Counting/ Rhythm Tips, anyone?

[camCARV03]

hey guys..Im pretty average i guesss you can say, at counting and rhythms. But i find myself a little slow at it and sometimes might spend a little alone time to figure the rhythms out. Just the other day i was asked to site-read a piece and the rhythm was EXTREMELY tricky. I screwed up badly. Are there any tips or ways to fix this problem? Obviously metronomes help, but I was not allowed to site read with one..do you guys "subdivide", etc? what are the most effective things? thank you

[ryco]

I tap out the down beats with my foot (1...2...3...4...)
and clap out the notes with my hands.

The more you read, the more familiar the syncopated patterns will be. Pretty soon you won't even think about it. It becomes as fluid as reading print (as you can read this w/o to much trouble (hopefully!)).

Even when sight reading I quickly scan the material and clap out the syncopated passages.

If it's a tricky meter I'll have the drummer beat it out a little so I can hear the feel.

Hopin' this helps, -Ryco <%+

[FretFree]

Originally Posted by ryco

The more you read, the more familiar the syncopated patterns will be. Pretty soon you won't even think about it.

+1

It's just a matter of being prepared to read rhythms. The more rhythms you read, the more likely you'll be prepared when you see them the next time around in another piece.

[ubasshudson]

I like to compare note values to the smallest note in a section . Count everything out loud, slowly, by the numbers. Each note receives the proper proportional value this way. For example: if sixteenth notes are the smallest, count "one" for each. Count "one, two" for each eighth note. Count "one, two, three" for each dotted eighth note. etc... Tom

[tZer]

This is how we were taugh to count the supdivisions of a measure:

Counting quarters = 1 2 3 4
Counting eights = 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
Counting 1/8 note triplets = 1 triplet 2 triplet 3 triplet 4 triplet
Counting Sixteeths = 1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a

So if you actually say the beats and sub-beats, it helps you hear how a rhythmic passage is structured. Do it slowly using the 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 style method and you may find that you start to see how the rhythms pan out.

[Contrabates]

Check out this book: The Encylopedia of Reading Rythmns by Gary Hess. It's a great method book.

[nypiano]

Crack sightreader and great bassist Tom Hubbard recommended 2 (non-bass) sources for rhythm/sight read:

Louis Bellson rhythm books
Joe Allard sax sight read books

It's about pattern recognition. You become extremely familiar with various combinations

There is another method book by Michael Longo, how to sight read syncopated rhythms. His method is that you count the offbeats with the next counts for example 4"and" as (anticipated 1). 12341--234. The theory being that "western/classical" counting methods are not designed to handle jazz and african rhythm concepts.

[Ed Fuqua]

I'm rather partial to the Charles Colin RHYTHM STUDIES FOR BASS CLEF INSTRUMENTS volumes 1 and 2.

[Freddels]

Originally Posted by tZer

This is how we were taugh to count the supdivisions of a measure:

Counting quarters = 1 2 3 4
Counting eights = 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
Counting 1/8 note triplets = 1 triplet 2 triplet 3 triplet 4 triplet
Counting Sixteeths = 1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a

Yeah, but I count on my fingers.