Music students, excluding drummers and percussionists, rarely like to practice rhythm. Somehow the concept of focusing on how to feel, interpret, and properly place rhythm gets lost. Students learn simple and popular songs, basic reading skills, chords, scales, and maybe even basic improvisational techniques, but rhythm takes the back seat. Of course when you’re studying a melodic instrument it isn’t that fun to count rhythms. The problem is that as time goes on we are developing a generation of musicians that can’t actually play together, thus widening the separation between us all. Music is seen by many as a beautiful example of people working together, each with their own role contributing to the whole. This is harmony and this is a micro example of how our society works. As music students and educators we have a responsibility to show the world what setting aside class and creed looks like by simply making music together. However, simply making music together is impossible without a thorough understanding of rhythm and I come across more and more musicians and students, professionals and hobbyists that cannot play in time. This is like knowing every word in the English dictionary, but not how speak one complete sentence.
TICK-TOCK
The metronome should be every student’s best friend. I get that it’s not fun to play with the constant clicking. I get that it’s frustrating, but still, it’s necessary and there are no excuses. In today’s world, with technology at our fingertips, we have so many options right in the palm of our hands. One of my favorite fun alternative’s to the metronome is an App called “Drum Beats” (http://ninebuzz.com/drum-beats-metronome-app/). With this app students can practice material in time along with a drummer right from their phone. The app has a variety of moveable parameters including style, tempo, and time signature.
PUT IT IN THE POCKET
Professional musicians are always talking about the “pocket.” For years I wondered what this mysterious thing was. How do I find it? How do I know once I have found it? Well, the truth is that the pocket is simply playing with other musicians and making your part feel good to everyone you’re playing with and everyone listening. This requires a heightened awareness of timing and rhythm. To gain this awareness students need to not just have the metronome or drum machine, but to use it, constantly.
Step one is taking small examples from your lessons, whether they be short folk songs such as “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” or guitar riffs like “Smoke On The Water” and learning how to play them in time with the machine. Take the tempo way down and play it slowly if you have to. It is better to play anything slowly in time than at full speed, but out of time. This process helps your overall technique, timing, awareness, and musical intuition. In our article “4 Ways To Make Practicing More Fun” (http://www.so.undlifelessons.com/blog/blog/4-ways-to-make-practicing-the-guitar-more-fun) we talk about playing songs with the recording. This is an obvious and vital assignment for all students. However, for beginner students or students attempting to learn something above their current skill level, this challenge can seem impossible. I assure you it is not. Take the metronome or drum machine and slow it down to a speed that is comfortable. Once you can play the example with ease, then move up the tempo gradually. As you get closer to the song’s actual speed begin to flip back and forth referencing the recording often. If you’re wondering how to get the actual tempo of a song, just use tap tempo on your metronome. My personal favorite metronome is an app called “Pro Metronome” (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pro-metronome-tempo-keeping/id477960671?mt=8). This app has a built in tap tempo function which is pretty accurate.
LEARN LIKE A DRUMMER
One of the most popular drum method books is “Syncopation” by Ted Reed (https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer-Publications/dp/0882847953). When I was a kid I had terrible rhythm and my Father, who happens to be a professional percussionist, decided that I should learn like a drummer. He bought me a copy of Syncopation and together we applied that information to the guitar, creating rhythmic strumming and melodic examples. To this day I still teach with these examples and my students always start with a foundation of rhythm. Learning how to see and interpret written rhythm gives students a much more thorough understanding of how music fits together. It also gives students an ability to converse with other instrumentalists, exchanging information using the proper vocabulary. More than anything this helps prepare students for the professional world where lead sheets are riddled written rhythm. Again, make sure to practice these examples with a metronome or drum machine.
OBERSVING THE GRID
Record your practice sessions! It is not necessary to record the entire session if you are practicing for hours on end, but it is immensely helpful to record any examples you are working on with the metronome. All music falls into a grid. If we record music and look at the sound waves we can clearly see where our playing falls in relationship to the beat. Nowadays studio engineers are quantizing live playing so that it falls perfectly on the beat. To get examples to sound more “real” they are sliding them ever so slightly in front of or behind the beat. When we practice it is important to thing like a studio engineer. We want to be able to hear and feel the difference between playing ahead of, behind, and write on the beat. Over time we can develop the ability to control these tendencies. When we play with other musician’s different situations will call for different ways of approaching the timing. Depending on the scenario it will be the difference between playing in and out of the “pocket.”
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?
Forever. This is something musicians should constantly be practicing. It will undoubtedly be easier for some than others, but if you are practice timing and rhythm in all things it will become second nature and you will notice a constant improvement in your playing.
-Chris Vazquez
Bio:
Chris Vazquez is a Los Angeles based session guitarist and the co-owner/founder of SoundLife Music Academy ( www.soundlifelessons.com ). He, along with other prominent Los Angeles based session musicians, also founded The Los Angeles Session Group (www.losangelessessiongroup.com), which provides professional pre-screened musicians on all instruments to artists, songwriters, record labels, and more. He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston and has toured and/or recorded with Leona Lewis, Daniel Powter, Air Supply, JoJo, and many others. Chris and his wife Kristen currently reside in Inglewood, California where Chris operates SoundLife Music Academy and performs regularly.