# Timing



## MartinMTL (Dec 9, 2011)

Hello everybody!

Recently I have been trying to improve my timing through playing stuff that is rhythmically unconventional. I just found an exercise in a guitar world which is in 4/4, but is just a mindfuck (for me at least) because of all the rests, off beats and timing changes. not sure if that made sense. Anyways I'm just wondering how you guys improve your timing for this kind of stuff and if you have any specific examples that I could use.


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## bandinaboy (Dec 9, 2011)

metronome.


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## Explorer (Dec 10, 2011)

It sounds like you're running into difficulties when you're not playing something with a straight-ahead rhythm. 

The only way to learn something is to do it. If you want to be able to play unconventional rhythms, then work on playing them.

You don't have to start donig so right away, but working it with a metronome *sloooooow-ly* will let you get used to playing harder rhthms *and* sight reading. 

I don't know if you're limited to tab in your playing, but now might be the time to investigate learning standard notation.


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## mikemueller2112 (Dec 10, 2011)

Count everything out, tap your foot and use a metronome. Will help you realize where each note lands in relation to the beat. Like Explorer said, start slow, then just build up speed. It just takes practice, and you'll be able to recognize and know certain rhythmic groupings which pop up from time to time. Don't just try and play something till it sounds right, be conscious of where each note falls between/on the beats. Sounds like a pain in the ass at first, but it's almost necessary if you want to be a rhythmically sound player.


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## Solodini (Dec 10, 2011)

I wouldn't condone tapping as you're limited by the mechanics of the foot which isn't a very fast moving body part, relatively speaking. Definitely count things out so you know what's going on, and then move the elements of what you have counted to different places in the bar and see how they affect the feel of the rhythm.

Counting is the key to understanding. You may be able to play a rhythm without counting it but you'll have a hard time to really understand it.

Also, play about with how you accent the beat. That greatly varies the implication of a rhythm.

Well done on using rests. They are an important element which is often overlooked. You can play a rest in the same way as you play a note. A rest has an active starting point and stopping point, so serves as an important rhythmic device.


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## mikemueller2112 (Dec 10, 2011)

Solodini said:


> I wouldn't condone tapping as you're limited by the mechanics of the foot which isn't a very fast moving body part, relatively speaking. Definitely count things out so you know what's going on, and then move the elements of what you have counted to different places in the bar and see how they affect the feel of the rhythm.
> 
> Counting is the key to understanding. You may be able to play a rhythm without counting it but you'll have a hard time to really understand it.
> 
> ...



Yeah, I should have mentioned, tap with along with the metronome while you're playing. Without the consistent beat, you're going to slow down on difficult passages. I find tapping/bobbing my head with the metronome can help me when I'm learning a new piece.


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Dec 10, 2011)

Everybody seemed to hate this in a previous post of mine:









My advice is to break rhythm down into modular units. Don't get thinking that any one rhythm is more unusual than another - it's just people hitting shit. To get you going, get your twos and threes down, so that you can wrap your head around any meter and tour the universe with your obscure French space jazz opera band.



Once you're down with all the 2+3+2+3+3+2+2+3+3+2+3+3+3+2+2+3+2+3+2+3 that you'll be doing in basement clubs in rural Belgium, start exploring the inside of the beat. I put this together really quickly to show what I mean:






This is the sort of thing that we were doing in my musicianship class last semester - really working duplets versus triplets and subdivisions of stuff versus other subdivisions. Along the bottom of the staff are the syllables that I learned for doing these. A little more wieldy than "one-e-and-a". At its base, these are really simple rhythms, but the trick comes with that metric modulation and making the triplets in 2 sound different from the regular beat in 6, and the reverse with the duplets in 6 and regular beat in 2. Always keep your beat steady and keep an ear out for... well, anything. The more you're prepared, the better off you'll be.


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## MartinMTL (Dec 10, 2011)

^ Helps a lot man. Thanks! It's not like I am really unable to play stuff with weird timing, it is just one of those things that I feel a need to work on. And I ALWAYS use a metronome. I feel like I can't practice without one. Those examples look really useful. Thanks! 
I guess I already knew what the responses would be like (really its just a matter of putting some hours into practicing this), just that I wanted to know what some of your methods are. But if anyone knows anymore specific exercises, so I can organize a good routine, that would be great. Either way, I probably have enough here for a while!


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## Guitarchitect (Dec 10, 2011)

Try the Louis Belson drum rudiments book. There's an odd time version as well.

Once piece of advice I got to deal with trick rhythms WITHIN time signatures that helped me was to break it down into the lowest common denominator of rhythm.

So since SW was kind enough to post something, lets look at the second bar of his 5/4t in he first graphic the bar with dotted 8ths and 1/4s.

Find the common rhythm here is 16ths.

a dotted 8th = 3 16ths
a quarter = 4 16ths.

now count groups of 3 and 4. The 1 is where every note attack it and it's held for the full count.

*1*23 *1*234 *1*23 *1*23 *1*234 *1*23

Usually stuff breaks down to a 1/16 or triplet rhythm. So you can subdivide to that.

Here are 2 Books that work in this counting manner. They don't feature a lot of traditional notation but they can all be adapted to reading (it's what I did) and will give you a whole new way to look at rhythm.

Ancient Rhythm Future Possibilities - Matthew Montfort (Uses counting to break down african, balinese and indian rhythms - all of which are hip. All of which can add a lot to your playing in any style)

Pure Rhythm - Adam Rudolph.

The montfort book was relevatory for me when I first read it. Particularly the South Indian Talas and verbal subdivision. Changed how I view notation forever.

Good Luck!


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## texshred777 (Dec 10, 2011)

+1 for rudiment books and percussion sight reading books. I started as a rudimental snare player, so I feel I often have an advantage when it comes to reading "odd" rhythms.


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