The organization of sound in a temporal framework
12
votes
2answers
305 views
What is this beat and why is it so popular
In many concert etudes and rock songs, I hear this accented pattern that usually serves as a link to a new section. I often hear it coming from the drummer on the snare, but I have heard it on the ...
6
votes
2answers
96 views
Tips for using complex time signatures in a “catchy” pop song?
I'm looking to write some music in the vein of a band I discovered recently called Icarus The Owl, who use some pretty wacky time signatures (anything from 21/16 into weirder territories) but always ...
5
votes
5answers
214 views
Keeping a drummer in time with my keyboard
I'm a keyboard player in a party band, and I'd love to be able to use the kind of loop-delay sounds so common on modern processed recordings to fill out the sound. However, I face the immediate ...
6
votes
4answers
110 views
What are the various ways of vocalizing rhythmic figures?
I know of the standard western technique where the beats (quarter notes) are numbered and eighths are vocalized as 'and' and sixteenths are vocalized as 'ee' and 'uh' (One-ee-and-uh Two-ee-and-uh).
...
8
votes
4answers
265 views
What's this rhythm called?
I often hear this rhythm in accompaniments in contemporary music:
|x---x---x---x---| Beat
|--x--x--x--x--x-| Lead
1.:.2.:.3.:.4.:.
That is, it's a 4:3 polyrhythm but with a single quarter note ...
0
votes
2answers
67 views
Music and time, “natural” time
To play music rhythm in time it was always something difficult to me, with a metronome also. Basically I can not count time. On the other hand I have some intuition to compose simple music, and when I ...
13
votes
4answers
269 views
How can I teach a student who seems to have no rhythm?
I've been teaching a highschool kid acoustic guitar lately and even though everything related to the left hand is progressing well, he is having major problems with his rhythm.
To give you the full ...
1
vote
3answers
307 views
What makes the 4/4 back-beat rhythm of rock-n-roll so compelling?
So much contemporary/pop music is tied to the rock-n-roll standard 4/4 back-beat rhythm, why is this?
Contemporary rock music (amongst other styles) loves a bit of dissonance, angular melody lines, ...
11
votes
3answers
210 views
Basic Punk Rhythm Guitar--Snare Feels Like Down Beat
I'm a pretty good guitarist, and I can play some tricky rhythms (weird time signatures, syncopation, some of the easier djent stuff) but I've always had trouble when my drummer starts to play anything ...
2
votes
2answers
94 views
Finding the right rhythm for a tune
I have bought a CASIO CTK-4200 keyboard which has some 180 rhythms stored. I am new to such keyboards, and a beginner when it comes to playing music. I know some tunes which I can play on this ...
3
votes
2answers
133 views
Is that a hemiola or what?
I found myself listening to Mumford and Sons' Babel, and my friend and I couldn't quite agree on how to describe the rhythm. I won that battle since my way led to groups of four figures, whereas his ...
5
votes
2answers
172 views
Understanding the rhythmic structure of a song
I have played drums for a few months. Currently, I play for myself. I do exercises from stick control, but I also want to 'play along' to songs.
Given a song A, how do I start playing along? By ear? ...
2
votes
1answer
70 views
Metric modulation, ordering of the notes around the equals sign
I could find some references stating that the old note value is placed on the left while the new one is placed on the right.
For example: "dotted eigth = quarter" means that the tempo just got ...
2
votes
1answer
221 views
What does “Doubletime feel” mean?
I'm working a new cover song in my band (Volbeat - Sad Man's Tongue), the tab being a PDF file.
As I like working with Guitar Pro, I'm copying the tab in that sofware.
But when the distortion comes ...
3
votes
1answer
250 views
How to find the downbeat in a measure in a dance rhythm
I dance standard ballroom dances like the waltz, jive, and rumba. Except for the waltz, I have difficulty finding the downbeat of each new measure.
Is there some system to find when each new measure ...
5
votes
2answers
147 views
physiological responses to different rhythms
InspIred by Physiological basis for note durations?, I'm wondering about a more general question of how the body responds to different tempos and beat structures, and how musIic is designed to elicit ...
0
votes
4answers
132 views
Is music always supposed to be dependent on timing? [closed]
I wanna know, is music supposed to be dependent on timing, or what we more specifically call Beats Per Minute (BPM) or time signatures?
4
votes
1answer
168 views
What are these aspects of song structure called?
In songs, we often have very similar melodies and rhythm patterns being repeated over and over again. The following is an approximate melody of one stanza of Willy O' Winsbury as performed by ...
7
votes
2answers
382 views
When playing drums behind the beat, what instruments define the actual beat?
As a drummer, I'm trying to improve my micro-time to put more feeling in the grooves I play. For certain songs (ballads for example), you usually try to get a "laid-back" feeling by playing slightly ...
-1
votes
1answer
154 views
Metronome on Yamaha CP-50 stage piano
I have a Yamaha CP-50 stage piano and I was unable to find a metronome function. Surely metronome is not one of the preset drum settings. Does anyboy know an easy way how to start a metronome on this ...
0
votes
0answers
84 views
BPM limit on piano [closed]
I am practicing rhythm from a book called "the rhythm bible". The book is designed for all types of musicians, and the author suggests the following practice routine for pianists.
If the ...
10
votes
3answers
198 views
Is there a name for this sort of ambiguity with respect to the rhythm of a piece, and/or is this a recognized technique in composition?
If you listen to the first 40 seconds or so of Veridis Quo by Daft Punk, you'll probably feel like you have a pretty good idea of the beat of the song, each of the chords starting on the first beat of ...
3
votes
5answers
346 views
Common drum rhythm index
I'm looking for an index of common rhythms. This video shows basically what I had in mind, only it is for the bass.
I'm pretty sure there has to be names and a list somewhere for the common rhythms ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Rhythm/Drum exercises without drums
I am a 24 year old computer engineering student who just have started playing drums. I spend on avarage 1 hour on bus to school and 40-60 min on exercise like running, biking, etc every day. My point ...
2
votes
1answer
284 views
I have a song in my head, I know how it sounds, but I can't get it to translate well to DAW
I've had a full-fleshed out song in my head for days, but I can't figure out how to get it started. I THINK I have the tempo correct, but when I play it out, it doesn't line up with the measures, and ...
4
votes
2answers
510 views
How to determine time signature of drum tab?
Recently I started playing drums on the side just to relax, so nothing serious. I picked up this song because the drums seemed reasonably complex so that they would present a fair challenge for the ...
2
votes
0answers
158 views
Breakdown of Ray Charles' “swinganova” style?
In the liner notes to Ray Charles' collected country and western recordings, there is a section on how the popularity of bossa nova beats led him to come up with the more soul-accented version in his ...
3
votes
2answers
237 views
Flamenco Guitar: Soleares, 12-beat accent question
I'm just starting to get into flamenco guitar, and I have a question about the proper placement of accents.
I have a teacher and we have started with Soleares, and he says the accent goes on 3, 6, ...
2
votes
1answer
332 views
What is the name for this rhythm?
I think basic rhythms sometimes have names but I'm not sure where to get started finding names for easily recognizable rhythms and basslines.
For example, 50 Cent's Hate it Or Love it appears to use ...
5
votes
4answers
311 views
Limb independence for non-drummers
I'm a beginning cellist, and one of the things I struggle with is limb independence. The simple act of trying to keep a steady beat with my foot while playing subdivided beats (i.e. 8th notes) with ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views
Rhythm guitar techniques for a great Blues/Blues Rock player
Firstly, let me say that I've been playing guitar for a couple of years now. I know a few scales (Major, Minor, Blues, Harmonic Minor) and the basic chords with it's different shapes. I've also ...
6
votes
1answer
603 views
How does the Risset Rhythm work?
Many people know about the Shepard-Risset Tone/Glissando, which is a tone that starts low and seems to continue ascending(or descending) when you listen to it, even though it actually is playing the ...
8
votes
5answers
2k views
What exercises can I do to improve my timing?
I recently made a recording consisting of overdubs in GarageBand. Playing it back, I was horrified to hear that while I felt as if I was in the groove while recording, I had actually been wildly ...
9
votes
5answers
678 views
Teaching rhythm to a beginner
I'm teaching viola to a beginner high school student.
His progress with technique and reading are pretty good, but one thing he has trouble with is rhythm and tempo. He tends to want to work on ...
3
votes
2answers
768 views
Why is it so hard to count beats and play at the same time?
I am just beginning to learn to play the piano on my own. I seem to have much difficulties keeping the beats and play the notes at the same time. For example, I have been practicing on this same ...
6
votes
2answers
677 views
What's the best method for learning how to play triplets over quavers?
I've always struggled to play pieces where one part is in quavers (or any multiple thereof) and another is in triplets (or any odd number).
I'm going to have to finally conquer it, as I am attempting ...
5
votes
2answers
132 views
Is this rhythm called a salsa or samba or something else?
Is there a name for this little beat?
main: .--.|--.-|--.-|-.--
accompaniment: .-.-|.-.-|.-.-|.-.-
(a dot is a hit and a dash is a rest)
Sorry for the makeshift notation and lack of ...
10
votes
7answers
804 views
How useful is a metronome for playing the piano?
I've been learning to play the piano for over a year and a half now, and have never used a metronome to date. My rythm and tempo are usually decent, at least after playing the piece properly a few ...
11
votes
5answers
353 views
Teaching Bandmates to Count
I started out as a classically trained guitarist and spent my high school years playing bass in a (school) jazz ensemble, so I have some (limited) formal musical training. Playing rhythm in Jazz ...
7
votes
6answers
223 views
English translation for “rubato”
Most italian musical indications and concepts are easy to translate in one or two words (largo, presto, crescendo, ...) but it is difficult to find even an approximation to rubato.
Any suggestions?
9
votes
5answers
961 views
Performance practice of Viennese Waltz
Occasionally, when I listen to an orchestra playing a Strauss waltz or something similar, I hear something interesting in the background rhythm of 'boom chik chik' in that the first 'chik' happens ...
6
votes
4answers
295 views
When is it proper (if ever) to extend time signatures (8/4 vs 4/4)?
When listening to most contemporary music, in my experience, time signatures tend to be in "common time", or 4/4. But sometimes it feels like the phrase or measure extends beyond the four quarter ...
6
votes
3answers
335 views
How do you compose tuplets against straight notes?
I would like to know how to compose tuplets of odd numbers against even numbers on the piano (ie. 3 against 2). How would you go around composing something like this? I have been composing for some ...
8
votes
5answers
333 views
Keeping rhythm when performing live without a drummer
I'm a member of a small band, and a common problem that arises when playing faster-paced music is keeping everyone in sync, rhythm wise. It goes without saying that one person falling out of time can ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
How to work out a strum pattern?
Annoyingly most guitar players seem to 'just play' a rhythm/strum pattern and it sounds like a song.
What advice can the community here give someone who is trying to go beyond playing 4 downs to ...
3
votes
4answers
110 views
Putting guitar and song together
So, I'm still working on this.
I started singing with my playing using hey ya as my first song. (In fact that was the first song I ever played)
Ironically I always lose it at the verse that goes
...
12
votes
6answers
214 views
Varying rhythms on bass
I've gotten into something of a bad habit in which I either play things in a steady rhythm, in triplets, or galloping, but without much variation, and I feel like I'm stagnating. What are some good ...
3
votes
7answers
444 views
I am bored with a metronome, should I get a drum machine?
I'm a big fun of using a metronome while practicing, but after a while it just gets boring to hear all this solid ticking. When you play scales and stuff like that, it's ok, but when you are playing a ...
