To illustrate, Ex.

1 takes a simple rhythmic motiffour consecutive

sixteenthnotes and displaces it by one sixteenth note at a time over the
course of a single measure to produce 13 variations derived from the same
rhythm. (Tip: You can create three more displacements by crossing over
into the next measure.) Establish a comfortable tempo, assign any chord
or note(s) to the motif, and get to know each displacement and where it
livesintimately.

One common displacement technique is to maintain a stationary rhythm,

say on beat one, and then repeat it starting on any sixteenth-note in the
same measure. Lets add some notes to our previous motif (the ascending
4-#4/b5-5-root blues-rock lick in Ex. 2a), repeat it displaced one
sixteenth-note at a time, and see what happens. Right off the bat, Ex. 2b,
which delays the lick by a single sixteenth-note, reveals the origin of
Aerosmiths Walk This Way lick! (Tip: Add a low, open Eon the and of
beat three.) Displacing the repeat another sixteenth beat results in the

Zep-meets-Pawn-Stars motif shown in Ex. 2c. Carefully work your way

through the remaining six displacements in Examples
2d through 2i and see how many you can associate with familiar riffs and
songs. (Again, you can create three additional displacements by crossing
the bar line.) Thats a lot of mileage from a single, four-note lick! The
payoff is that you can use this technique with any rhythmic motif or
melodic line of any length. And many have.

Rhythmic displacement can be as simple or complex as you make it. Ex.

3 proves how displacing a bluesy, three-and-a-half beat motif to the and
of beat four can yield a signature classic rock riff a la the Eagles Life in
the Fast Lane. And a move as simple as Ex. 4s trio of 5-root power

chordsplayed first on the downbeats and then displaced to eighth-note

upbeats starting on the and of beat fourdecodes the seed for Smoke on
the Water. On the other hand, the Crimson- esque figure depicted in Ex.
5 fits two identical 7/8 motifs into a single bar of 7/4. The first one
features three accented downbeats on beats one, two, and three, followed
by three accented upbeats (on the and of beats four, five, and six) during
the displaced repeat. Go the extra mile and create a Fripp-and-Belewapproved Gamelan guitar extravaganza by repeating Ex. 5 13 times and
pitting it against a 13/8 version of the same figurewhich simply omits
the last eighth-noteplayed 14 times. Itll blow your mind.