Getting a Better Sense of Rhythm

[pierre richard]

there you have it..NSJ..

it's not the notes but how they are played..or it's not the words but the way they are said...

time on the instrument..pierre

[markf]

there you have it..NSJ..

it's not the notes but how they are played..or it's not the words but the way they are said...

time on the instrument..pierre

well said

[JakeAcci]

Some useful bits about rhythm at least as it applies to "straight ahead"- transcribing rhythmically interesting players, like Lennie Tristano, Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, Joe Henderson, Charlie Parker (he didn't just play consecutive 8th notes!)

I take solos by these folks and analyze the rhythmic content, then try to improvise with similar rhythmic schemes.

Also, there is a world of study and work that can be done with the metronome. A few months ago I posted a list of some metronome exercises I have done in the past, or can foresee myself doing in the future:

Basically, take any of the following:

comping rhythmic patterns

comping sparse/syncopated

walking bassline

consistent 8ths in lines

general soloing

consider also cycling between the any of the above (so like bassline into comping rhythmic patterns into more syncopated/broken comping without pausing) and you could apply that to any of the following metronome "settings"

click at any of the downbeats (1,2, 3 or 4)

click at any of the upbeats, any "ands", or a half note click that clicks at the and of one and the and of three, or the and of two and the and of four

click at either of the above but for every second measure, so beat 2 of every two measures, something like that...obviously could extend to every 4 measures, every 8, etc, (or every 3, every 5) and this is the challenge of holding tempo

click on a dotted half note, or a dotted quarter note

click on a group of five quarters or eights...so you mentally arrange the click so that it's like (clicking on the capital letters and not anywhere else): ONE two three four one TWO three four one two THREE four etc, and the same concept with eighths (ONE and two and three AND four and one and TWO etc)

click is a group of seven 8ths...ONE and two and three and four AND one and two and three and FOUR and one and two and three AND

click is the 2nd partial of a group of 8th note triplets...or quarter note triplets

obviously you have to do this with a drum machine or a sequencing program unless if you have a metronome that goes down really low (I just use simple midi programs like "tabit," very easy to do this kind of stuff, very quick to put it together)

I actually have a metronome on my iPhone that goes down to ONE beat per minute - unfortunately it's a hair inaccurate against the real bpms. It's consistent with itself - like 30 is half of it's 60 is half of it's 120, but it's 120 isn't actually 120 bpm. Odd, right? Still works for these exercises as long as I know I'm not dealing with "True" bpms

I have only tried (and am only capable of) a fraction of what I've listed here...obviously this is enough stuff that, if taken to it's logical conclusion, you could shed for an eternity so I guess we all have to pick our battles.

All good stuff for genera tempo-maintenance as well as better feeling all subdivisions