm involves playing three notes in the space where two would normally appear. The most common are eighth-note triplets, in which three eighths fit into a single quarter note that would normally contain two. To ensure rhythmic accuracy and a solid time feel, it’s important to practice these figures with a metronome at various tempos.
The first goal is simply to assimilate the feel of a triplet rhythm in contrast to straight eighths, counting out loud if that’s helpful. Example 1 features two measures: the first uses constant eighth notes, and the second shifts to eighth-note triplets.
When counting rhythm and subdividing beats, most players use “one-and, two-and, three-and, four-and” to articulate straight eighths, with the numbers falling on the beat and the ands marking the second eighth note of each beat. Eighth-note triplets are typically counted as “one-and-uh, two-and-uh,” etc., with the three syllables squeezed into the space normally occupied by two.
One technique that can help you internalize new or more complex rhythms is using familiar words to articulate the feel. In Ex. 1, you might say “pancake” for straight eighths and “blueberry” for triplets. Many musical traditions use similar syllabic systems to build rhythmic fluency.
Examples 2–3 present the A major scale (A B C# D E F# G#) played first in straight eighths (Ex. 2) and then in eighth-note triplets (Ex. 3). Both include a constant open A string articulated in half and quarter notes to provide a steady pulse beneath the moving line. Try these fingerstyle or with hybrid picking, or record the open-string pulse and flatpick the scale patterns on top. As you play through both examples, focus on hearing and feeling the shift in rhythmic texture between straight and triplet eighths.
Practicing arpeggios and scales in triplets is a powerful way to develop technique and to warm up before a performance, synchronizing both hands. Example 4 outlines a two-octave A major triad arpeggio, incorporating string crossing for an added challenge whether you’re alternate picking or using an i–m fingerstyle pattern.
Example 5 offers the descending A Dorian mode (A B C D E F# G) in triplets, built on a three-notes-per-string fingering popular among guitarists, while Example 6 presents the descending A minor pentatonic scale (A C D E G) in position, using two notes per string. In both exercises, explore the sonic and technical differences between picking every note and using pull-offs between the notes on each string.
That’s the end of week one. The complete lesson features four weeks of workouts (plus a bonus exercise.) There are two ways to access the full video and musical examples: Join our community at Patreon.com/acousticguitarplus.
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