knowing which beat you're on in the bar

[Andyrondack]

It will become much easier to know where you are in the bar if you play the 1st beat louder than others. To do this use a metronome which can really emphasive the 1st bet of a bar, unfortunately I have found that most seem to make the 1st beat actually quieter which is the opposite of what you want, a good one is Sound Brenner it can produce a real thump for the 1st beat, so play along with that and when the metronome gives a thump you play that note louder then gradually turn the volume down on the metronome till you don't need it.
To tackle rests on the 1st beat just stamp your foot more on that beat or twitch your shoulder or something while not playing a note. It's only going to be by playing some notes louder than others will you be able to establish the 'groove' . When you can do that on the 1st beat you might try getting into Swing blues and switch to emphasizing the 2nd and 4th beats.
Just had a thought, you might find it easier to establish the groove, which is what you need to do to know where in the bar you are, if you put the metronome on 3/4 time around 90-100 bpm and improvise waltz music, think about couples in tuxedos and big dresses dancing as you play, I find thinking about people dancing realy helps.

[Kevin G String]

Thanks Andy, that’s very useful. Is it ok the dancing people to be naked? ;-)

[Andyrondack]

Originally Posted by Kevin G String

Thanks Andy, that’s very useful. Is it ok the dancing people to be naked? ;-)

Sure, just as long as you keep your G string on

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by Chipotle

I don't know if this will be helpful, but when soloing or doing anything rhythmically complicated (once I've reached a certain level of practice on it, of course) is that I stop counting so much and start feeling the beat......

Go by feel - don't overload your "computer" by counting so much.

Two hints come to mind. The bass and chord changes almost always happen at the bar or mid-bar (three beat). The mandolin chops and snare drum are almost always on the two and four beat in a measure because that propels the rhythm forward. I sometimes find myself subconsciously tapping a foot to the snare drum because it strongly punctuates those beats. One thing I do is listen to the radio or recordings with a critical ear and try to count out the measures and even guess at the chord progressions. In other words, I sometimes try to picture the sheet music in my mind, although I'm not very good at reading written music.

[Fatfinger McGee]

I'm not naturally gifted with much rhythm, so 'going by feel' doesn't really work for me. I mostly play fingerstyle with a thumb bass. I try to practice improvisation in small chunks, 'hearing' the bass even when I drop out the thumb, and always counting and hearing the phrase over the groove and gradually stringing together phrases into a longer line. I think it improves my pickups and phrasing, though I've still got a loooong way to go.

I'm way better at solos without a guitar . I sing them out loud or in my head sometimes, either over songs, or over any steady beat I run into. Expansion cracks on the freeway are good for that.