To understand rhythm, we must first recognize the beat or count in music. This is the underlying pulse of any rhythm that we play or hear. If this pulse is not there, we wouldn't have a musical rhythm. (at least, to my ears)
This pulse that I'm writing about, is what most people tap their feet to. You can also count numbers along with this pulse.
Exercise #1:
Put on your favorite album and tap your foot to it
(It's a good idea to find something with drums). After you get the hang of this,
see if you can find where this pulse accents and repeats. Something like: TAP
tap tap tap TAP tap tap tap. In most popular music, this accent seems to happen
every fourth tap. (but not always!)
For those of you who aren't quite sure of this accent thing, don't worry about it at the moment. The most important thing at this time is to sync your foot tap up with whatever music that you listen to.
To play a rhythm properly, it is important to know exactly when to play our instrument. We use the pulse as a gauge to work from. This pulse that we can tap our foot to, we should also be able to count numbers to. Most music is grouped in 4's, so let's work with that.
Exercise #2a.
Find a clock that has a second hand. Count 1 2 3 4 so
that you say a number every time a second goes by. Repeat these four numbers in
order over and over, saying a number every second. As you say them out loud,
feel the rhythm that you're creating. Say every number as precisely as possible
by watching the clock and syncing up your speech with the movement of the second
hand. Try this to the point where it seems like what you're counting is making
the second hand change.
Exercise #2b.
Try saying 1 2 3 4 so that the 1 and 3 are a second
apart - each number in the sequence are now 1/2 a second apart (you should be
counting twice as fast as the previous exercise). In this case, you would be
counting at 120 beats per minute - 2 beats/second.
Tempo is a common term for the speed of this underlying pulse. BPM (beats per minute) is a common way of measuring tempo.
The main point that I'm trying to make here is that the pulse in music is something that normally doesn't waver once it is set. It keeps on going at a steady rate. It doesn't speed up or slow down (there's some exceptions, but this is the standard).
Once a pulse is established, we can play a rhythm to it.
How fast should the pulse be?
That is all up to you. When practicing anything, set a tempo that is comfortable to learn at.
So far, we know to count 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 .... in a steady rhythm.
We can also break this down further by counting the half beats like so 1 + 2
+ 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + ....
( I like to say 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n .....)
Exercise #3
Count 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 .... AND tap your foot along
with the numbers. Now count 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n 2 n ... AND tap your foot. To do
this properly, your foot should be down on the numbers and up on the "n" beats.
It's important that your foot is NOT tapping down on the "n" beats!
Foot tapping is something that should be natural to most advanced players when playing and listening to music. When playing in a group situation, make sure your foot tap does not disturb anyone (both visually and aurally); in this case, it's better to use just your toes....
Ok. so now we have this counting this under control. Now what?
It's time to play a rhythm. Since this is a topic just on rhythm, let's try just clapping the following exercises. That way we don't have to worry about what chord to play and all the other efforts that go into playing our instrument.
Exercise #4
For the following exercises, count the numbers out loud
and clap your hands every time you see the "|" symbol. Don't worry about tapping
your foot, yet.
exercise a. count 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 .... clap | | | | | | | | | | | ....
exercise b. count 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 .... clap | | | | | | ....
exercise c. count 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n 2 n 3 .... clap | | | | | | | | | | | ....
exercise d. count 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n 2 n 3 .... clap | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ....
That should be easy, so now lets add the foot.
Exercise #5
exercise a. count 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n 2 n 3 .... clap | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | .... foot tap D D D D D D D D D D D .... exercise b. count 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n 2 n 3 .... clap | | | | | | | | | | | .... foot tap D D D D D D D D D D D ....
So far, these rhythms have been simple. Please make sure that you are doing them properly; exercise #5 incorporates 3 separate functions - counting, clapping and tapping. Make sure that all 3 of these functions are performed correctly and that they are in sync with each other - for some of us, that will take a little work. Also make sure that the foot is NOT tapping down on the "n" beats.
Now let's mix up the rhythm.
Exercise #6
exercise a. count 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n .... clap | | | | | | | | | | | | .... foot tap D D D D D D D D .... exercise b. count 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n .... clap | | | | | | | | | | .... foot tap D D D D D D D D ....
Try to make up your own rhythms and clap them. Just write out the 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n, tick a few beats then clap on the ticks while counting and tapping your foot.
Let's find out how to write this stuff in rhythm notation.
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