Rhythm in Music Guitar Lesson

Chapter 1: (07:33) Welcome Back Welcome back to the Guitar Performance lesson series! Before moving on with the lesson please be sure to review and practice the following:

1)Warm up the body.
2)Single note hum.
3)Three note hum.
4)Hum "me-me-me-me" to "mah-mah-mah-mah" to "me-ma-me-ma-me."
5)Wake up the breath with "sah-sah-sah" etc. long and sustained then five times staccato.
6)"Sah" in five-note descending scales, then five-note ascending scales.
7)Work these scales faster and faster, then louder and louder.
8)Play each of the open chords and sing scales along with your guitar accompaniment.

Anatomy of a Song II
As we discussed in our last lesson, a song can be composed of many different parts and can be put together in an infinite number of ways. But since we’re focusing on singing and playing the guitar in this series, we can focus more on playing rhythms that are best suited to accompanying ourselves, rather than on the myriad different ways that bass guitar can carry the rhythm, or how the drums can serve to link different parts of the song together. You can think of yourself as a one man (or woman) band and hence, it is of the utmost responsibility for the guitar player to be a strong rhythmic player.

Think of the rhythm as the foundation of a structure that you are erecting and the lyrics as the décor or even as a beautiful sound or smell wafting through the structure (work with me here!). I’ll try to map this out for you. This is what a or a "down down-up down "pattern might look like if you tried to map it out on paper:

And if you wanted to map out what it might look like if you were to add lyrics to your rhythm:

This is just a basic example and a way for you to conceptualize the idea of creating structure with rhythm, and interlacing it with the lyrics. But no matter how you visualize this process, the rhythm must be strong or the entire structure that you are attempting to create will be weak! Chapter 2: (02:31) Rhythm and Guitar Rhythm can be defined as “an ordered recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of sound and silence” (Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition, 1999). Rhythm can also be defined as meter which is measured and repeats a basic single pattern. But no matter how you define rhythm, you need to find the rhythm within you. This may sound ridiculous, but what I’m trying to say to you is that some people are able to play a perfectly smooth rhythm in time while some people are not. Some people keep time in their heads and some tap their foot. No matter how you do it, keeping the rhythm steady while you play is of the utmost importance regardless of whether you’re playing alone or with other musicians. Chapter 3: (05:32) Rhythm Exercises Warm-up Exercise
Start with a warm-up strum. Use the chords Em, C, G and A while strumming or "down-up down-up down-up." Don’t forget to do a snap strum. Relax your wrist and breathe. Get in the feel of the rhythm and listen to what you are playing.

Exercise 1
Some strums change in different parts of the song and even from one part of a verse to the next. Here is an example of that: play or "down down down-up." Play Am for this part. Then play or down up-down up-down. Play Am7 for this part. Am7 looks like this:

Am7
E_0
B_1_
G_0_
D_2_
A_0_
E_X_

Play this chord by putting your first finger on the B-string first fret and your second or middle finger on the D-string second fret.

Next, play the first strum pattern again or "down down down-up," but this time with the Fmaj7 chord. Review my Intro to Guitar lessons (Lesson 3 and 4 for this chord if you need to. Next play the second strum or "down up-down up-down," this time with a G chord. Alternate the rhythms and pay attention to how these two rhythms come together to make a more interesting feel for the song. Watch me in the video for more insight on how to play this exercise.

Exercise 3
Take four chords and invent two strums of your own to put together a song like we did today. It doesn’t have to be complex, but you should pay attention to how the chords sound together as well as how the two strums sound together. Don’t forget the concept of dynamics and how it might come into play here.

Exercise 4
Using the two exercises explained above, do the vocal warm-ups along with the chords that I used (Am Am7 Fmaj7 and G) and the chords that you selected. Remember to work gradually and slowly at first until you feel warmed-up and slippery. Then, you can sing louder and faster when you’re ready. You can combine these exercises with the initial warm-ups to save some time and also to become more adept at singing and playing at the same time.

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