Rhythm

[14drz]

Hello everyone!
Lately I’ve been trying to improve my guitar skills and I’ve been thinking a lot about rhythm. I really struggle with it because there’s songs I can’t follow. I don’t really know how to explain this, but sometimes it comes very easy to me to follow rhythm or strummings, while with some songs I literally can’t. Sometimes the only thing I can do is to search for the tutorial on YouTube and just try to do what they explain in the video. Is there a way to improve on this? I have tried to use a metronome but I don’t really know how to do it correctly so I think I did a useless work with it.

 

[ExMachina]

Stick to the metronome, make it really slow. You're trying to train yourself, you don't squat 500 your first time in the gym either.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Aside from the metronome, I did two semesters of rhythmic dictation during my music minor and it helped A LOT. I'm sure you can find some curricula and course materials online.

 

[tedtan]

First, learn to count time. Then, work on sight singing and ear training (to include rhythmic dictation).

 

[nickgray]

Is there a way to improve on this?

Learning music theory is a really good idea. You really ought to know what bars, beats, triplets, time signatures, meter, syncopation, and all the rest of the stuff actually means. Nothing terribly complicated about any of it, learning basic guitar technique is way harder than learning basic music theory.

Another good idea is to tap your foot or tapping a finger against the desk or whatever with the song.

An extension of the above is to focus on your right hand playing only. The simplest practice aid would be to mute the strings and strum along the rhythm of the music. Then try strumming along with the riff itself. Then focus on getting the right hand playing the actual riff all the while the left hand mutes the strings. It's good sanity check too because if you have trouble playing cleanly with just your right hand, let alone something simplified, playing the part properly is not going to happen.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Start off with some AC/DC, you can never go wrong learning from Malcom. Get Malcom down, and eventually Scott Ian and James Hetfield will be more accessible.

 

[Hoss632]

I'd say if you can learn some basic music theory so you can better understand time signatures, keys etc. It really helps a lot.

 

[mastapimp]

If you have something like GuitarPro at your disposal, you isolate the track and focus on the rhythm along with the built in metronome. It'll might help you get a good grasp of where the notes fall in relation to the beat. You can always slow things down in the track playback as well if it's tricky.

I also found that transcribing some of my favorite songs into GuitarPro or PowerTab editor was a great tool for practicing the rhythmic notation and getting it right when playing it alongside the source material.

 

[ArtDecade]

If you can play it slow, you can learn to play it fast. Drag it down as far as you need to and go up 10-15 bpm at a time as needed.

 

[Gmork]

Start playing drums as well.... No really!

 

[14drz]

Start playing drums as well.... No really!

Hahahah I wish I had one

 

[Pietjepieter]

Keep your hand moving in the rythm and hit the strings when needed. Meaning that if you have a rhythm in 8th notes, you just keep moving your hands in 8thse, like if you are strumming each 8th note. But just don't hit the strings if it is not needed. In this way you keep in the groove and you can play freaky rhythms.

Must say, if you combine even and uneven rythmic stuff, for instance some 8th notes and some 8th notes triplets it does not work, but for a lot of stuff is does and it makes you a groova machine

Oh and do it slow, every down and upstroke perfect in place etc.