Hot answers tagged rhythm
11
I'd definitely recommend a metronome, especially when the rythms are trickier. I basically use it for these types of exercises: the ones with difficult rythms, and the ones where the point is to build up velocity. The latter ones, I use a metronome to keep in check, because the main mistake in virtuosity exercises is to want to go too fast too soon and then ...
11
Actually, the fact that you've analyzed your playing to the point where you can describe where you're going wrong means you're halfway there, so good job so far.
Some additional practice suggestions:
Try feeling macrobeats: instead of listening for a pulse on every beat, listen for every two beats, or every full measure--thus de-emphasizing the snare:beat ...
10
When I was in choir in high school, a technique that clinicians and teachers from different events I was involved with used was just singing the rhythm.
Pick a note for the student to play that is in a comfortable playing position and have them play the rhythm (without changing notes) throughout the piece. If the piece is accompanied then play the ...
9
Try playings some new styles of music; like funk or jazz or some other area you haven't spent a lot of time in; listen to some new music, groove along to it, Jazz in particular is awesome for this especially for bass. Try mixing up your playing a bit, listen to chords, outline them with arpeggios if possible, all of these things will help.
9
Your drummer should be capable of playing along to a rhythm set by another instrument rather than leading the tempo all the time. Can he drum along to a metronome?
If the problem is that the keyboard isn't always sounding the beat (maybe you have a couple of bars without playing, or just holding a chord without rhythm?) then you need to add something for ...
9
It is sometimes referred to as a dotted rhythm because the first four notes are all dotted eighth notes. I think it is popular because it's a very easy way to disrupt the normal pulse. Basically, what you are doing is overlaying a pulse that is different from the regular pulse. It works very well as a fill between sections for this same reason. If it ...
8
"Flexible time" is probably the closest translation that gets the point across. However, "stolen time" or "robbed time", as Raskolnikov suggests, would be the most accurate translation. The English speaker unfamiliar with it would just need to think about it a little: stealing time from some notes and giving it to others. Heck, maybe "Robin Hood time" ...
8
A sense of time varies from person to person. Some people have an acute sense of time and have less need for a metronome, while others may struggle with time. So the use of a metronome is relative to your personal sense of time. But even good time keepers will sometimes devote themselves to a steady regimen of metronome exercises in the spirit of improving ...
8
Chamber musicians generally run into the same sort of issue -- and, in fact, even if you do have a drummer, this can be an issue.
In the better groups I have played in, solutions have boiled down to three things:
Each musician must be able to perform his or her part alone, in time. That means practice with a metronome, working toward the tempo that the ...
8
You say they're willing to learn, but do they understand what that means? Does the band have a director (or other person who is "in charge"), or does everything happen by consensus? Have they agreed that on this subject you are in charge?
How do you spend your rehearsal time? Do you spend any of it on "technique" or "meta" stuff, or do you just rehearse ...
8
A couple of possibilites come to mind when I read your question.
It's possible that you are starting with a piece that's simply too difficult. I don't think it's a terrible thing that you've taken hours to learn one measure (all piano players started somewhere!), but it's a strong indicator that you might be trying "too much, too fast".
If you go to a ...
8
This is an interesting question to ask, since tapping out the beat with your foot isn't, I imagine, your end aim -- unless you want to become your own "drummer", as with Seasick Steve's "Mississippi Drum Machine" (a wooden box he taps with his foot).
Nonetheless, maintaining a beat - in your head or by tapping something - is a very important part of ...
8
I think @Ulf is on the right track--I'll elaborate here.
It sounds like your student is at the point where you'll need to work on the absolute basics of rhythm. Before you get anywhere near subdivisions, time signatures, even the concept of a quarter note, your student needs to become proficient with steady beat. This is, in many ways, the concept that ...
8
The pattern you describe is a 2:3 version of the bossa nova pattern (or clave), also called Brazilian clave.
Shift the order of the first and second halves and you have the original 3:2 bossa nova pattern.
See also Bossa Nova
Note: If the link doesn't bring you to the section about the bossa nova pattern on the Wikipesia page on claves, then just search for ...
8
The way this band is approaching odd times is by adding the remainder to some kind of easily digestible time signature.
In terms of 17/16, they're playing it like 4/4, but adding one sixteenth to the end of the beat. The 9/8 thing is the same as adding an extra 8th note to the end of a 4/4 bar.
This way you get the rhythm of 4/4 then they create tension ...
7
I think you should concentrate on teaching you drummer first, because the drums is easiest to pick up the rhythm from. The bass is also important, but is sometimes hard to hear the beat precisely enough. The bass drum is the most important for keeping a steady beat. When that is in place, it will also be easier for the others to follow. If the guitar solo is ...
7
Even if I would not take the late Karajan as a reference for this, you are right, the first time of each bars of a Wiener Waltzer is almost always played short, usually the leading voice is even slighter in advance than the bass when the melody is written on 3 quarter notes. This can be approximated as removing 1/6th of the first time and adding it in ...
7
I think that your fretting hand can be as important to your rhythm technique as your strumming hand.
Fretting hand string dampening
For instance one technique you see a lot across many genres is string dampening, involves slightly lifting your fretting hand and its chord shape on and off the strings whilst strumming with whatever strumming pattern you are ...
7
When I was starting to learn the piano, my teacher told me to practice every scale I knew so far, every day, with a metronome set at a different tempo each time.
After a month, he gave me some sheets that were just scales, but with different rhythms each, and he told me to do the same thing, practice everyday with a different tempo on the metronome.
It ...
7
I would first try to focus on your timing and nothing else. If you can play in time that way, it's probably just a matter of practice to nail down your time and get away from the loose rhythm.
If you still have trouble, cut out everything except you and the metronome. You don't want extra beats or notes to interfere with that you're doing. If you can't ...
7
All of the instruments can define the beat, but in order the most important (in a typical 4 piece) are - drums, bass, rhythm guitar, lead guitar.
You can define a laid back beat just with the drums - if everyone else plays as normal, but you swing your beats, you will get a much more fluid feel to a piece. To do this well requires the band to work well ...
6
Maybe checking out some songs with more exotic rythm patterns could be useful. Pretty much anything from a progressive metal band like Dream Theater or Symphony X will do.
Also, check out the work of some bass players with elaborate styles, like Billy Sheeran from Mr. Big, Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers or Victor Wooten or Jaco Pastorius.
Also, you could ...
6
As Matthew indicated, overlapping tuplets are most commonly used for rhythmic effect, called polyrhythm. Try writing an ostinato accompaniment in one subdivision (like triplets, or 6/8), and write a melodic line in the other subdivision (straight 8ths, or 2/4), while staying in the same key.
Almost certainly, some composers have used bitonality alongside ...
6
Sounds to me like exactly the same principle.
The first rhythm gets faster and faster until it becomes a blur of noise and is removed from the sound, but over the top of that is superimposed the same rhythm at half speed. While you're listening to the first rhythm get faster, the second does the same, and eventually becomes the main focus of attention. By ...
6
I'm not sure if there's an official term for it, but I guess it could be considered a form of syncopation, which is an unexpected disruption of the regular rhythm due to placement of stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur. The main difference is that, while syncopation usually refers to a temporary change in the middle of a musical piece that ...
6
I believe this effect is called "turning the beat around". There are examples all through rock music. I've heard this term frequently applied to certain songs by the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. [Note that this effect has nothing to do with the song entitled "Turn the Beat Around", which was a hit for Vicki Sue Robinson in 1976 and for Gloria Estefan in ...
6
I'd call it downbeat ambiguity, one of various kinds of metric ambiguity.
In terms of a general conflict in downbeat between the melody and the accompaniment, you can trace this back in music to Beethoven and Mozart at least – see Roger Kamien, "Conflicting Metrical Patterns in Accompaniment and Melody...".
Sometimes, the ambiguity arises from an initial ...
6
You can call it a polyrhythm or polymeter beat with an artificial resolution. (lots of buzzwords there...)
What it is doing is actually increasing the tension by using a 3/8 accent pattern over a 4/8 beat, giving it a sped-up effect. So if you are playing a steady 4/4 beat, switching to this would create an expectation for the listener, and hinting that ...
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