As we all know, good rhythm and timing are one of the most important aspects of being a good musician.
All the greats have a knack for being able to play the right notes at the right time, and ‘in’ time…
You have the likes of:
Jimi Hendrix who could play the same chord progression over and over and change up the flavour with exciting embellishments without speeding up or slowing down.
Tommy Emmanuel who plays super tight basslines and mesmerising melodies over the top while keeping everything tight and in sync.
Paul Simon who is a master of simple but enchanting fingerpicking patterns, which are sometimes more intricate than they first appear to be and pretty much always sound beautiful.
Eric Clapton who has had a big career playing rock, blues, psychedelic, pop, reggae, with the skill to easily switch between these styles at the drop of a hat while playing them all with majestic timing.
…And then there are musicians in bands such as the Eagles who can strum, pick, and jam lead and solos while keeping everything tight and incredibly punchy, even when there are multiple guitarists and therefore more room for error.
Rhythm is key to everything in music.
…But most people find they speed up or slow down like they’re driving with one foot on the clutch and the other on the brake.
…Or that they play the same old rhythm every time, which is as exciting as being forced to play a chord you’ll never use a 1000 times over while locked up inside a murky cell inside the dreaded Acoustic Asylum.
If you feel that way, you might wonder, what is the best way to develop your rhythm?
There are many ways to do so:
Including foot tapping when you play songs (very important).
Using a metronome (when you use one correctly, they are powerful, but most people use one in the wrong way).
Jamming to records and with other musicians (always a solid way).
…BUT the single best way to develop rhythm for me is to take the best elements of the above.
Which includes bits of foot tapping, metronome practice, and more, while putting it all together into a simple exercise that uses just four mini rhythms.
…And these rhythms are the building blocks of 95% of music out there.
I filmed a lesson on this today and if you do this exercise for a few minutes a day regularly, you can transform your ability to keep in time, strum with confidence, jam with ease, and much more.
Best of all, I also show you how you can even do a variation of this exercise without your guitar so you can do it anywhere to improve your rhythm.
This lesson will be released for Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy members on the 1st of October.
Find out more about the Academy here:
The Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy
To your quest for better rhythm…
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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