Timing of this slap guitar piece, is it right or wrong?

Question

Several comments for this video remark that it is not in time. What do they mean? I can count a 4/4 beat to her playing, and for me it seems fine. So can someone point to me what is not in time here? (do you hear it easily? If so, maybe I have some issues to work on...)

Answer 1

It's in 4/4 time, and that's made very clear by the backing drums.

However, there are certainly moments where she loses track of the subdivisions of that 4/4 time.

As a simple example, she starts a riff at 0:28 that has a clear beat 4 on every measure. This lasts until about 0:43. Try conducting in 4/4 along with it, and see if there are ever times where her beat 4 doesn't align exactly with your conducted beat 4.

If you'd like a harder example, at 0:28 (the same spot), the riff begins with 1e&a e&a. But on the last two iterations (0:39), that 1e&a e&a pattern doesn't clearly match the true 16th-note subdivision of the backing drums. It's especially poor on the last iteration at 0:41.

They're relatively nuanced problems with timing, but they're definitely there. If you're having trouble hearing them, make sure you're focusing on her playing and how it relates to the percussion; don't focus on just the drums!

And overall, the second half of the video is much better than the first.