Lesson 7

Timing and Rhythm

A look at how notes and chords are grouped together into bars and how different rhythms are created.

Measuring Speed

The tempo of a piece of music is usually measured in beats per minute (BPM). Some of you techno-types will be familiar with this measurement from using MIDI sequencers or drum machines. The good thing about using BPM is that it provides an unequivocal standard to which one can play.

Tempo and Rhythm

TIP
This lesson makes use of track 6 on the CD that comes with the book as a backing track. Be sure to locate the track on the CD so it will be ready when you need it.

Mastering the guitar is about more than getting your fingers into the right positions on the fretboard. There’s a whole other hand involved, and it has to strike the strings in time. In order to perform a piece of music correctly (either alone or with other musicians), you need to emphasize the rhythm of the music correctly.

For most beginners, playing in time is one of the hardest skills to master. The problem you will find is that whenever you want to play a note or chord, your right hand must anticipate the precise moment that the pick will strike the string. Obviously, there are clear mental and physical processes you have to deal with before the notes are even played.

Your first efforts will sound a bit rough. Don’t lose too much sleep about this — with practice and perseverance, rhythm will become second nature.

Timing is made up of two components: tempo and rhythm. Tempo is the speed at which a piece of music is played; rhythm refers to the way in which notes are played or accented. It is the rhythm that creates the feel of a piece of music.

The same is not true for classical music, which uses a variety of Italian terms to guide the player. You’ll see these terms if you look at a piece of written music. For example, if you’re instructed to play allegro, you should play the piece in a fast or lively manner — classical players generally interpret this as between 120 and 150 beats per minute. As you can see, there’s room for personal interpretation.

Other tempos include grave (very slow or serious), lento (slow), adagio (slow or at ease), andante (walking speed), moderato (moderate speed), vivace (lively), and presto (very fast). But don’t worry too much about these terms just yet.

Fast Moves

Because the fingers of your left hand are still weak in their ability to fret chord positions accurately, by the time you managed to change chords the backing track may have already been on beat three of the bar. Don’t worry. If it’s difficult, work through the chords without the backing track at a more leisurely pace. When you’re comfortable with chord changes, try playing with the backing track again.

Playing to a Backing Track

Now let’s use the three chords you know so far (don’t worry, you’ll learn a whole load of new ones in the next lesson) and play them over the backing track.

Below you’ll see a chord chart. As you’ll see, it’s made up of 16 segments. Each of these segments is called a bar. If you listen to the backing track, you can count up to four clicks in each bar. This is because the track — like most pop and rock songs — is said to be in four-four or common time. When you’ve counted through the 16 bars, the track returns to the first bar and begins all over again.

Let’s just take a look at what the different elements of each bar in the chord chart actually mean. The numbers along the top tell you how many beats there are in the bar. Count these numbers out loud while you’re playing.

The letter at the start of the horizontal arrow gives you the chord name; the length of the arrow tells you for how many beats the chord has to be sustained. Finally, the downward — and upward — pointing arrows indicate the direction of pick stroke: a downward arrow instructs you to play a downstroke and vice versa.

This is the rhythm and chord chart that goes with the backing track discussed in this lesson (illustration courtesy of Dorling Kindersley Picture Library).

We’ll start off by playing very simply. We’ll play the first chord on the first beat of the first bar and let it sustain until you play the second chord on the first beat of the second bar. This carries on until you reach the end.

1. Get your CD player (or .wav or MP3 player) ready to play the track. Press the PLAY button.
2. You will hear a four-beat count-in of clicks. Count out loud along with the clicks.
3. Position the fingers of your left hand so that they form an E major chord.
4. On the first beat of the first bar (the count of one), bring the pick down across all six strings.
5. Continue counting through the second, third, and fourth beats.
6. Between the count of four and the first beat of the second bar, stop the chord that is sustaining and position the fingers of the left hand so as to form the A major chord.
7. On the count of one in the second bar, bring the pick down across the strings.
8. Continue counting through the second, third, and fourth beats. Continue working through the backing track, following the chord chart.

Speeding Things Up

Let’s stay with the backing track. This time, we’ll work through it a little differently. Not only will you play the chord on the count of “one,” but also on “three.” Following the chord chart, play the first chord with a downstroke of the pick and the second chord with an upstroke. The first bar is shown below so you get the right idea.

The first bar of Track 10. The down arrow indicates a downstroke; the up arrow indicates an upstroke.

1. Press PLAY and count out loud along with the count-in clicks. Position the fingers of your left hand so that they form an E major chord.
2. On the first beat of the first bar (the count of one), bring the pick down across all six strings. Continue counting through the second beat.
3. On the count of three, bring the pick back up across all six strings.
4. Between the count of four and the first beat of the second bar, position the fingers of the left hand so that they form the A major chord.
5. On the count of one in the second bar, bring the pick down across the strings. Continue to count through the second beat.
6. On the count of three, bring the pick back up across the top five strings (remember, this is A major, so you don’t play the bottom (sixth) string). Continue working through the backing track, following the chord chart.

Four to the Bar

This one’s even more of a challenge: this time you play on every beat of the bar. If you are counting out the beat numbers, all you have to remember is that your pick strikes the strings every time you count. Make sure that you get the pick directions right — remember that for each bar, you play the first and third beats as downstrokes and the second and fourth beats as upstrokes.

Tough Stuff

If you want a real challenge, double the speed at which your right hand strikes the strings one more time. This means that the chord is played on every half-beat. A good way of dealing with this is by simply inserting an extra word into your count. Like “one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and.”

Here is how the first bar looks when played this way.

Play twice for every beat in the bar, using alternating upstrokes and down-strokes.

The first time you work through the chords in this way, play them using alternating pick strokes. That means down-strokes on the beat and upstrokes between the beat (or on each “and” in the count).

Picking Effects

When playing at this speed, we can achieve different effects by the way we pick. Ignore the pick directions on the diagram now. This time, try playing the same chords as down-strokes on EVERY half-beat. If you are using an electric guitar, this might sound a little like the crunching guitars recorded on the backing track. The only way you can really get that chugging rocky guitar effect is by playing down-strokes — you just can’t get the same power or intensity from an upstroke. On the backing track this effect has been accentuated by deliberately damping the strings using the right hand.

To do this, you gently rest the edge of the right hand across the strings in front of the bridge. This creates a muted effect and stops the strings from resonating in the usual way, effectively shortening the length of the note.

Time Signatures

As we’ve already said, this lesson’s backing track has a time signature of four beats to the bar. Although most regular pop and rock songs use this time signature, there are a number of others. The most common alternative is three-four (or waltz) time. This means that each bar consists of three beats. To get a feel for how that works, count out “one-two-three” over and over again (emphasizing the first beat). You’ll soon get the idea.

Rhythm

The playing you’ve done so far in this lesson has been pretty straightforward in its consistency. But if every song plodded along so that chords were played on each beat of the bar, it would sound really dull and we’d soon get fed up and reach for our Playstations. What gives music its life and feel is the careful positioning of notes or chords within a bar — in other words, the rhythm.

By varying the lengths of notes or inserting silences (technically known as rests), it becomes possible to create a seemingly endless supply of unique musical statements. After all, millions of songs been written using combinations of the same dozen notes.

Chapter 9’s final set of four exercises — found on pages 149-150 of your textbook — builds on the simple rhythms you’ve already been playing. You can hear how all of them are supposed to sound on track 13 of the K.I.S.S. Guide to Playing Guitar CD.

The first example (at the top of page 149) drags the chord used in the second bar back by half a beat into the first bar, as if the A major chord had stolen half a beat from the last E major chord, so that it lasts for a beat and a half.

The second exercise (at the bottom of 149) introduces a new idea — silence! This is the very essence of creating a rhythm. In the first bar you don’t play anything on the last half beat (the “and” that follows four if you’re counting). In the second bar, you don’t play on the sixth half beat (the “and” after three).

Be sure to try all four exercises. If you haven’t quite gotten your brain around these ideas, you can listen to all four of these examples on track 13 of the K.I.S.S. CD before trying them.

Moving Forward

Hopefully this lesson has helped you use your new chords in a nearly musical way! Timing is hard, but essential, so don’t give up. Now that you’re learning the ropes, we can add some new chords to our arsenal. The next lesson introduces more open-string chords for your playing pleasure. We’ll also talk a little bit about major versus minor chords. Try the homework; it’ll get you started towards mastering timing and rhythm.

Assignment : Get Rhythm

With the backing track, try the exercises listed in the lesson. If you’re having trouble keeping up, switch off the backing track and try the chord changes by yourself. Once you’re good, try the backing track again.