Counting in Music

A while ago I took on a new adult student. He was an experienced guitarist. He played a lot of solo acoustic guitar pieces. He was a good acoustic guitar player. Now he wanted to learn how to play electric. And specifically, lead guitar. He certainly had the talent. Now we just needed to develop those electric guitar chops!

I quickly found that if I taught him complex licks, he could play them. He would use the proper fingerings. He was able do the proper picking techniques as well. I thought, great! These lessons should be really fun. Until the real problem came…counting. Players who play by themselves can end up with an odd sense of rhythm. It can really hold back their playing when they do try to play with others. Let’s dive into how to avoid this! Here are some helpful tips on how to work on playing in time.

Time

When we refer to time in relation to music, we are talking about the pulse. Have you ever clapped to the beat with the rest of the crowd at a concert? That’s the pulse. The the speed you clap at is the tempo of the song. That tempo running throughout a song is its time. Time keeps moving in music, just as in life.

Once a piece of music has begun to be played, time has started. Even if you have a rest in your music, the relative time is still a living and breathing thing. The main difference in musical time, is that time is relative to the tempo in music. Tempo is the speed of music. Like miles per hour in a car, we have relative speed changes in music called BPM. Which stands for beats per minute. The lower the BPM, the slower the song. The higher the BPM, the faster the song.

The concept that time continues once a song begins is very important. A student also needs to play relative to that time at all times during the performance of an entire piece of music. This is something a student needs to develop as soon as possible. Here are a few ways to work on it.

Playing with a Recording

Once a student can play a song or concept well, I try to make them play along with a recording. Here are a few different ways in which I work on it with students.

1. Learning a song: A great measure of your playing is to play along to recordings of the song you are trying to master. Students who do this, begin to understand transitions in music way better than the students who just play by themselves. It’s like playing with a band. And you can pause and rewind or fast forward anytime you need! The student who avoids this will inherently never have a smooth-sounding flow to their playing.
2. Learning a guitar solo: Some players will specifically work on guitar solos of a song. Once they have achieved a level that the other sections of the song are easy to play along with, the solo becomes the new priority. All the same rules apply. Once both all parts of the song are learned, the student can put the entire song together. Then play the song with the recording from start to finish!
3. Song Backing tracks: There are recordings called backing tracks. These are generally a specific recording of a song recorded with the lead guitar missing. This way a student can play in place of the original guitar part/solo on the recording. This helps figure out how well a student is playing the song.  
4. Improvising backing tracks: These are recordings that are made for a specific reason. They are made to help someone make up their own solos. The players who record these tracks are playing generic types of chord progressions, tempos, and feels that you can find on many songs. But because it’s not a specific song, the student can practice making their own solo. If you read a book and memorize it, it doesn’t mean they are your own thoughts right?  An example is, if in school your teachers asks you to write or discuss a book, then you need to come up with original thought. Because it’s not just about repeating the book materials entirely. It’s also about your own interpretation of the material. It is the same with guitar. You have to play with something and make up your own thing. Sure, you can use parts of solos you have learn. Just look facts in a book report. But you also need to put your personal spin on it.

Forward Motion

The reason that the playing with a record concept helps, is because the record makes you play in rhythm.  The student that does this realizes that they are either keeping pace with the recording, or they aren’t. Weather a student realizes it or not, they are learning to play in rhythm. The question is, why would someone avoid doing this?

The Ugly Truth

The student who avoids playing with a recording is likely an Ear player. They might be able to figure things out a lot of times. But if there is a complicated section that they can’t get by ear…… they don’t have the tools to address the problem.

The student I mentioned at the beginning of this post had this problem. I had definitely had him play with backing tracks before. But in one lesson, I ask him to specifically play different types of rhythms. There were some basic rhythms that he couldn’t play on command.

Why? I found out that was because he didn’t know what some rhythms sounded like. In some cases, he didn’t really didn’t know how to count them. Imagine not knowing what a cheering or booing crowd was. You can hear the sounds but not know what it means. That’s what rhythms are like to a player who plays by ear and not from a knowledge base.

 

Fixing Your Rhythm

• Note reading: Beginner note reading books are designed for a beginner player. The rhythms and playing concepts are explained slowly and easily. Some experienced players find this dull to work on. Frustrating to be in a beginner book. They feel like the Billy Madison of guitar playing. Please understand that you are filling gaps in your understanding. It doesn’t mean you don’t know how to play. It just helps you understand what you are much better.

• Understanding types of rhythms: You don’t have to read notes to work on these problems. You can learn all the common types of rhythm groups and practice them with chords and scales you know. You will probably realize some songs you know are in certain rhythm groups. For example, the Sweet Child O’ Mine intro is in eight notes.

• Metronome: Another valuable way to work on rhythm is using a metronome. Once you understand how to count, you can match the proper rhythms to click on the metronome. This is the time-tested (pardon the pun) way of accurately improving your rhythm. It can be frustrating. It’s like a mirror. It doesn’t lie. But once you start get it, you will find yourself on the way to making better music.

• Counting out loud: I can remember my guitar teachers telling me to count out loud while I played assignments in my note reading books. It always felt kind of embarrassing to do. Like speaking in front of a class. I wouldn’t do it. One lesson you really lectured me on it. So, I finally counted out loud. Well, I said the rhythm incorrectly. I was surprised. He wasn’t. He explained that saying a rhythm out loud is a better way to work then counting in your head. Because you could hear yourself make the mistake. If you counted if you head you would always think you were right! That was a huge lesson for me! Count out loud!  You will find mistakes yes. But you will also be able to fix them. Good luck!

-JD