How to Practice Timing: 5 Songs to Help Your Rhythm
And a one, and a two, and a three, and a four...
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How to Practice Timing: 5 Songs to Help Your Rhythm · Source: Dimitar Gorgev / Alamy Stock Photo
Guitar players don’t really like to practice timing, but it’s one of the most important things you can do to improve. Here are a couple of songs to help with that all-important rhythm.
Songs to Practice Timing:
How to Practice Timing: Why is rhythm important?
Wait a minute! We’re not drummers, are we? No, we’re not. However, being able to play in time and have good rhythm is just as essential for guitarists as it is for any other musician.
Have you ever heard someone play the guitar, and they sound quite wooden? It’s most likely because they need practice their timing. A lot of players play through songs like a tick list, when they actually need to take their time and appreciate all of the rises and falls in the rhythm and melody.
Here, we’ve got 5 great songs to help with various aspects of your timing. From stop chords to sixteenth notes, Surf to Ska, these are great ways to help you practice timing.
Wipeout – The Venturers
So, for our first look into how you can practice timing, we have this surf classic from The Ventures. Most people only focus on the riff, but we can learn a lot more from this track than that.
Purely an instrumental track, with the exception of the creepy vocal intro, we work around a I, IV, V progression in C. When we get to the chorus, we play through each of those chords at various intervals. The chords in question are: C, F and G.
Each of these stop chords is played on beat 1 at the end of every other bar. Therefore, we want to play a chord on beat 1, before counting eight beats, or two bars, before the next chord. This will really help with your awareness of timing within the song. Three easy chords, and a lot of counting, give it a try!
To get a little bit closer to that surf sound, you’ll want to get your hands on a Stratocaster. Either go all out on a *Vintera II, or protect the bank balance with a *Classic Vibe. The choice is yours.
Edge Of Seventeen – Stevie Nicks
Next up, we’re jumping forward a decade to the effortlessly cool Stevie Nicks. This is one of those riffs that could sound hard, but when you pick it apart, there really isn’t a lot to it.
This time, we’ll be working on sixteenth notes. Otherwise known as semi-quavers, here we’re fitting sixteen mini notes into a space of one four-note bar. A regular bar would be counted as one, two, three, four. However, a bar of sixteenth notes is counted as 1e+a, 2e+a, 3e+a, 4e+a. Each component has four sections. Four times four is sixteen. Get it?
Likewise, there are just three notes for this one. We want to start on the 7th fret of the A string, which is an E note. From here, the riff works around C and D, also on the A string. Not only good for timing practice, but it’s also a great alternate picking exercise.
House Of The Rising Sun – The Animals
Another timeless classic here, this time, from The Animals. You can either go over this as a picking or a strumming exercise, but there’s something different compared to what we’ve seen so far.
Unlike our other tracks, House Of The Rising Sun is in a 6/8 time signature. Instead of having four equal-length notes per bar, this time we have two stressed beats per bar, with each beat subdivided into three eighth notes. Overall, this gives us a rocking or swinging feel. We can count each bar as: one two three, four five six.
Why is this useful for us in learning how to practice timing? Adding another time signature to your skill set is never a bad thing. Furthermore, it’s great for working on your core open chords. Specifically, Am, C, D, F & E7.
Stuck In The Middle With You – Stealers Wheel
Back down to reality now, and more importantly, back in 4/4! This wonderfully chaotic and fun track from Stealers Wheel features some offbeat rhythms that could prove useful for other elements of our playing.
This time, we’re looking at syncopation. By definition, if a note is syncopated, it is placed off the strong beat. The 2nd verse of this song features the chords on beats 2 and the and of beat three of the bar. Also known as the ice pick, this technique is usually heard in Motown music.
Playing on beats 2 and 3+ again will give you a great awareness of the timing in the track, in addition to creating great rhythmic contrast. To be most effective, you’ll want to play the chords on your bridge pickup to really cut through the mix. Moreover, mute the strings as soon as you’ve played the chord to achieve that crisp sound.
A Message To You Rudy – The Specials
To conclude our look at rhythm and timing practice, we’re sticking with the syncopation. Checking out this feel-good song from The Specials.
A new genre here, Ska music is very similar to Reggae. There are various stylistic features, notably, the guitar chords being placed on the offbeat. In this case, it’s the and of every beat. One and, two and, three and, four and. Except, we wouldn’t play the strong beats.
It’s not just The Specials that are good for this; take most tracks from Madness or even Bob Marley. Unlike the ice pick from before, this totally transforms the feel of the song, and gives it that Ska / Reggae signature feel.
Again, to get that crisp sound, any bridge pickup will do. However, in this song’s music video, we can see a rather tasty looking black *Gibson Les Paul. In addition, there appears to be a *Thinline Telecaster.
How to Practice Timing: Lots of Counting!
When trying these, or indeed any songs, with regard to rhythm, make sure that you use a metronome! A simple yet effective device that will highlight any weaknesses in your timing.
Also, don’t be afraid to slow things down either! There’s not shame in it. This week, it may be at 70% of the original speed, but next week it could be 80%. Take your time, it’ll make you a better player.
Videos:
Further Information:
- Effective Guitar Practice
- Why Are Scales Important on Guitar?
- How String Gauges Influence Technique and Tone
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