“People talk about perfect timing, but I think everything is perfect in its moment; you just want to capture that.”— Eddie Huang
David Gilmour’s guitar solo in ’79 on Comfortably Numb was more about timing than anything else. It was a heavy song, and he had a story to tell. The notes were timed like bits of a conversation: just enough to tell the story (and make you feel it). No more, and no less. If he had hit the notes on the ’69 ‘Black Strat’ a little sooner, or a little later, the result would have been different.
Gilmour was as ready to play that solo (he admits he was never able to reproduce it afterwards with the same feel and significance), and somehow, he expressed what was in his head through the 100-Watt Hiwatt amplifier. He was ready to deliver and timed every part perfectly…and naturally, compromising nothing.
In Kata we time movements according to the way we learn them: varied timing, static timing, or no timing at all. Some would say that timing in Kata is for show, to help tell the story. That’s one interpretation, but it’s deeper than that. Kata contains the fighting principles, and good-looking Kata won’t save you in a real fight.
In Kihon we typically time things steadily: we step forward and do an oi zuki with some speed but with more concern about form; one, two, three, up and down the floor. We typically do parry and attack (go-no-sen) drills slowly at first to get distance, and then we go higher speed. In Kumite, we typically train to attack fast and hard.
But realistically, you never attack or get attacked, at the same time every time you’re in a match or a fight. In a fight, we seldom see attacks delivered slowly. We most often see them at high speed. Street fighters are typically quick and sharp, but I don’t believe we train enough in the middle: somewhere between the fast and the slow.
Take for instance an attacker who is heavy set. They may be muscular, or they may simply be bigger, but either way they are typically not coming at you with the speed of light. They are coming with power and purpose. So, if you time your own attack or counterattack poorly, you’re getting knocked off your feet.
When I was much younger there was a kid in our town who was short and portly. He was bad news and rather than stand toe to and fight someone, he would run at them and tackle them. Both of them would hit the ground – with him on top. Eventually, his attention turned to a young guy in town who was said to be training in Karate. It played out in the same fashion as always. The bully picked around until he felt justified in making the first attack, he backed up and started his short-legged dash at his opponent. This time, though, his plan was hijacked when his opponent stepped into a solid zenkutsu-dachi stance and delivered a gyaku-zuki to his chest, just above his solar plexus. It was as if he had run into the head of a concrete hippo.
The Karate technique was simple: a good stance and some kime. It was the timing that was key. The technique didn’t need to be lightning-fast, it needed to be clean and on time.
In Saturday’s class with Hanshi Don Owens, we did some Kata. We did Tekki One and looked at some practical application for Tekki Three. He also used Heian Shodan to illustrate timing in a sense a little different than the usual discussion.
Most often we look at timing in the sense of knowing when to attack or defend: look for openings, or create them, and then fire our technique.
Using Heian Shodan Hanshi had us thinking of the three age uke and three oi zuki as if there were three starting gates. The first gate drops, and you get fast, the second one drops, and you go faster, and when the third drops you go faster again. The gates all drop at the same interval, but your reaction to them dropping is different, and the speed at which you do your technique is different. Timing is key: when the third gate drops, you shoot into your technique – you are moving before the gate is dropped.
The lesson is this for us was to understand the varied tempos and timing in Kata, which we then carry onto our Kumite. There are sudden, sharp movements, and there are fewer sudden movements, and we need to practice these. Think of a cheetah pouncing on its prey in a flash, or a crocodile stealthily emerging underwater to capture his. In either case, there is a method and a technique, but the approach is different – timing if different.
By understanding this we also train ourselves to do full, deliberate techniques whether we are doing them speedily or steadily. A good example of where this goes wrong is in those very same oi zuki and age uke in Heian Shodan. Students do the first move correctly and clearly, but then speed through the second and third moves for speed, the stance and technique are no longer defined, losing the effectiveness of the technique.
Similarly, Gilmour plays some portions of his solos with speed, but he never once rushes them or leaves a note undefined.
We also get caught up in the idea that faster Kata looks better. There are meant to be fast moves in kata, but only after you have figured out how to execute them properly so that when you speed them up, you don’t lose the form. If you don’t train in the basics, and dissect and understand every part of your movement, then when you speed it up it loses effectiveness.
Essentially, if you learn Karate properly (master the basics and then concern yourself with power and speed) your Karate is effective for life.
Get good, and then get fast.
The Dojo is a safe place to play with timing. React to your partner’s attack with varied response times: start your defense as soon as they move, and then start your defense after they have started moving. Even try waiting until the last millisecond before responding. Then, do the same while attacking.
Sometimes you need to be the Hippo and not the Cheetah.
- Timing: The Cheetah or the Concrete Hippo - August 21, 2024
- The Moss and The Grass - February 28, 2024
- Sensei Jeff, Why Is That? - February 8, 2024
Get good, and then get fast!!!! Really nice article
One of my instructors equates each part of the form with sentence structure. Every sentence has commas, periods, semi colons. Therefore, every part of the form must be completed and timed to prevent run-on sentences.