Top 5 Mistakes Guitar Players Make When Learning Rhythm
Do you struggle with rhythm?
Even though you try really hard, is your timing still off when you play guitar?
Do you find it difficult, if not impossible, to play with other musicians? It never feels right, and something is always off.
There is a good chance you are making one of these five mistakes when you practice rhythm.
In this video, you will not only learn the top 5 mistakes but also see what you should be doing to install a sense of rhythm and make everything you play sound better.
Here’s what you are about to learn:
The step that most guitar players skip.
How to make any rhythm much easier to learn
How to get more creative ideas from any rhythm
How to ensure you play in time every time.
What every guitar player needs to do before they practice rhythm or any other skill.
Just follow the simple rhythm guitar playing tips in this video, and you will see an instant improvement in your ability to keep time.
All the details are in the video below.
Are you interested in learning more about rhythm? Knowing the basics is a good place to start, but there is so much more you can do with rhythm. It is the one thing that can make everything you play sound better instantly and is also one of the most overlooked creativity tools. If you really want to master rhythm, check out my Ultimate Rhythm Mastery guitar course.
Video Transcription
Hi, this is Brian Fish from musictheoryforguitar.com. Today, I want to share the five mistakes most guitar players make when learning rhythm and what you should be doing instead to make learning rhythm much easier.
Mistake #1
Not counting the rhythm out loud before you play it, too. Many guitar players rely on either listening to a recording or asking someone else to play the rhythm before they can do it. They're just doing their best to imitate it. You want to be able to create the rhythm yourself. You want to internalize the feel of each rhythm. The best way to do that is to work on counting the rhythm before you even play it. Over time, you're going to amass a bunch of rhythms you will just be able to play because you will have internalized them. Anytime you're working with a new rhythm, take the time to find a way to count it out before you try playing it. It speeds up the whole process.
I use a few different ways of counting. For more simple rhythms like the quarter notes, eighth notes, and 16th notes, I like using the traditional Western way of counting like (1 2 3 4, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +, 1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a) There are other types of music where accident counting works better. For more complex rhythms that use complex tuplets like quintuplets, sextuplets, and septuplets, there are other options that work best. Knowing these options makes learning the rhythm so much easier. It speeds up the whole process of learning whatever you're working on.
Mistake #2
Many guitar players try to learn everything at the same time. You're doing many different things when you're learning a new piece of music. You have to learn what your pick hand is doing, what your fretting hand is doing, and, on top of that, what the rhythm is. Many people try to do all these things at the same time. Those are actually three different things you want to work on. You want to isolate each of those.
What motions does your pick hand make?
What motions is your fretting hand making?
Can you say the rhythm in isolation?
Work on these skills in isolation and then slowly put those things together. It may seem like you're doing more work, but actually separating out those different skills speeds up the whole process, and you'll learn things much faster.
Mistake #3
The third mistake a lot of guitar players make when they're learning a complex rhythm is learning the entire rhythm at the same time. They're taking in a whole measure’s worth of information. A better way to work on that is to isolate what's happening on beat one and work on that until you can play that comfortably. Then, move on to beat two. Can you play that? Do that for each individual beat. After that, you can combine one and two, beats two and three, and then three and four. Once you can play those groupings, try playing the entire rhythm. Splitting things into chunks, you will get it way faster than trying to take in all that information.
A little bonus idea. Once you get that rhythm down, can you combine beats one and three and one and four? Or can you play beat two and one or two and four? Find different ways to combine those beats. The next time you run into a rhythm that uses similar elements. It will speed up the process of learning that rhythm, too, because you practice all those different variations taken from just that one rhythm.
Mistake #4
Mistake number four that many guitar players make is what I call one and done. They've been working on a rhythm for a while, and they finally play it correctly. And they stop there. They're happy that they got it down. That's not the time to celebrate. We can celebrate a little bit because that is an accomplishment, but really, the work is just beginning at that point. What you want is consistency. How many times in a row can you play that same rhythm perfectly?
A good way to do this is to set up a how many times out of 10 challenge. Let's say on day one, it's 2 out of 10. Write that number down. The next day, hopefully, you see that number going up to 3, 4, or 5 until you get it to 9 out of 10. Even then, it's not good enough to have that as one day’s worth of practice. You want to get the rhythm consistently around that 9 out of 10 mark. Once you get a rhythm there, you've really got it down and can use it anytime you need it.
Mistake #5
Mistake number five is not making rhythm a regular part of your practice routine. To make the most progress, you want to pre-plan your practice sessions. Okay? And what you want to do is make sure that rhythm is a part of every practice session. It doesn't matter if we're working on some new complex rhythm for a song you are trying to learn or write. We could also learn to write from rhythm. That's another great way to practice rhythm. You can do many different things. You can add different elements to a rhythm to spice it up and make it sound different. There are so many things you can do with rhythm. It's an endless source of inspiration. The best part is that the more you work with rhythm, the more you will play in the groove. It's going to be in time, which makes it more fun for you to play, and if you're playing in front of an audience, it makes everything you play sound much better and enjoyable for them when they hear you play in time and in the groove. So make sure you're including rhythm in every practice routine.
If you want to learn the best way to practice any rhythm, I recommend you check out my free video guide,” Six Easy Steps to Learn and Play Any Rhythm with Perfect Timing.” In this video, I guide you through each step in the process and show you how to practice rhythm to make the most progress. Click on the link below to get your FREE video today.
Six Easy Steps to Learn and Play Any Rhythm with Perfect Timing