become more rhythmic

hello

I really wanna improve my rhythmic sense, to have a better feeling, timing and grove, like keith Richards or Malcolm young. To have this soild rhythm to play without missing a beat , and could play with such a feel and to use that when soloing is something I really wanna learn because for me it is really important. I know it helps to practice with a metrome but an hour practice strumming it gets a bit boring, does anyone have a way to spice it up or have an other method to practice rhythm or a app you can use when on the go and don’t have your guitar with you

Hey, there! I'm not sure what your skill level is. If you haven't, then I encourage you to work through the fundamentals courses, then the rock style courses. Those will give you a solid foundation!

https://www.guitartricks.com/beginner.php

Originally Posted by: mbw1

I really wanna improve my rhythmic sense, to have a better feeling, timing and grove, like keith Richards or Malcolm young. To have this soild rhythm to play without missing a beat , and could play with such a feel and to use that when soloing is something I really wanna learn because for me it is really important.[/quote][p]The only way to get better & really improve your rhythmic sense is to practice a lot. There is no subsititute for hours & days with your hands on the guitar. :)[br][br]We have an ACDC artist study here.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=982

And a Richards study here.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1020

And we have a bunch of Stones songs too! Learning & playing along with those songs will go a long way toward internalizing those type of rhythmic grooves.

https://www.guitartricks.com/artists/The-Rolling-Stones-Guitar-Lessons

[quote=mbw1]

I know it helps to practice with a metrome but an hour practice strumming it gets a bit boring, does anyone have a way to spice it up or have an other method to practice rhythm or a app you can use when on the go and don’t have your guitar with you

Playing along with backing tracks is more fun than a metronome. And playing along with other musicians (especially a good drummer!) is a great way to improve your rhythmic sense.

You really need to play your guitar in order to get better at it. You can improve your listening skills & ear training without playing. Just listening to music & trying to identify chord changes & melody scale degrees is a great exercise.

But there is no substitute for playing your guitar. A lot. :)[br][br]Best of success!

thank you for the good answers

I just was wondering about the backingtracks, because I was told that backingtracks will not improve your rhythmic feel, it will make it most worse because you will relay too much on the drummer, singer and so on in the backing track. But with a mentrome you will develop a inder clock and a better feel for rhythm, is that true?

Originally Posted by: mbw1

I just was wondering about the backingtracks, because I was told that backingtracks will not improve your rhythmic feel, it will make it most worse because you will relay too much on the drummer, singer and so on in the backing track.[/quote][p]Playing with another musician might be preferable. But it's not always an option. Especially when you are just learning & not good enough to actually keep up with them. And what if the drummer or the other musician you are playing with has terrible time keeping skills?! That won't help you very much. :)

If you haven't developed good time keeping, then how can a backing track make it worse? I suppose you have to get used to playing with a live drummer, as opposed to the one on the backing track. But you have to do that when you play with different drummers or musicians anyway.

So, backing tracks are just one possible tool to use. They can help you, but only as much as you practice. They certainly can help your rhythmic playing if you use them to honestly assess your playing.

[quote=mbw1]

But with a mentrome you will develop a inder clock and a better feel for rhythm, is that true?

It says over & again: THIS IS THE BEAT. And if you aren't keeping good time, you can tell right away.

A backing track can be more fun. Because you can play along with some music! For years, before tracks were available, I, & other musicians, would just play along with recordings, albums, tapes, whatever! It was an objective reference point. It was a challenge of course, when I'd play the song with live musicians instead of the recording, there would be difference! We had to keep all the time & remember all the parts instead of relying on the recording. But playing with the recording was an invaluable learning process. Without it, we might never have gotten good enough to make the next step.

So, if you play a song with a metronome, then you are on your own to remember where the changes in the song happens. But at the same time, how will you know if you got the changes right? That's when a backing track can come in handy.

Bottom line, they are just different tools for time keeping. Any tool is only a good as the work you do with it. A metronome can be better for scales or repetitious practicing. A backing track can help you play along with a song structure.

If you learn a song by playing along with a track, then you go to play it with a band and they play it slightly differently or with a different ending, then you can't blame the track! Playing with the track got you to a certain point and playing the different version with the band is another, separate learning experience.

Hope that helps!

Not sure if this applies to you, but from my peronal experience I have been messing with guitars on and off for years and always failed to achieve any level of competence.

I have had several teachers who were great guitar players.

However I never really got anywhere, I practiced scales, learnt theory and so on and was always pushed to improvise but in the end after many attempts of trying and failing I couldn't play a decent tune, not to any level of competence anyway.

This is my final attempt but it has dawned on me I have never really got to grips with rhthym. Non of my teachers really pushed me in that direction and I could not count the beat, not at all, not when playing anyway.

After joining GT and working my way skipping most of the foundation I have started on the Rock part 1 which covers rhthym foundation quite well and I am beginning to get to grips with time keeping and being able to count whilst I play. It is not easy but I think my playing is improving because of it and I can now use this in other studies.

Originally Posted by: OnTheRopes

After joining GT and working my way skipping most of the foundation I have started on the Rock part 1 which covers rhthym foundation quite well and I am beginning to get to grips with time keeping and being able to count whilst I play. It is not easy but I think my playing is improving because of it and I can now use this in other studies.

Thanks for this post! It's a great reminder how absolutely fundamental acquiring a good sense of rhythm is.

It also reminded me that I've seen a lot of beginners get frustrated at trying to make the leap from basic chord strumming to actual rock rhythm guitar playing. I did this series of tutorials aimed at solving that problem. I developed these exercises after seeing what really helped a lot of students get to the next level.

Syncopated Rock Rhythm Series 1

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1492

Syncopated Rock Rhythm Series 2

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1505

Syncopated Rock Rhythm Series 3

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1553

Syncopated Rock Rhythm Series 4

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1593

Hope this helps!

Thanks for those links Chris, a quick scan and they look very helpful and I shall spend some time with them.

However, where are they in Guitar Tricks? I'm not sure I would have ever found them without your post.

You can find those lessons from "Learn styles of guitar" section on main page.

Then select "Rock" as a style https://www.guitartricks.com/style.php?input=rock

Lessons are listed under title "Chrostopher: Rock Basics"

You're welcome!

Originally Posted by: OnTheRopes

However, where are they in Guitar Tricks? I'm not sure I would have ever found them without your post.

In general the best way to find any given tutorial is the search function. You can use it by clicking the little magnifying glass icon in the upper right hand corner of the web page. Or you can go to this page.

https://www.guitartricks.com/search.php

Each instructor has a complete directory of currently available tutorials. For example mine is here.

https://www.guitartricks.com/instructor.php?input=155014

You can get links to all the instructor directories here.

https://www.guitartricks.com/instructors.php

But obviously, sometimes you don't know who teaches what! Or what the name of the topic is you are trying to learn! After all, you are the student! :) In that case, please ask in the forum! That's the best way to find something. That's what the forum is for. That's what we're here for. To help you find the content you need to get better at playing guitar. :)

Hope that helps!

Originally Posted by: jarkko.eklund

You can find those lessons from "Learn styles of guitar" section on main page.

Then select "Rock" as a style https://www.guitartricks.com/style.php?input=rock

Lessons are listed under title "Chrostopher: Rock Basics"

[/quote]

Thanks :)

[quote=ChristopherSchlegel]

You're welcome!

[br]Each instructor has a complete directory of currently available tutorials. For example mine is here.

[br]https://www.guitartricks.com/instructor.php?input=155014

[br]You can get links to all the instructor directories here.

[br]https://www.guitartricks.com/instructors.php

[br]But obviously, sometimes you don't know who teaches what! Or what the name of the topic is you are trying to learn! After all, you are the student! :) In that case, please ask in the forum! That's the best way to find something. That's what the forum is for. That's what we're here for. To help you find the content you need to get better at playing guitar. :)

[br]Hope that helps!

[br]

Thanks

Late to the party but in one of my more formative years of playing; as wise and very skilled guitar player told me; it's different when you play with a drummer. Even if you've practiced with a record/tape (hey, it was the 80's and very few folks owned a CD player when this was said!)

I'm just adding a wee bit of context to the volumonous (and awesome) stuff Chris posted. Still, practice and play along with the songs. Pick songs strategically. If AC/DC, don't practice 'Walk All Over You' (for instance) or 'Whole Lotta Rosie'. Fun to play but these are a bit fast but can lend itself to being a little sloppy and still be ok. Play 'TNT', 'Back in Black', 'Dirty Deeds' or 'You Shook Me All Night Long'. Not that there aren't a million from AC/DC but these are all good rhythmic songs.

What they all have in common is the ability to tap your foot along while you play. It's likely you will just tap you foot without really knowing/trying.

Good rhythmic playing is also about groove. Your riffs/notes/chords being played fall in to the rhythmic pattern of the song. Some times it's a little slack (falls after the note a little bit) or on top of the beat. Each gives a different vibe.

This is why playing along gives you a sense of note placement. Just keep on practicing until you hear that the riff you are playing is locked in to the recording. It takes time to get timing. Even if you have a good sense of rhythm, it takes time.

Example; The first song I learned was Rush' 'Fly by Night'. I practiced it from memory (I didn't actually own it on album at that point). So I played it and it sounded ok for a beginner. Then years later, I decided to see if I remembers all the parts I learned and played along to a friends CD. I remembered the parts but my timing was garbage. At that point, I was a pretty solid player and had good timing...except on that songs. Because I didn't bother actually learning the riff/note placement.

A little more food for thought.

Originally Posted by: JeffS65

Late to the party but in one of my more formative years of playing; as wise and very skilled guitar player told me; it's different when you play with a drummer. Even if you've practiced with a record/tape (hey, it was the 80's and very few folks owned a CD player when this was said!)

I'm just adding a wee bit of context to the volumonous (and awesome) stuff Chris posted. Still, practice and play along with the songs. Pick songs strategically. If AC/DC, don't practice 'Walk All Over You' (for instance) or 'Whole Lotta Rosie'. Fun to play but these are a bit fast but can lend itself to being a little sloppy and still be ok. Play 'TNT', 'Back in Black', 'Dirty Deeds' or 'You Shook Me All Night Long'. Not that there aren't a million from AC/DC but these are all good rhythmic songs.

What they all have in common is the ability to tap your foot along while you play. It's likely you will just tap you foot without really knowing/trying.

Good rhythmic playing is also about groove. Your riffs/notes/chords being played fall in to the rhythmic pattern of the song. Some times it's a little slack (falls after the note a little bit) or on top of the beat. Each gives a different vibe.

This is why playing along gives you a sense of note placement. Just keep on practicing until you hear that the riff you are playing is locked in to the recording. It takes time to get timing. Even if you have a good sense of rhythm, it takes time.

Example; The first song I learned was Rush' 'Fly by Night'. I practiced it from memory (I didn't actually own it on album at that point). So I played it and it sounded ok for a beginner. Then years later, I decided to see if I remembers all the parts I learned and played along to a friends CD. I remembered the parts but my timing was garbage. At that point, I was a pretty solid player and had good timing...except on that songs. Because I didn't bother actually learning the riff/note placement.

A little more food for thought.

Well put jeff and I shall take some of this on board, I can't really play with a drummer so playing along with the track is what I will aim for, currently I am working on Aqualung which although not too difficult as such, there is lots of small variations in the acoustic parts that make it challenging. AC/DC is a great idea and I shall take a closer look once I get tis nailed.

Thanks for posting.

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