#1
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Difficulties learning the right Beat or Rythm
I don't know if anyone can help with this but..
I am learning to play and have more or less mastered the major chords and a few minor ones. I can also do reasonably fast chord changes. But I am finding immense difficulty in getting the right/beat or rythm to even very simple songs like 'swing low' and 'what shall we do with the drunken sailor', I follow the guide books instruction of four beats to the bar and it does not sound right, or I sing the words in my head but can't seem to get the interval between the strums to sound right. To make matters worse I've got a friend who's got even less experience than me, and she can off the cuff come up with her own great sounding quite complex single chord rythms. Is there some kind of trick to getting the beat or rythm right in guitar playing or is this a gift that not all of us have? I guess it might help if I could learn to spell 'rythm' |
#2
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First, its R-H-Y-T-H-M.
To develop your ability, start simple and slow. Play a simple downstroke on each beat of the tune. Once you have that on the beat each time, start adding an upstroke to one beat at a time like... DU D D D D DU D D D D DU D D D D DU You should start hearing possibilities for other changes you might make. If you have a recorder, it is easier to play along with the melody recorded. In vocal tunes, you will know when to change by the lyrics. |
#3
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Play along with a recording about a hundred times . Seriously . The beat will work its way into the muscles of your brain, hands and internal tick tick.
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#4
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[QUOTE=HHP;5363299]First, its R-H-Y-T-H-M.
To develop your ability, start simple and slow. Play a simple downstroke on each beat of the tune. Thank you. I think the problem I've got is identifying what is the beat of the tune in the first place. Just to check 'what shall we do with the Drunken sailor, early in the morning', I identify the beats as coming in the 'What', 'Do 'Drunken', 'Sailor', 'early' and 'morning' Is this right? I feel like I should be paying for this. |
#5
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spend more time actually listening to music carefully.
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Larrivée OM-03R I bet yours doesnt sound half as good as mine does! |
#6
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[QUOTE=TJE";5363312]
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#7
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Music theory?
Yes some of my self-taught friends struggle with rhythm even after decades of playing guitar. Forget the words to the song, it would be a very boring melody if every word was on each beat. Your music will most likely be in 3/4 or 4/4 time. You need to develop a feel for this and to develop a feel usually means counting to start off with.
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#8
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Quote:
I have been trying for weeks to follow the beat instructions in books without success, although I have learnt chord position from them. |
#9
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The best advice you've had here, and you've had it more than once, is to learn music from sounds, not from a set of written instructions.
Written instructions can be useful, but if what you get from them isn't working you will do best trying to copy the sound of the music when it's well played. You will read a lot on this forum about playing by ear. Essentially this is developing and using a good memory for musical sounds. The best way to start doing this is to copy stuff you hear, so not only will you improve your rhythm playing, you will start to play by ear. |
#10
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Learning by ear is great, but if you arent feeling it, Yes, you're going to have to count. Start simple...quarter notes, 4 per par, all downstrumming. Count 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and (don't forget the last "and") Strum only on the "number," not the "and." Set a metronome slow (about 65-70bpm) and get strumming.
Once you're comfortable, try adding a pair of 8th notes. Here's how to think of them: In a bar of 4 quarter notes, the "ands" represent possible 8th notes. Strum up on the 8th notes (that's the rule for now) try putting an 8th note after the second beat. Strum on 1(down), 2 and (down-up) 3(down) 4(down). Notice how the upstream after "2" makes the 2-and "quicker," because the notes aren't as long. You just player quarter, 2-8's, quarter, quarter. Bum, ba-da, bum, bum. Or D DU D D if you like that (I think the DUDU''s are ridiculously confusing, but whatever, my problem) Now try adding an 8th note after a different beat...or multiple beats. These are the basic building blocks... Everyone should count, really, when starting out. I've taught a lot of "ear" players with terrible rhythm that becomes very apparent when they play with others. |
#11
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Hard to do a lot of this stuff without a teacher. Playing along with recordings is cool, but what you should play ....alone, in a duo, or with a large group (like on most recordings) are all different things.
At a certain point you have to be able to count. In the beginning, you need to learn to PLAY a beat. Later it's more about IMPLYING the beat with more abstracted patterns, like you hear in recordings. Some people play by ear their whole life with recordings and never develop rhythm. There are some very real nuts and bolts that don't need to be skipped. Larger patterns vs specific down-up s.... Last edited by mattbn73; 06-04-2017 at 08:01 AM. |
#12
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1..................2...............3...........4.. .....1......2.......3....4.... Just to answer your question. This is how I hear it, counts on these syllables. But you want to hear the beat first, then the lyrics fit the beat, not the other way. This is a good free course for developing a feel for it. https://www.andyguitar.co.uk/online-...rn-1-the-beat/
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#13
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I've been playing for a year and a half and this has been my biggest struggle too.
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#14
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Quote:
I - The "dancing aunt" issue I have an aunt who loves dancing but we all noticed she was just sort of "random" dancing... waltz steps to 4/4 songs, etc. When I asked her about it, she said she could dance to anything, she just ignored the music. After convincing her that the people she wanted to dance with were not ignoring the music, I started to teach her to hear the beat. People who just hear it naturally will tell you "just listen" and not realize that you might not know what to listen for so that's why I'm writing this. If that's the issue, try starting by just listening for the 1, that strong accent is usually something you can hear. Auntie had so much trouble, we started with just 1 2 marching songs and had her marching around the kitchen counting 1 on her right foot. Yeah, that was pretty fun. Then we added the waltz because she was learning that and could feel the swoopy 1, 1 2 3. Then on to slow country with heavy drums, 1 2 3 4. Ignore all the little upbeats and unaccented beats of recordings and just try to hear the pulse, 1 2 3 or 1 2 3 4. Stay away from jazz. After a few days we could play the radio and she could identify the 1 and if a song was 4/4 or 3/4. Success. Auntie is now taking up bongos. -------------------- II. The "I don't have a band" issue Another issue I see is that if you're learning online, many tutorials give a strumming pattern, often that pattern might have been used in a recording with a band, where one guitar was playing a background rhythm but other guitars and instruments were doing other rhythms. That background pattern often doesn't sound good by itself with a guitarist singing and it's very difficult to sing to. If this is an issue, don't be afraid to change the pattern. III. If you aren't this bad off, count yourself lucky and just listen.
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#15
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^This......
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