Hi just wanted to add my 2 pence worth to the wealth of info already on this site.
Ive been playing for 2 years now and still consider myself a newbie. Ive certainly come a long way since i first started learning those G A and D chords! Got the pentatonic and major scales down in all positions and know where all the root notes are (essential for soloing). Just starting to grasp the modes now and barre's are coming along nicely. Im starting to play stuff that really (well to me anyway) sounds ok to the ear (blues/folk/general acoustic), although i couldnt tell you exactly what chords they are.
I am self taught using various material online and recently just started to work out songs by ear. One important but ESSENTIAL thing that i neglected and i just wanted to get on here to advise other of this, is that i have never really used a metronome. Very occasionaly i have used it in scale playing but got bored with it quickly or got sidetracked.
Now, trying to play with songs or other people, i have noticed my timing is definately out. So i thought, i've got to crack this as the ryhthm is the juice of the music so ive made a concerted effort to use a metronome and have confirmed that (or so it seems at the moment) that my rhyth is crap!! Its all very well being able to know what you want to play and to be able to find the right notes but if you cant do it in time....it means nothing.
One thing i would have done differently when first learning would have definately been to use a metronome at all times until that ryhthm is internalised. I certainly wouldnt be in this position now!
My self medication or remedy is this, and i would be grateful if anyone else out there had any other suggestions......I am now going right back to basics and am going to learn simple songs that have no solos in. Songs like "For What its Worth" and maybe some Beatles songs and am going to play them with a metronome to try and get my timing right. I figure if i get the simple rhythms down whilst learning some fun songs, my timing should just come to me at some point and then i will be able to put the other more technical stuff that i have learnt into my playing.............any further advice????
......To all newbies..........Dont underestimate the power of the metronome!!!!!!!!!
I guess I was fortunate. not very long after I began playing I played along with others and a Drummer. he had amazing timing.
I think that helped me internalize my tick tock.
so my tip of the day is to 'play with others'.
My foot is my metronome. I tap it as I play .. and sing too for that matter. My son and I jam without a drummer and we hear the same beat in our heads. He doesn't tap his foot but he is right there on time. That said .... practicing with a metronome / drum machine is a good thing ... very good.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
My foot is my metronome. I tap it as I play .. and sing too for that matter. My son and I jam without a drummer and we hear the same beat in our heads. He doesn't tap his foot but he is right there on time. That said .... practicing with a metronome / drum machine is a good thing ... very good.
I have to say it is coming along but very slowly. Up until recently, when i tried tapping my foot, i found that i would double tap and all sorts, putting me right out of sync with what im playing. You see, probably unlike most learners i didnt learn simple songs to strum along to. You know, popular easy type songs. I love the blues and jumped straight in learning riffs and licks and just trying to improvise. When a friend of mine who plays really well started coming round, i found i was off beat a lot of the time. This forced me to see just how bad i was by playing, by using a metronome. Oh well, you can only learn from your mistakes....and the guitar is certainly one Big learning curve!! http://forums.guitarnoise.com/posting.php?mode=quote&f=9&p=359958 #
:D
I think tapping your foot is very important. That said, sometimes I do and sometimes I dont. Also, rather than a metronome.. I prefer the drum machine route. It adds spice.
I kind of made the same mistake you did except with strumming patterns. I really havent practice different strumming much so I noticed a while back that everything sounded similar. Last night I was playing and I was really trying to keep the strumming pattern "correct" and it would work as long as I wasnt singing but as soon as I started singing, everything went to heck.
Jim
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
Last night I was playing and I was really trying to keep the strumming pattern "correct" and it would work as long as I wasnt singing but as soon as I started singing, everything went to heck.
Jim
OK I haven't been using a metronome but I had one 30 yrs ago when I took piano lessons. That's a captial "L" Lame excuse, I know, so I have to qualify that by saying that it is possible to work on your rhythm (with a critical ear) by practicing.
You can use live music, the radio or a recorded song. You can dance, play the spoons or the bean jar or the bongos, or rattle your car keys or loose change, etc etc. This can be done virtually anytime, anywhere. Just "know" that you are working on your timing skills so be serious about keeping time.
I had a HUGE breakthrough in the singing-while-playing department last month, mostly by accident..... I had the happy job of playing the "sticks" to accompany a much better guitarist than myself, when I discovered that playing the sticks AND singing was its own challenge, requiring a near-miraculous split in brain function.
So suddenly I can do two things at once on the guitar. But only if I stick to songs that I've been playing long enough that I don't have to think about the chords or the fingering and they happen to be songs that I've been singing since grade school or such. Go figure. Oh well, another 3 1/2 years (seeing as it's supposed to be 5 years before you REALLY know a song), then I should REALLY know some songs ;)
What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's really all about?
~ why yes, I am available on youtube ~
http://www.youtube.com/stellabloo
My number 1 advise to newbies is to play the "G" chord with the pinky, ring and middle finger from the start. I started playing the "D" chord jazz style,(Barre the bottom 3 strings with the index finger, use the middle for the B string), I should have learned the regular way FIRST. Also, play the "F" chord (x33210) or (x03211) instead of (what I call the easy "F") (x03210).
I've been thinking about not playing for awhile and trying to fix (well, I barre the "F" chord now as much as I can) everything but you would be surprised how the fingers are trained.... it will take a long time to fix this.
Bob Jessie
EKA
You are right about one thing, timing is important. In my opinion, timing is the single most important technique any musician can have. I don't care how well you can shred the fretboard, or how quick you can change chords, if you can't keep time you cannot really play.
I think one of the most difficult aspects of keeping time is sustaining long notes or rests. It is easy to keep time when you are playing straight quarter or eighth notes (or even sixteenth), But when you have to hold a chord or note for lets say 6 quarter notes (just an example), that is when your sense of timing will really show. And 99% of the time, a player will rush the next note, playing it early. It is almost like an anxiety builds waiting for that next note. You have to learn to relax, and keep a steady beat. You can tap your foot, or move your body, or even just count in your head, but you have to learn to be patient and wait for the note.
I truly believe that good timing is something you feel, not something you count. You have to feel the accents in the music you are playing. When I play I really get into the music, I move around alot and bob my head and body. I am really dancing to the music, and this helps me keep good time. It is a feeling.
I have showed this video before, but it is an excellent example of great timing, Baba O'Reilly the The Who
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKUBTX9kKEo
Look how emotional Pete Townshend is, even at the very beginning when the keyboard only is playing. He is dancing to the music, he is getting in the groove. He is not counting in his head, completely unnecessary. FEEL the music.
See how he sustains the long chords at the end. Try it, you will see it is not easy. But Pete keeps the groove going in his body and so naturally plays on time.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
EKA
"I truly believe that good timing is something you feel, not something you count. You have to feel the accents in the music you are playing. When I play I really get into the music, I move around alot and bob my head and body. I am really dancing to the music, and this helps me keep good time. It is a feeling."
Did this just come out of the blue one day Wes or did it take a few years of practice? I know some people have probably either got it or they havent. Im pretty sure if i work at it, i will get it eventually. But i'd be interested to know whether the more experienced guitarists had a road to damascus type moment where they finally realised it just comes to them natuarally now?
I want you to watch this video. You may think it has nothing to do with keeping time, I assure you it has everything to do with keeping time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCzqEsxnjFY
Hope you enjoyed that, I did. I will often stay up late Saturday nights to watch Live at the Apollo, great show.
What does this have to do with good time? Just this. EVERYBODY can learn to keep good time. Just as there has been a sterotype that white guys can't dance, some people believe that having rhythm is something you are born with. That is pure baloney. Everybody has the ability to keep good time. Your body wants to keep good time. You breathe at a steady rate, you walk at a steady rate, your heart beats at a steady rate. Keeping time is the most natural thing in the world really.
Do you think about each step when you walk or run? Do you count time when you walk? Of course not, you don't need to. It is natural.
And keeping good time with music is natural too. Stop thinking about it. It is not so much a mental thing. It is an emotional thing really. Listen to the music, get into it deep. Feel the music. I bet you have listened to music before and suddenly realized you were tapping your feet. I know that happens to me without thinking about it. Stop thinking so much, and start groovin' to the music. Get into it man!
That does not always mean you can keep music perfectly. Sometimes a change is difficult and requires practice, sometimes you have to develop the technique to perform the difficult piece. But the timing is natural. Feel it and go with it.
And that was the point of the video. This white guy showed he could really let go and GROOVE!
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
I have showed this video before, but it is an excellent example of great timing, Baba O'Reilly the The Who
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKUBTX9kKEo
Look how emotional Pete Townshend is, even at the very beginning when the keyboard only is playing. He is dancing to the music, he is getting in the groove. He is not counting in his head, completely unnecessary. FEEL the music.
I love when the video cuts to John Entwhistle. Pete and Roger are both dancing and going to town and it cuts to the bassist and if he hadn't turned his head, you would think it was a photograph, not a video. :)
I can't dance but I was born with a good sense of rhythm.
I think both can be learned.
Wes, I have to admit say 1 in 4 times I count when I walk up or down stairs! Odd quirk, but I do. Still, somehow I think rhythm is natural. I (more often in my first year or playing) count 1-2-3-4 constantly in my head and with my right foot. Straight rhythm, to me, seems easy. It's the syncopated things that toss me in a ball.
OP, USE a metronome! Yea, I don't use one, but I know that it THE tool to get you on time. Like your parents, do not what I do but do what I tell ya. Seriously, use one. I'm not some Nazi. Trust me, please, spend the money and come back to this post a few months later and tell us the result. I suspect you'll be on time.
Also, as a side note, tap your foot (or hands) to the beat of any song on the radio on the way to/from work. Great way to get rhythm. Besides, what else do you have to do in traffic?
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
Wes, I have to admit say 1 in 4 times I count when I walk up or down stairs! Odd quirk, but I do. Still, somehow I think rhythm is natural. I (more often in my first year or playing) count 1-2-3-4 constantly in my head and with my right foot. Straight rhythm, to me, seems easy. It's the syncopated things that toss me in a ball.
OP, USE a metronome! Yea, I don't use one, but I know that it THE tool to get you on time. Like your parents, do not what I do but do what I tell ya. Seriously, use one. I'm not some Nazi. Trust me, please, spend the money and come back to this post a few months later and tell us the result. I suspect you'll be on time.
Also, as a side note, tap your foot (or hands) to the beat of any song on the radio on the way to/from work. Great way to get rhythm. Besides, what else do you have to do in traffic?
I finding my self counting, walking to a beat, and hearing beats all the time. I agree with you . when working in a factory on a line of eight atuo feed punch presses I heard all kinds of rhythyms. each machince had a beat and at times they all synced up. then when off the beat again. it was pretty amazing. anyway, rhythym is constantly around us. maybe some can hear it and some have to work for it.
