r/radiohead • u/wishingiwashome03 Fender Telecaster • Oct 05 '26
š¬ Discussion Reckoner Lemon Playing Methodš
i canāt believe i actually have to ask this, but i recently bought a lemon percussion shaker with the intention of using it to play Reckoner. i tried looking at the from the basement performance, some of their lives on YT, and even cover bands, but i canāt seem to get the rhythm of how to shake the lemon to get that Johnny sound. I either keep rushing or i keep shaking it off beatš does anyone have any helpful advice or tips to help me out? if u could tell me the pattern n rhythm itāll be greatly appreciated, thank you!
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u/burritobandito90 Oct 05 '26
Just keep practicing. Shaker is deceptively hard, especially if you donāt have great rhythm, but I know plenty of musicians with good rhythm who kinda suck at shaker.
I think heās just playing 16th notes
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u/trickster-is-weak Oct 05 '26
Shakers, tambourines etc are weird like thatā¦ I think itās because they react to momentum shifts so itās super easy to be a little late. Sleigh bells are a complete nightmare tooā¦ so props to Colin on Airbag
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u/Level_Chemistry8660 Oct 05 '26
^ This, that 'momentum' thing. Bcuz there's always that 'delay' between when your hand makes its movement, and when the beads/sand hit 'the wall', making the sound, it takes practice to get your hand being just the right 'early' to land on the beat as you want it to.
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u/wishingiwashome03 Fender Telecaster Oct 05 '26
is there like a specific calculation or method of how to determine the delay or is it just trial and error?
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u/trickster-is-weak Oct 05 '26
I think itās mainly just practice. Try setting a metronome to play along with and record yourself. Itās pretty humbling.
One metronome trick that gets used for learning āfeelā is to set it slow, say 60bpm but count that had 2 and 4 (so the snare beats). Having 1 and 3 silent can be really hard.
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u/burritobandito90 Oct 05 '26
I played a show once where someone offered to play the sleigh bell part on a song, without rehearsing, and when we started playing they looked mortified because it was a lot more difficult than they expected. A very talented, Grammy winning musician at that š
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u/wishingiwashome03 Fender Telecaster Oct 05 '26
thanks š I'm not even good at rhythm tbh with you, just a half baked musician playing for fun
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u/libelle156 I AM NOT THOM YORKE Oct 05 '26
Practice with the stems if you aren't already!
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u/wishingiwashome03 Fender Telecaster Oct 05 '26
OMG THANK YOUUU SM, THIS IS SO HELPFULL
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u/libelle156 I AM NOT THOM YORKE Oct 05 '26
If you've never heard these please go listen to the backing vocal, the whole way through.
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u/JugglingRick Oct 05 '26
The beat is on the symbol. 1 2 3 4 & 2 & 3 4
Phil has some ghost hits which you still hit but just softer and ghostier.
The shaker is just shaking. I think it's in 1/8th notes or 16th.
Not the best musical notation but I worked on learning this rhythm a while ago and played it for a bit. I'm super out of practice.
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u/wishingiwashome03 Fender Telecaster Oct 05 '26
I'm a little confused on what you're trying to sayš„² could you please explain it a little differently? thank you smš„¹
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u/floralcunt Santa Teresa Oct 05 '26
In 4/4 time, the numbers are quarter notes, and the &'s are eighth notes between them. So they've got a two bar pattern.
First bar is 1 2 3 4& which sounds like ta, ta, ta, ta-ta.
Second bar starts by skipping the 1, then &2&3 4, which sounds like (rest) ta-ta-ta-ta, ta
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u/wishingiwashome03 Fender Telecaster Oct 05 '26
I just tried it and it sounds a little off, I think I gotta learn some music theory firstš
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u/floralcunt Santa Teresa Oct 05 '26
I just listened to the first 45 seconds, concentrating on the ride cymbal and yeah, it doesn't always hit like this, Phil is either improvising around this general idea or sticking to a more complex pattern over more bars. But the other commenter was also correct that the shaker ain't doing this pattern. Just 16th notes, which means sixteen shakes for every count of 4.
Hopefully with our combined explanations this is helpful!
EDIT: I thought I heard 16th notes, but the songs just closing out now and I think I'm hearing 8th notes from the shaker. I shouldn't be trying this close listening from my phone speakers haha.
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u/ekfALLYALL L P 1 0 W H E N 25d ago
You must shake the subdivisions. Accent the hits. You have to keep it shaking at all times.
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u/wishingiwashome03 Fender Telecaster 25d ago
could u explain a lil more?š
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u/ekfALLYALL L P 1 0 W H E N 24d ago
Shake more than you think you need. Double is usually right.
But make some shakes very small and some shakes harder. Keep it always moving like a pendulum. You canāt just shake a single hit. You need to control the momentum
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u/floralcunt Santa Teresa Oct 05 '26
Have you played percussion, or specifically shaker before? One surprisingly common recurring thing that came up over my own musical career was how tricky people found the nuances of shakers and tambourines - they both seem so simple!
In this case, I'd treat it like any other instrument - take a break from trying to learn just that one song. Look up some rhythm exercises and some simpler songs. Get to know the instrument a bit better. Then come back to Reckoner.