Hi Folks
This newsletter is a follow-up from the previous one, it's also about accuracy but not to do with your pitch, this one is about the accuracy of your rhythmic timing. Again we need to ask ourselves exactly how to make this happen, how do we develop this important skill?
- The first thing is a sound right hand technique. This is a major focus of The Starter Pack and I'll be looking at it in future newsletters.
- The second is what musicians refer to as a strong sense of time, the ability to maintain a constant tempo throughout a piece of music.
There is a strength and confidence that comes with a solid sense of time, every note is in exactly the right place. Many people take this skill for granted, they may not even be aware that they need it. There are plenty of reasonably well-equipped players who would benefit greatly from the exercises you're about to learn. When your technique is solid and your sense of time is well established there is a fluency to your playing that you can't get without these skills. For some it will translate it into a solid driving groove, for others a gentle but reassuring consistency. You sound like a musician.
The exercises
The first exercise involves playing a beat in 4/4 time. This means that you simply count 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4... as you hit a note or tap the table or whatever. It can help, particularly if this is new to you, to count out loud as you do so that you associate a number with each beat. Eventually you'll want to do it without counting though.
In 4/4 time the 4 beats are called a bar, or a measure. In the exercises you'll play one bar of 4 taps, each one on the beat, and then another bar of something else. The first variation will be tapping on the 1 count and the 3 count. The second variation is tapping twice for every count so that you end up with 8 taps in the bar rather than 4, your going twice as fast.
All this and more is explained in the free lesson at http://www.learncigarboxguitar.com/freecontent/your-free-lesson. You may have visited this page already, I've updated it just now with a second video that takes you through the above exercise.
This ability to break up a beat and keep your tempo constant is the best way that I've found to develop a strong sense of time. I use the word internalise because with practice you'll develop an internal clock that isn't reliant on foot tapping or playing a constant beat to maintain your time.
Another way to reinforce this skill is with the second exercise in the Time video on the lesson page. With this one you'll need one of the backing tracks that you can download from the that same page. It plays a 6 bar loop in which the rhythm section stops for 4 beats on bar 4. Your task is to play along with the rhythm section, lock in to the tempo and play through the rest bar so that when the band comes back in on the first beat of the 5th bar with the chord change, you're right there with them. The video will take you through the task, show you where the chords are etc.
You should practice the first task and become confident with it before attempting the second. Even then it is likely to take you some time to even get close. Don't let this discourage you, regular practice, even if you never hit the beat spot on, will see your playing improve.
The Theory
To support these exercises and help you progress further with them I've added a new page on beat subdivision in the Theory section of the site. There is a lot of information on this page, much of it relevant to more advanced players as well as beginners. The main resource relevant to the exercises described here is the audio file, again you can download it if you wish, that plays a number of different rhythm feels at a constant tempo, breaking the beat up as we did in the first exercise but in more complex ways. Just listen to the track for now and see if you can keep a beat going with it. Once you feel comfortable with it check out the videos and have a go at some of the exercises on that page too. http://www.learncigarboxguitar.com/content/beat-subdivision
There is a lot of work here, please don't feel overwhelmed by it, take it one step at a time, start with the easy stuff and only progress once you feel ready. Let me know if you have any questions.
Happy pickin'
Patrick