Looking for Lesson to develop better Rhythm and Timing

[Mike K]

Hello, I’m a new member looking for lessons to develop better rhythm playing. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Mike

[sunjamr]

Hi Mike – Brian has a lot of lessons that focus on rhythm guitar. What happens if you go to the Lessons tab and enter “Rhythm guitar” or just “Rhythm” into the Search window?

I’m curious to know what you mean by “rhythm playing”. Are you referring to the different strum patterns, muting techniques, alternative chord voicings, or ??? Or do you mean the art of maintaining an accurate tempo, like a drummer is required to do?

Sunjamr Steve

[Mike K]

maintaining an accurate tempo like a drummer. Locked in solid rhythm playing I guess.

[GnLguy]

I don’t know if any of Brian’s lessons stress this or not but a very simple way to start improving your timing is simply by counting.

You can count with the lesson materials, songs that you are listening to, etc and as you count, listen for the chord changes

If you aren’t familiar with notes that you see in song books that have both tab and standard notation, you can find charts with that info by doing a simple search
And there are plenty of videos on You Tube that will help you to learn to count. It will be slow at the start but it will help in the long run

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=counting+guitar+rhythm

Keith
aka GnLguy

[charjo]

Hi Mike,
In my early days of Active Melody, I found just trying to perfect some of the lessons did wonders for my timing. I think playing to a backing track combined with recording myself was the biggest breakthrough.
John

[Richard G]

Mike, in order to improve your timing, play or practice your pieces with a metronome. If you do this regularly your natural timing will improve dramatically. There’s plenty of free digital metronomes available online.

Richard

[John H]

Mike,
Find a lesson or two from Brian’s vast catalogue. Like Charjo said “practice playing along with the backing track. It’s fun, and time well spent. If you have a DAWS like Garage Band, Logic or Audacity, you can download the backing track into the digital audio work station and play along, drill and even record yourself. Start simple. Have fun.

John

[Mike K]

Thank you everyone

[Alan L]

I know there was one recently (or maybe I just learned it recently!) where he talked about maintaining the DUDUDUDU motion, even when we skip notes (longer notes, tied notes) and how that specifically improves timing. Can’t for the life of me remember the number or concept though! Maybe this will jog someone’s memory…..

But I think just your basic metronome or drum loop play-along practice will take you pretty far in that endeavor

[sunjamr]

And check out the Dalcroze Eurythmics Exercises on Youtube. Dalcroze says that the key to perfecting your timing involves actually moving some or all parts of your body in time with the music. The Blue Man Group has a skit where they teach the audience how to move properly at a rock concert. The start with the basic head bob, then raise your arm and do the basic fist pump. It’s natural. Like, when our grandson was trying to learn to walk, he could crawl over to the coffee table and pull himself up onto his feet. When I put some music on, he would hold onto the coffee table and start bouncing up and down on his rubbery little legs, all in perfect time. It’s built into our DNA.

Brian has said many times to just keep the beat going, and if you make a mistake, most people will never notice. It’s those mistakes that make us hesitate and break the flow of our rhythm.

Sunjamr Steve

[Author]

Posts