problems with reading a rythm

[Yvon]

I have problem reading this rythm:



but not this one:




How should I play it, count it or practice it to play it better?

[Raiven]

If you can do the second but not the first then let your midle finger stroke the string like it would to hit that second C but reduce the pressure and mute the string?

[BassChuck]

Well, the classic answer is to subdivide each beat into four pulses and count that way... ONE e an a, TWO e an a, THREE e an a, FOUR e an a. The sixteenth note at the end of the measure is on the "a" of beat 4.

Sometimes, when dealing with young kids or very inexperienced players, I've found that given words for them to say that have the some number of syllabels works well, such as... AL-ka-selt-zer, etc etc.

Probably the thing that makes the first example difficult and not the second on is that on the second one you have a 'target note' on the downbeat of the measure after the sixteenth note, so that its easy to play that sixteenth note as a lead in to the whole note... sorta like ta-DUM. Sometimes, like in the case of the first example, it helps to put in a 'target note' for practice and then remove it, or just think of a note there.

Dealing with spaces and silences like this is one way to make reading funk rhythms a lot easier. (and it's the silences that make funk music sound so funky).

Good luck.

[Meehaw]

For me it is about the same, menatlly. I just don't play the second note, but it does happen in my mind. That's just how pauses work - the same way as other musical events.

[steveb98]

I would be just the other way around for me. To me the second it just and antisapation note. Just an isolated sixteenth would be harder to cutoff so it doesn't bleed into the next downbeat.

In general if I have a lot of trouble with a rhythm I rewrite it doubling all the note values. So that 1/16 would become an 1/8. Then practice it and slowly and gradually speed it up till I get a feel for it. Then go back and the orignal is easier now that I know what it should sound like.

[Brad Maestas]

One exercise we used to do when I was a drumline instructor was to focus in on each of the sixteenth-notes. I'll use a phonetic description (1-e-&-ah) to make it easier to understand.

If we're in 4/4, you'll have a total of 16 sixteenth-notes, right? Now I'll start by playing (with a metronome) the first beat in each grouping, ie. 1, 2, 3, 4, making sure to give the note its proper value as a 16th-note (not quarter or eighth). Then after four times you'll play the next 16th-note over which would be called the "e" of every grouping. After four times, you'll play the next one over, the "&" through four times. Then you'll play only the last note of the grouping, the "ah" four times. After that, you go back to the top so at the end of the "ah" sequence, you'll have two 16th's together, "ah 1", right?

Metronomes help immensely here. Remember, you're only playing the notes that are being pointed to. All other notes are felt internally and are silent. Each grouping (measure) should be repeated at least four times. And each note should only have 16th-note lengths, not daaa-daaa-daaa-daaa but dot-dot-dot-dot, etc.





As always, it's effective if you use a metronome, start slowly and deliberately and work your way up to faster tempos.

[Nick Ioannucci]

subdivide!!!

[Yvon]

Thank you all,
I will practice all of that starting tomorrow!

[Phil Smith]

Forget about about the e's and the uh's, count 8 beats to the bar and play on the and of 8 or count two sets of 4 to the bar and play on the and of the second 4.