When you’re learning about music, it can sometimes be easy to get lost in chords, scales, and other note-driven concepts. Notes, however, are only half of the story. Without rhythm, music as we know it wouldn’t exist. In this exciting 10-week course, we take you on a journey in time, groove, and feel as we examine the building blocks of musical structure. This course is designed for both guitarists and bassists of all levels, as the concepts discussed will apply to any instrument. We’ll jam along to 10 amazing backing tracks featuring pro session musicians as we talk about time signatures, subdivisions, polyrhythms, and more.
This course starts at 8:00pm EST each Monday for 10 weeks! Starts on September 15th, 2018. View the full schedule below. And of course, we save everything... so you can tune in even if you miss a week.
Our live platform has been a major focus over the past year, and we now film in 4k and deliver live video to you in 1080p with improved audio streams. This is an awesome way to learn!
Ask your questions and get real time feedback. We also have the ability to take your calls via live video stream which allows you to show us what you are struggling with and get instant feedback.
Each weekly session comes complete with full tabs and notation in PDF and Guitar Pro formats. Alex also provides free JamTracks with each week to practice to and learn the material.
Alex Scott is a professional freelance bassist, drummer and recording engineer based out of Denver, CO. He has had the honor of sharing the stage with such artists as John Popper (Blues Traveler),
Stanton Moore, Robert Randolph, DJ Logic, and many others. As a producer and engineer, he has 12 albums to his credit, as well as work in television and online content creation.
He tours nationally with Fox Street, 40 Oz to Freedom, and performs and records all around Colorado with a variety of different local projects. Alex began
playing music at a very young age thanks to his father Joe Scott, a guitarist, songwriter and producer with a career spanning 25 records over 40 years.
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Learn more about each week of this course, and don't forget, a full JamPlay subscription comes with full access to this course, along with On-Demand lessons from the some of the best players on earth. Learn from Billy Sheehan, Bryan Beller, Rex Brown and more!
We look at the most basic rhythms. First, without using our instruments, we practice quarter, eighth, sixteenth and dotted notes by clapping and tapping along to a cool beat. We then strum or pick the same rhythms on a static note. This might sound tedious but it truly is the foundation of a solid rhythmic base.
Following in the style of week 1, we discuss triplets and practice them both with and without our instruments.
Moving along from basic rhythms, we take what we have learned thus far and study a driving force of groove-heavy music known as syncopation.
We move from basic rhythmic ideas into practicing in different time signatures, starting with an exploration of 3 and 6.
Continuing from Week 4, we learn about 5/4 time and practice accordingly. We also talk about techniques for feeling odd time signatures.
Rounding out our study of time signatures is a study of a rock groove in 7.
We incorporate our odd-time skills into a particularly challenging concept known as polyrhythms.
We take everything we’ve learned so far and use it to break down grooves in rhythm-driven genres, starting with rock.
We take a trip to New Orleans for our second genre study. We learn a classic second-line groove over a 1-5 chord progression, discussing the 3/2 clave and other world rhythms along the way.
Our final lesson is heavy with syncopation as we learn an unusual funk/jazz groove. Look out for the time signature change!