How do you play dotted eighth notes in bar 35 with bass clef?

Question

This piece is called Hotel California. This is the link

EDIT: sorry for the unclear explanation; I meant the dotted eighth notes at bar 35.

Does this help: https://music.stackexchange.com/q/15929/70803 — Aaron, Jun 29 '23 at 07:42
Does this answer your question? Rest above a note in a piano piece -- also have a look at the many questions linked to that one. — phoog, Jun 29 '23 at 08:51
If written out correctly, a vertical ruler will show exactly when each note gets played. — Tim, Jun 29 '23 at 09:18
I thought perhaps you were asking about how to count the dotted 8th notes. Others have guessed your question is about the rest. Voting to close as unclear; I’ll be happy to retract if you edit to explain more (and it’s not a duplicate) — Andy Bonner, Jun 29 '23 at 11:15
The highlighter bar shows measure 36, not 35. The beaming in bar 35 is a bit unhelpful, to interpret the rhythm... is the rhythm in bar 35 what you're asking about? — user1079505, Jun 29 '23 at 11:53
I meant bar 35 and yes i was asking abt how to play dotted eight notes tgt with left hand. — mmm, Jun 29 '23 at 12:48
@AndyBonner Comment to you, since you mentioned retracting your vote. I've voted to reopen. OP clarified the question is about timing, which is not a duplicate. (The duplicate, by the way, is about handling multiple voices, although the title mentions dealing with a rest.) — Aaron, Jun 29 '23 at 15:04
Essentially this is a problem of horribly bad notation. Instead of this https://petzel.at/d1.png this should be notated somewhat like this https://petzel.at/d2.png . — Lazy, Jun 29 '23 at 15:18
So, everyone piles on to quickly close, now the question is answerable, but we have to wait for people to hopefully come back and re-open... how about asking the OP to clarify and give them some time to update the question. — Michael Curtis, Jun 29 '23 at 16:18
@MichaelCurtis (Counterpoint, hold back on the closure, and people pile on answers that aren't actually what the OP's looking for. In this case it was a dup so nobody jumped in to explain the rest, but I've seen a lot of "I'm not sure whether this is what you mean but if so ___" answers lately. I dunno, the reopening takes time, yes, but IMO it's net-better.) — Andy Bonner, Jun 29 '23 at 16:52
Don't worry, it just needs one more vote to re-open. But the quickest answer is "This is a miserable notation job"; I recommend starting by buying an actual published transcription. For the right hand, know that a dotted 8th equals three 16ths, and that might help count it out. The left hand is just plain wrong. — Andy Bonner, Jun 29 '23 at 17:44
A quick image search shows that many versions transcribe those right-hand notes as quarter-note triplets, like in m 39. Listening to the original, what's shown here is more accurate, but could be notated more clearly. But if it helps, just call them three equal notes. — Andy Bonner, Jun 29 '23 at 17:50

Michael Curtis · Answer 1 · 2023-07-06T14:00:29.477

I think a visual should explain it all...

The two hands sometimes coincide rhythmically other times one hand plays before the other.

I numbered the sequence of those events in red numbers. When both hands play at the same time you can call it a rhythmic unison, and in those moments you will see the sequence number is simultaneously on both the left and right hand notes. When the hands are not in rhythmic unison, one comes before the other, and those get separate sequence numbers.

1 happens before the rhythmic unison of 2
3 comes before the rhythmic unison of 4
5 comes before 6 which comes before 7 before a rhythmic unison at 8

Those sequence numbers would not be the common way to count time in 4/4 meter, so below I put the metrical counting using syllables like 1 ee and a 2.... This happens to be the composite rhythm, which is the combination of all rhythmic events from all parts. Notice how on beat 3 the count is 3 and a, and the and is in the left hand while the a is in the right hand. The metrical counting puts all those events together into a composite rhythm.

Beyond just dropping another music theory term, awareness of composite rhythm can help your rhythm training. Try actually counting it out loud , while playing, and feel the hands split up the composite rhythm, and where each hand coincides with the count.

You could write out the count with LH/RH placement like this...

...even away from the keyboard you can turn that into a hand/finger tapping exercise.

Finally, notice the issue about the poor notation. Especially in the right hand, third to fourth beat. Beaming those two beats separately and then using a tie makes the synocaption much easier to read.

@BobRodes, thanks for spotting that! now fixed. "poor notation" indeed! — Michael Curtis, Jul 06 '23 at 14:01

Aaron · Answer 2 · 2023-06-29T18:59:36.820

3

The measure is poorly notated, because it doesn't clearly show the boundaries of the individual beats. It would be better notated as shown below.

Specifically, the second dotted eighth should be a sixteenth tied to an eighth. Also, the adjacent Es in the left hand are played simultaneously.

The following image shows the alignment of the notes.

edited Jun 29 '23 at 18:59

answered Jun 29 '23 at 18:29

Aaron

87,951
13
114
294

1

Might help the OP to draw some lines showing how some of these notes are simultaneous and some aren't. (I tried just now, but unfortunately the offset dotted-quarter C creates some confusion.) Might have been a smarter arrangement to skip that dotted quarter. It gets high marks for, assumedly, trying to very meticulously recreate exactly what the guitar does, but there are many simplified versions that a beginner might find easier. – Andy Bonner Jun 29 '23 at 18:48
1

@AndyBonner Good thought. Done! Thanks. – Aaron Jun 29 '23 at 18:59