Being able to play in different beat subdivisions is a HUGE part of playing and soloing effectively…
After all, you only have two things to work with, the order of the notes, and the rhythms!
Wanna see how you can improve quickly? Grab your metronome and get ready to count along with me…
31 replies to "Practicing For Better Rhythm In Solos…"
I was having trouble at first so I started counting music that I listened to and realized that most of the starts and stops happened on the 1 beat and after a while I counted so much music that it’s internalized now music is counting and dividing
Excellent exercise for any player. Thanks so much for your expertise!
Great lesson – I think I’m finally getting better at it… I think the lesson would have helped me out more when I first started following your blues licks, u-tube, and CD videos. I took 4 years of accordion lessons in the late 50’s and played with my dad who played rhythm guitar at country dances so learned to tap my feet to music at a young age, got my own guitar at age 18 but mostly played folk songs and country, so the timing of the blues has been a bit of a challenge. I really like the blues, and the way you teach /inspire me, so I bought a Joe Pass Epiphone guitar. After this lesson, I wrote out the lesson counting system, 1 and uh 2 and uh 3, etc. with the 1/8 notes below, and wrote below the 1/8 notes the word tap (for your foot), and it all fell together. Thank you so much!
Thanks and best regards Griff.
Karol from Poland
I am not a brain surgeon but I have studied how the brain works. Just my opinion but maybe the reason you say out loud the timing is because when you are playing and not vocalising the timing your brain is vocalising in your mind just like you are hearing it.
I don’t understand why sometimes you leave a PDF of the tab and sometimes you don’t. The tabs are so helpful, especially if I don’t want to practice in front of the computer. I can just print out the tab and take it with me.
I agree we need the tab .
Thank you Griff. This is a very important helpful lesson. In fact it’s so helpful and important that I would add it as the first lesson for your courses.
Thank you again.
Gary
Good Stuff Griff. Fact: the more ways you introduce new information into your brain the better. As Griff points out by saying the count out loud you’re introducing it by playing AND listening to someone, in this case you, talking the count. Watch Griff play the lesson and you’re introducing the information visually as well.
I think I understand counting with scales , counting while playing a lick or riff is my problem . Not starting a lick on beat one seems to throw me off and keeping the count going after the lick seems off . Also seeing how you wrote out how you count a beat seems to make more since . I hope asking this make since . always enjoy your lessons thank you.
I have been waiting and asking for this very lesson for a long time. I so appreciate it. As you well know this has been the one thing that has kept me from being the guitar player I long to be.
I was lucky enough to be exposed to counting beats (as well as a lot of basic music theory) when I was in grade school. So counting is almost natural to me.
That’s why it surprises me to hear people who say (in one form or another) that counting doesn’t work for them or that’s not how they play. What isn’t so surprising is that many who don’t count are the same people who struggle with learning something new or who just never learn that new thing they were attempting.
Counting beats is a learned skill, but it’s so worth the time and effort
Thankyou griff: My biggest fault is keeping time. I really appreciate your lessons.
Thanks for this lesson.
How important is to have good playable guitar.
I
For my guitar, I just attached an axe handle to an old metal gasoline can. Use a piece of a clothes line for a string. It never goes out of tune.
Hey Griff
I fooled around with this last night and it started to feel “Holy Graily”. Once I felt comfortable with the Pentatonic, I started counting my riffs the same way. I realize in the land of Griff, that’s a big Duh – of course, haven’t you paid any attention at all? But the revelation came to me as I played riffs I’d played a thousand times and found it easy to count, even necessary to count while I experimented going from straight eighths to swung and back and tried to count bends and tweedlies and slides etc. I realized that for a sound to be music, it has to be played in direct (numeric) relation to the beat. Amazing!
How do you count 16 th note triplets ?
That depends a little on the feel. I wouldn’t worry too much about it unless your time on 1/8th note triplets and sixteenths is pretty amazing.
I usually use 1-uh-trip-uh-let-uh to count 6 notes in a beat (1/16th note triplets.)
Griff,
The reason counting out loud works is simple. The more senses you put into learning the more you learn and the faster you learn and the longer you retain what you learned
Tony From Miami FLorida
This will really help alot. Its definitely going to get me counting better and improve my soloing.
Looks like Rythm and strumming mastery is it
As always good and useful information Griff. Thanks. BTW the new album is great.
Really good stuff Griff. Which of your dvds would you recommend to learn the counting and timing. It’s my weakest learning curve in music
Thank you
The ones that are most counting intensive are the technique ones – Pentatonic Scale And Technique Mastery, as well as Blues Speed Building Blocks and Classic Rock Speed Builders.
Really good Griff. Thank you
Thanks for explaining this so well.
It is with out a doubt the most important lesson for any musician.
Wish I had watched this lesson 25 years ago!!
Hey Griff,
I really enjoyed that video. It’s something I’ve been avoiding for a long time and kidding myself that I can always just feel the subdivisions.
I wondered if you would recommend any of your courses that develops this type of thing further? I have the all access subscription so I have option paralysis a little!
Thanks a lot
Pentatonic Scales & Rhythm Mastery, Strumming And Rhythm Mastery
Pentatonic Scale & Technique Mastery gets into this a lot with scales and patterns, much like I did in this video. Strumming And Rhythm Mastery uses chords and strumming, but is still very rhythm oriented.
Thanks a lot guys. Digging into those now!