Working on Rhythm with Student

[lowenduser]

Hi all

I can't seem to locate a thread directly dealing with, so I'll throw it out there.

I have a student who seems to have soaked up the theory to date, and can go through scales and the likes. I've managed to go through quite a few songs as well, with him even pointing the theoretical bits in them as we go along learniing them - which I'm taking as a good sign.

Just one problem - his rhythm. I've always encouraged him to tap the piece he's learning to the time sig of the song, and when he gets lost sometimes I find myself calling the "1 and two and three and four and" out (pointing out accents etc).

His Rhytem issue came to an for when I brough my RC2 loop station with me one day - set it to a standard drum setting at a reasonable pace, and got him to play a relatively easy piece. Even considering I gave him no warning plus it was his first time playing with a drumbeat (he's yet to offer his services to a band, although I keep dropping the hint that he should) and he couldn't quite keep up - I'm not sure if it was over concentration or lack of practice on rhythm than notes.

It's an issue I never really had in my bass "career", so, any practice hints I can pass down to hime out there?

[Bruce Lindfield]

This post screams out : "Metronome"!!!

[Phil Smith]

You may want to have your student do the counting out loud, that may help.

[onlyclave]

Something I used to do with my students was have them sing out a rhythm while they "conduct" with one hand. The conducting was them waving their hand up and down and on the down stroke they would stick out 1 finger, 2 fingers, 3 fingers, 4 fingers and then they would have a visual of each beat. If they screwed up the rhythm I could tell them to stop and look at the chart look at their hand and see which was out of sync.

If you want to help improve his internal time play some CDs for him and clap on beat 1 or 2, etc. one clap per bar. Pick an upbeat bouncy tune first and then find slower ones and mix them up.

I think your student just need to learn to internalize the time.

[tZer]

Counting, metronome, tapping, clapping, snapping, yes...

I have a young student who has no formal music training and has similar issues with rhythm. What I do with my student is have him put down his bass and I put on a song. I then have him stand up and we walk around the room - in time... Left, right, left, right... 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4...

We keep walking until his gait becomes effortlessly synchronized with the beat. When I see he's comfortably walking with the beat, I introduce hand claps on snare hits.

Left, right+Clap, left, right+clap... When that sinks in, I have him stop walking but keep the claps going...

____ Clap! ____ Clap!

When we're playing an exercise and I start to hear the beat getting mangled, I make him stand and "move" as he's playing - head, legs, feet - something that physically connects him back to the beat.

What I've found is that when the beat is getting lost by the player, it's because they're head is all about their hands and has disconnected from the groove - which is a physical/body thing (heartbeat and legs). Reconnecting their body to the groove is essential.

I also tell him that when he's walking down the street, he's walking in rhythm - unless he has a limp or someone is hanging onto his leg - so he should, as he walks, hear music in his head that is in time with his pace. If he has a slow walk going, imagine a laid-back reggae tune that is playing in time with his pace.

I tell him to snap his fingers or pat his leg or clap - something - as he walks. Basically imagine walking as his own personal drummer/rhythm section/metronome.

[BassChuck]

Originally Posted by tZer

What I've found is that when the beat is getting lost by the player, it's because they're head is all about their hands and has disconnected from the groove - which is a physical/body thing (heartbeat and legs). Reconnecting their body to the groove is essential.

I also tell him that when he's walking down the street, he's walking in rhythm - unless he has a limp or someone is hanging onto his leg - so he should, as he walks, hear music in his head that is in time with his pace. If he has a slow walk going, imagine a laid-back reggae tune that is playing in time with his pace.

+1 to this. Excellent. Focus on the time (rhythm). Tap into the body's natural rhythm.