Rhythmic Awareness

As human beings it’s almost impossible to have absolute perfect timing. If we did, we would play like robots. The lag between musicians timing is part of what makes every band sound different. For example, most bands follow the drummer, the Stones drummer Charlie Watts, says he actually follows the Rhythm Guitar. This makes the Stones Rhythm section sound unique.

If you are starting out playing with bands, don’t depend on the drummer for time. Be responsible for keeping yourself steady. When you are playing Rhythm Guitar it’s fairly easy to lock in with the Bass and drums. But playing lead forces you to slip back and forth between following the beat and accenting your melody. Most “lead”players don’t exclusively play single notes, you revert to playing Rhythm when not playing lead. So there’s a tricky transition point, when you switch from Rhythm to lead, my favorite example is Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode. There is a seamless switch from playing the Boogie Rhythm pattern on the low strings, to the solo on the hi strings, then back again. No drop out.

This means you have to have both patterns straight in your head. First you must be able to play the Rhythm pattern in your sleep. Next Play the Rhythm part and hum the lead melody you want to play over it. Then do the opposite, play your lead part, while humming the rhythm changes. If you have to concentrate on one, you lose the other, so keep it simple to start.

Guitarist’s by nature(esp. self-taught), tend to concentrate on Notes (pitch) over Tempo. it takes a while to realize that pitch and tempo are equally important. A Rhythmically aware player can turn simple melodies/Chord progressions into interesting/tasteful pieces. Most of my favorite Guitarists are excellent Rhythm players. Kieth Richards, Scotty Moore, Steve Cropper, Pete Townsend. Playing Rhythm doesn’t just mean playing chords, it means playing rhythmically! Try approaching you strumming, as if you were playing a drum.

So if you’re not locking in, with the Bass and Drums,(or the Bass/Drums aren’t getting together), it’s time to communicate and solve a few problems together. Newbies tend to blast through songs, as if the whole point is getting to the end. Don’t be afraid to stop and say ” something feels wrong, let’s figure it out”. Also, it’s important to stop right when you hear a problem, not 7 or 8 bars later. Quiet or acoustic practices are best for doing this. If you don’t use charts, you should still be prepared to chart out problem sections, counting beats and bars, and where the chord changes occur.

I’m posting this on Reddit , I’d like to hear from any Drummers out there on; aside from overall steadiness,

what rudiments do Guitarist need to work on?

What are the basic beats we should all know?

What are the basic rhythm terms we need to know? We end up using terms like “train beat” ,  ”Jungle drums” or “Scooby Doo, falling down stairs”

Are there any books/resources (for short attention spans) available?

Any assistance in this matter are greatly appreciated, Cheers!

Update- I posted the questions on Drum Reddit. You can check out the answers I got here; http://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/a1gw9/drummers_what_constructive_advice_do_you_have_for/

Thanks to everyone that took the time to respond.

Update- Deadcats Drummer, Kermit Von Munster’s Drum blog cover’s covers many of these points

The King lays down a beat

The Importance of Being a Self-Taught Musician

Imagine just 100 years ago, if you wanted to learn to play an instrument, you had to find someone that is already accomplished on that instrument, and convince them to show you what they knew. In a sense, everyone was self-taught. And once you became competent, up and coming players would hit you up for tips. If you were lucky, a good player might let you do an “apprenticeship” with them.

I’m not saying that there were no how-to books available, but they were very basic, they were based on piano methods and they generally didn’t show you anything past the first position. Anyways, my point is  that if you wanted to learn the Guitar, you were forced to do some organized research, find the information and work with it experiment, see for yourself  what works and what doesn’t.

As a student of the Guitar, you will get much more from private lessons if you take charge of how you learn. Get other opinions, don’t allow yourself to be spoon-fed information from just one source. There’s nothing wrong with learning to play by imitation but try to balance it with an understanding of what you are doing. Do the math. Look at the distance between notes, learn how to build chords and scales, not just play them by imitation. Don’t be afraid to tell a teacher that you don’t understand what he/she is trying to explain. A good teacher has several ways around every problem.

Being self -taught forces you to understand the basics. Playing Music is simple math. It requires problem solving, abstract reasoning, visualization, spatial reasoning, multi-tasking and most importantly, it is a communication skill. You are the only one that can decide, what direction you take, how long to practice, who to approach for help, when am I ready to play with other musicians? You can push yourself or play it safe.

Luck can be described as recognizing an opportunity and being ready for it. You are the only one that can make sure you are ready.

Be aware that  understanding Musical theory  and playing an instrument(technique) are 2 separate areas of study. Learning to balance them will help you become a Musician, not just a Guitar player.

Correlation Between Notes and Colors, the Gootar Chord Theory

Isaac Newton passed a ray of sunlight though a prism and got 7 colors; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, Indigo and violet. He called this the spectrum. Notice the first, third and fifth are primary colors? Similar to a Maj Chord. Here’s a link to the Gootar Theory By James C. Cranwell, 04/20/2004

4 Exercises to Sharpen Your Brain

This article in the Desini Bermula segalanya blog (translates to “start here”) shows why playing an instrument helps keep the brain active. Here’s the link

There is a disproportionate number of nerve cells in your hands as well as the lips, tongue  and feet. The articles shows that using you non dominant hand and learning/remembering new material both help. I think most of you have seen this guy somewhere. He’s the Homunculus Man. A Graphic representation of what it would look like, if parts of our bodies with more nerve endings were larger, than the areas with few nerve endings. Homunculus             Sensory                and                  Motor

The most interesting part of the article to me was, learning that , you can increase the blood flow to the brain by massaging the base of the neck, right where the spine joins the skull, for a few minutes. So (electric players) remember, when your Guitar strap is digging into your shoulder, it’s cutting off blood to the brain. This is why Les Paul players always have that silly look on their faces(sorry, couldn’t resist). Extra wide straps with plenty of padding make a big difference.

Watkins/Wem Musical Instruments

Anyone with connections to jolly old England will recognize these stylish instruments.  Most british players are quite familiar with WEM, they were a low priced alternative to Vox. Here’s Bo Diddley posing with a Coptcat.
The site  is here http://www.watkinsguitars.co.uk/history.htm and includes the entire history and some cool looking gear!

Let’s Try this Again

Not sure who this would appeal to. Looks like a Bo Diddley square Guitar on acid.  Truly one of the strangest new Guitars I’ve seen lately. Mr Lottenen, the luthier, makes some beautiful hollow-body Jazz boxes. Well it’s always good to see examples of what NOT to do. Here’s the link. The Axe is called a “Copacabana” designed by Eero Aario.  Mr Lottenen was on the Conan O’brien show recently to show these off

This is probably  what would happen if IKEA started making Guitars.

Here’s another Lottener, pretty funky

This starts in Swedish, fast forward

Love Pedals

I’ve been looking for a smaller echo pedal lately. I think my Boss Space Echo sounds great but between that and my Dunlop volume pedal, there’s not much space left on the pedalboard. I’d like something I could throw in my Guitar case when I go to a jam. I can do without the tap-tempo and the crazy space noises the Boss has. I came across these Love pedals , Andy Sumners from the Police swears by them. They’re very reasonably priced for a hand-made boutique pedal. I’m looking forward to trying one of these  Echo Baby’s out, they also make a Mini Tremolo and a way-cool dual channel,booster,overdrive called the Les Lius.

Big Joe Burke Hits the Road Again

Once again Big Joe Burke is heading east, to Edmonton and Calgary, with stops in Nelson and Nanton. Not sure what or where Nanton is but I’m sure I’ll find out shortly. Last time we went east, we had Mike McDonald (not the Doobie bro) from Junior Gone Wild open for us at the New City in Edmonton. We also ended up playing “Calgary’s Home of Heavy Metal”, Vern’s. Strangely enough, the Punks and Metalheads loved us.Playing Johnny Cash’s “Cocaine Blues” will win over the toughest audience.

This time we’re promoting the new disc “Quiver”. We have 3 songs on the top 10 Country Finals Chart at Songvault #3, 4 and 5. The dates on this trip are;

Oct 7 -Edmonton, Alberta(Emporess Ale House)

Oct 8- Nanton, Alberta(the Auditorium)

Oct 9- Calgary,Alberta(2 shows, the Palimino-early:4.45 and Shuckalucks- headlining:9.30)

Oct 10-Nelson, BC (the Royal on Baker)

Visit Big Joe Burke on Myspace and the Main site

Check out the new disc “Quiver” and our debut “Love or Money” at CD Baby

Come out and say hi, if we’re in your town. Our lovely merch-gal G from YVR productions, will have plenty of CD’s and T-shirts available. We’re all looking forward to getting out Vancouver for a few days.
Here’s a slideshow of “Toe the Line” from Quiver

New Deadcats Disc Preview!

“Look as Hell” is finally done, 2 years in the making, first new Deadcats material in 4 years! So we’re pretty excited about finally getting it done. As usual it covers Rockabilly, Instro-Surf, Garage-Punk, Country, and Psychobilly. There’s a guest appearance from Paul Pigat on Hank’s Cadillac, he lays down an incredible solo. This is the first Deadcats disc with horns, “Motoloco” features a couple of Trumpet parts that drive the tune. “Motoloco” was the first tune we recorded, we were hired to write and record a theme song for a new video game, that was never released. So if you’re wondering what possessed us to record a song with 1 word in the lyrics, that’s why.

This our first disc using the Upright Bass instead of our signature “Bucket Bass Sound”. You could hear the Bucket(washtub) on recordings, but it just didn’t cut it live. Sure, it looked cool lighting it on fire but it was really just a prop. Marc L’Esperance did a great job, this is by far the best sounding Deadcats disc since “Bucket of Love”. He’s a master of coaxing incredible performances from players. You can hear a good chunk of the disc on the Deadcats Main Site

Lessons From the Rev

9 part interview by D’Addario’s Guitar.com. The quality isn’t great, it’s a 2nd or 3rd generation copy but the info is good. I wish they would re-post this on guitar.com. Enjoy some amazing picking!

Thanks to garageink74 on Youtube, this is one of the best Rockabilly/Psychobilly Guitar vids I’ve seen. If anyone knows where I could find the originals, do tell.