Now you understand the technique for strumming to produce a consistent pattern, we’ll see a quick and simple way to learn to read and write rhythm notation. Our rhythm skills include the practical side of training our body to synchronise with a beat and training our arms to move smoothly in the right time. They also include our ability to hear, read and write rhythms confidently. Most people have heard me tell the sad story of how I had received piano lessons and guitar lessons for years at school, but never any specific instruction on rhythm. I turned up at music college, the instructor asks me to strum a chord on beats two and four and follow the snare drum. I had no problem with the chord, but a complete lack of any rhythm training meant trying to hit on the right beat made me look like the guitar octopus, my arm flailing around in an attempt to make contact with the strings at the right time. This will not happen to you!
You can download the materials shown in the clips from the ‘materials’ tab above. Enter your favourite rhythms into your ‘rhythm library’ also in the materials tab.
Rhythm notation! What are those squiggles all about?
How we’re going to combine these four rhythmic elements to create ‘Rhythm Words’
The quickest and simplest way to build up your ability to read, write and play these rhythms.
How to practice:
Use the drum tracks on the right to work on the different combinations. Your first objective is to play through your line of rhythms at 60pbm. You want to work at a level where you have to concentrate but it’s not overwhelmingly difficult. So you can simplify by taking the speed down and working with fewer rhythm words. You could work with one rhythm word only until that one is secure. You can raise the level of challenge by increasing the tempo and working with a greater number of rhythm words. Your medium term objective is to be able to play all of the 8 rhythm words at 120bpm swapping freely between them on muted strings. Longer term, you’ll be able to add another layer of challenge by doing this while swapping chords at the same time, or playing the rhythms with single notes.
