I've got no natural rhythm

[Guitarzan]

Remember Steve Martin in "The Jerk"?

That's what I feel like trying to learn strumming patterns. I really have trouble when the accent is on different beats (1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and). I'm OK if I canlisten to the song and play it at ultra slow speed. Turn off the music or try and speed it up and I'm history. http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/stern.gif

Anybody with some advice or practice routines for the rhythmically challenged?

Stone you got any rhythm or strumming lessons in the works?

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[Strat-n-Paul]

Try including a metronome in your daily practice routine; Seems to work wonders.:cool:

[StoneDragon]

Do you "still go dancin' every night... hopin' one day you might get it right"

Sorry... can't help myself when somebody quotes a little Frank :D

A metronome is indespensable for anyone who wants to understand rhythm... natural ability or not.

The second ingredient is using that metronome in conjunction with different note values... you've gotta get to the point where those subdivisions of time are subconscious.

I definitely plan to incorporate Rhythm drills within the lessons. Just the other day it struck me that there was a hole in the lessons there. Until that point... the best thing you can do is go through the lessons and work with the standard notation. Make sure you are absolutely solid on dividing a measure by quarters, eighths, sixteenths, triplets, shuffle....

For someone with an innate sense of timing and rhythm, this sort of thing will seem sterile and boring, but for somebody who is a bit "loose" in the rhythm department, the rigidity of working note groups against a metronome is just what the doctor ordered.

Speaking of which... I wonder where DocRoop has been hiding :confused:

[MrSamson]

I refer to using a metronome in the lesson reviews I put together...anyway...

A metronome is indespensible...but I am like you...and no natural with rhythm...still have problems..and understandably so...seeing it has been such a short journey to date...

Anyway...a metronome is simply invaluable...a MUST...BUT...very awkward at first...I did not fully embrace it in daily practice for first 8 months...JUST WAY TO AWKWARD...

As I said in my lessons reviews...dont sweat this if you are just beginning...relax and let it come naturally...slowly work with a metronome...

metronomes are excellent for slowing you down when practiciing....and before you know...BAM...light speed.

anyway...if you try and force the metronome issue...you will avoid it for 8 months like I did...so relax and go with the flow...

Peace...

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[Guitarzan]

"I'm a dancin' fooo...ooooo...ooooo...ooool" :D:

What beat do I set the metronome for eigth, quarter, half, whole? I've been trying to do my best Lawrence Welk "ana One ana Two" which helps some. I still get lost though. http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/megafrown.gif

Stone you said "...absolutely solid on dividing a measure by quarters, eighths, sixteenths, triplets, shuffle....". What exactly does this mean and what kind of a guru are you anyway ;)

Mr. Samson - I know what you mean, it seems like I'm always playing faster the the metronome.

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[StoneDragon]

All I know is the price of meat has just gone up and your old lady has just gone down. BTW, is that a real poncho?


Most often the metronome is set for the quarter note, and you practice working the other values in and around that quarter note click.

Dig through lessons 4 - 8 in the Beginner Lessons (http://www.zentao.com/guitar/guitar-lessons.html) where I go through the various note values and what-not.

[Guitarzan]

No, it's a Sears poncho. I got it on one of those Bob Villa infomercials along with a pair of zircon encrusted tweezers -- Gimme your lighter. http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/devil.gif

BTW, I just ordered "Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar" 19.99 for the 3-disc set from Columbia House.

Maybe that's I've had so much trouble with the metronome, I was setting it to the whole note. No wonder I felt like a mental toss flycoon!

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[This message has been edited by Guitarzan (edited June 30, 2000).]

[StoneDragon]

mmmmmmm... no foolin'... that might explain the glazed eye and a bit of bovine perspiration on the upper lip area.

Now, who besides Zappa could provide such innane amusement?

If you haven't heard those Shut up disks before... better start preparing yourself now. Ain't no top-40 or 4-to-the-bar blues riffs in that collection. Click here (http://www.zentao.com/NonFoods/MIDI/pnapkfwl.mid) if you'd like to check out my MIDI rendition of Pink Napkins from Shut Up 'N' Play Yer Guitar S'more.

One thing you can do to work on your sense of rhythm is set up your metronome for quarter notes at a nice medium tempo... not too fast... not to slow. Then strum a chord in an eighth note rhythm along with the metronome. Now if the quarter note gets the click... then there are two eighth notes per click. so you're strumming down on the click and up in between the clicks. Get that to where it is even and smoothe. Then Leave out a strum or two.

You start with this:

| 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & |

Then change it to something like this:

| 1 & 2 & rest & 4 & | 1 & 2 & rest & 4 & |

Now the trick is to keep the hand moving down-up, down-up, even on the rest... you still make the strum... you just make it in the air instead of on the strings. Move that rest around to different parts of the measure until you are comfortable no matter where it lands. Then add in another rest. You can get a lot of different combinations by moving two rests around in the measure, so it might be a good idea to write them down on a piece of paper. Then add another rest etc...

You can do the same thing with accents (accent is short for accentuate... or play that beat a little stronger than the unaccented beats):

| 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & |

Now add an accent:

| 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & |

Then practice moving that accent around to different places in the measure. Then add another accent etc...

Once you're getting pretty good at this, then put in a rest and an accent.

You can also do the same thing with other note values like quarter notes, triplets, sixteenth notes, or you can work different combinations... you don't have to stick with only one note value. Eighth note based rhythm structures are definitely the most common though. So that is a good place to start.

Now, these are just drills designed to instill different rhythmic structures into your nervous system and subconscious. the idea is to prctice this type of thing until it starts to become second nature. Then you will find that it spills over into other areas of your playing, and you won't have to think about the rhythm.

[CyberCobre]

What one of my instructors at school (a long time ago) did to help a rhythmically retarded student:

Made him take a semester of drum lessons.


...It worked, too.

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[Guitarzan]

I wanted to play the drums when I was a kid. I had my little "Monkees" drum kit and would wail away.

I'm having enough trouble getting the right and left hands to work together yet independently now you want me throw my feet in there too! http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/mrbill.gif (Gotta jump down, turn around, pick a bale of cotton)

I do have a copy of a lesson by Jesse Gress from the June '98 issue of Guitar Player that echos exactly what you're saying...

"By the time we’re struggling to barre our first F chord, most drummers have mastered the essential principles of drumming — the 26 “rudiments”— and are working diligently on their four-way independence.
Guitarists, who have no such regimen, stand to benefit from adapting rudiments and drum kit rhythms to their instrument."

I think I'll take a closer look at that article. Thanks!

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