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These exercises break rhythmic groups into their individual parts. No indication of time signature, half notes, quarter notes, or the nomenclature associated with rhythm are important right now. Those come later once the basic rhythms are internalized.
Begin with a rhythmic group containing only one note. With only one note available, the only options are to play the note (/) or not play it (x).
Start with the not playing option. Set a metronome to a moderate tempo, around 80 beats per minute (bpm). Concentrate on the click, with eyes close, until the beat becomes internalized.
Then practice playing in time with the click. Start with a muted string and play along with the metronome on a down stroke only. If 80 bpm is too fast, slow the metronome down until the click matches exactly. When the synchronization is perfect, the click and the muted string merge into one sound. Do not move on until every beat is perfectly aligned.
After the beats are aligned, play a note on the guitar instead of the muted string. Feel free to change notes occasionally, but remember that this is a rhythmic exercise, so do not drift off into scales or other patterns. Concentrate on the rhythmic accuracy.
Once single notes are in sync, try strumming a chord, again just with a down stroke. Begin with your favorite chord, or G. Chords are more difficult to synchronize because strumming through the strings takes time. Experiment with when the strumming should take place. Do you prefer the click to align with the lowest string being picked and the rest a little later than the beat? Or do you prefer starting the chord a little early so that the last note rings on the click? Or is a Goldilocks position in the middle what feels right to you? Whether you play right on the beat, just after the beat, or before is going to depend on your style and what other musicians you play with like. Being consistent is the goal.
A two-note pattern is applicable to 2/4 time or as a division of a quarter note into eighth notes, depending on context.
Four possible combinations exist. The first is both notes not played
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When using a metronome with adjustable parameters, set the metronome to 2/4 time or to play eighth notes. Close your eyes and listen to the beat for a while.
The next pattern to explore is both notes played.
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This pattern is similar to the one note exercise, but play the pattern with alternating down and up strokes, down-up. Repeat as before, with muted string, single note, and strumming chords. Do not move to the next level until the click matches the note exactly.
The next pattern is a note followed by a rest,
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The note should be a down stroke and the rest should be muted with no sound. Either lift the string to mute the sound or use a palm mute for open strings. The muted sound occurs exactly on the beat so that the amount of silence is exactly the same amount of time as the amount of sound.
The final pattern is offbeat.
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Playing off beats is a great way to thin out the mix and make your playing stand out.
Once each rhythmic pattern is clean, play them in a sequence
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Repeat the sequence until all patterns are natural, on beat, and relaxed.
Next, choose one of the patterns and weave it into the main pattern in an alternating fashion.
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This helps work that particular pattern.
Repeat weaves for other patterns
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Then practice all the combinations of two patterns
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Then weave these two pattern groups into the main pattern.
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Repeat for three patterns
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Three patterns with weaves becomes too large for this document. Find it in the supporting table. However, this many notes in a weave is too much, so a three-pattern weave is best left as an intellectual exercise.
The four-pattern table is the initial set in all different permutations without repetition.
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Each of these could be its own weave. Instead of weaving such a large group, the final exercise is these patterns together in all combinations, but allowing repetition.
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255 |
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256 |
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Three notes lead to eight possible patterns
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Begin with the bank pattern, as always.
|
x |
x |
x |
Set the metronome to 3/4 time, or 3/8 if they are available. Listen to the click pattern until it becomes part of you.
Next, work the one-note patterns. The downbeat pattern
|
/ |
x |
x |
Is essentially the same as in previous incarnations, but practice three different ways. First, as written, with the string muted for beats two and three. Next, let the note ring for two counts, then mute for the third.
The next one note pattern is the swing offbeat pattern.
|
x |
x |
/ |
This pattern works best with all up stokes on the pick. Again, practice this both with a short note and letting it ring through either two or three counts. This is a great rhythm for blues playing. Listen to “Pride and Joy “by Stevie Ray Vaughn for music that utilizes accented swung off beats.
The final one note version, the triplet slapback, is quite difficult.
|
x |
/ |
x |
For two note versions start with swung eighth notes.
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x |
/ |
This pattern is the basis for much of the jazz and blues repertoire. Spend a lot of time here, both with a ringing first note and then muted in the middle.
The next rhythm is a downbeat with a slapback then rest.
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x |
The final two note pattern is popular in polka music.
|
x |
/ |
/ |
Play it with an up-down picking pattern.
Finally, the full pattern.
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/ |
Unfortunately, this pattern needs to have a down-up-down picking pattern that repeats. down-up-down down-up-down down-up-down … The triplets work great on their own with a pure alternating pattern, but when mixed with other rhythms, using a consistent down-up-down pattern avoids problems later.
The basic three note full pattern is
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Weaving in one of the patterns each time yields these combinations.
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Multiple weaves in a pattern this long are not productive, so instead skip to the last steps. The support table shows 40,320 combinations of patterns without repeats, so pick and choose a few to practice. Also included is a more manageable set (4096) of combinations with repeats, limited to groups of four to avoid the astronomical amount of data to produce groups of eight.
Since groups of four are just two groups of two, many of the permutations came in the two-note section. However, 4/4 is the most common time signature, and sixteenth note subdivisions are quite common, so groups of four do need special attention. Each time a note adds to the pattern, the number of combinations double, so the possible four note combinations are
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Some of these are just repeats of previous patterns, so just examine a few. The single note patterns on the offbeat
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Work best with an upstroke. The two note patterns with a downbeat work best with a down-up pattern
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Note that
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Is the hook to “Master of Puppets” by Metallica.
For the patterns with two notes but no downbeat
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Tends to work better with two up strokes,
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is up-down, and
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is down-up. Try to keep the down strokes on beats 1 and 3.
For three note beats, the gallop rhythm,
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made famous by Heart in the song “Barracuda,” and later becoming a staple of heavy metal music in the 1980s, works best as a down-x-down-up repeated pattern.
down-x-down-up down-x-down-up down-x-down-up …
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Is down-up-x-up down-up-x-up down-up-x-up..,, and
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is down-up-down down-up-down down-up-down…, and
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Is x-up-down-up x-up-down-up x-up-down-up…
The full pattern
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Often happens with accented first and third notes, but be able to play accented notes using the same patterns as the rest. Just play all the notes, but accent the ones in the patterns that have notes.
This group is a bit too large for weaves to be effective, and the number of permutations is prohibitive. The support document shows 43,680 permutations without repeats, broken down into groups of four. The number of permutations with repeats in groups of four is 65,536, so start practicing if you want to play them all. A more realistic approach would be to skip around and work a few patterns at a time, but working the two-note patterns is sufficient since the four note patterns are just groups of two of the two note patterns.
Five-note patterns are rare, but still quite effective when used properly. The most famous piece with a 5/4 pattern is “Take Five” by Dave Brubeck. This time signature is a modified jazz waltz with a missing beat.
Music with a five-note division of beats is extremely rare and difficult. Sometimes progressive rock or jazz uses quintuplets, but more often a five-note pattern is just a way to connect a passing scale with one too few notes. The five-note division is best practiced by saying the word hippopotamus over and over while playing the patterns.
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hip |
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The five-note patterns are in the basic support document, but weaves or permutations on this large set would be of little value.
Six-note patterns are quite popular and pleasing. Six-note patterns are usually one of two categories, either two groups of three or three groups of two. Two groups of three is often in 6/8 time, with a dotted quarter note (three divisions) getting a beat.
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The alternate is three groups of two.
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Patterns for these groups are just rehashing the two-note and three note patterns, so separate permutations are not necessary. All the basic patterns are in the support material. One pattern of note would be the sudden shift between the two patterns, known as the hemiola. A hemiola is effective at the end of a phrase.
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The song “America” from West Side Story uses hemiolas throughout.
Seven-note patterns are rare. The song “Money” by Pink Floyd is the best example. Seven-note divisions are of questionable value in all but extremely complex music. To work seven note patterns, use the words hungry hippopotamus.
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Refer to the external tables for all seven note basic patterns.
Eight-note patterns are just two groups of four, so most permutations are already presented. The 256 possible eight note patterns are in the support document.
A common eighth note pattern is the standard rock beat, with the kick drum on the strong beats and the snare on the backbeat.
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Another eight note pattern is popular in country running bass notes.
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The tables stop at eight-note patterns, but a few larger groups deserve attention. Twelve note patterns are the basis for 12/8 time. A swung 4/4 beat essential becomes the equivalent of 12/8 time, so this is a common grouping. Separate tables are not necessary, though, because 12/8 tends to be just four groups of three, and both those pattern groups are covered. A famous pattern that contains 24 (two groups of 12) divisions is the Bolero, named for the famous classical piece by Ravel, and found in “Lady” by Styx.
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Another pattern group is 16 notes, since 4/4 time breaks down into 16 16th notes.
One such pattern is the Bo Diddley, named after the artist that made it famous. The pattern is actually a division of 4/4 time.
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The discussion of 6/8 time showed how a group of six can be either three groups of two or two groups of three. But an accomplished musician can play both rhythms at the same time.
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Use the phrase “Squids like to swim” to help get the rhythms in time.
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Then try tapping your hands, one hand on the top line and the other on the bottom. (Both hands tap the first note.)
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Try this on the guitar using the d and a strings. For the first note play both at the same time then alternate.
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Written in one line looks like
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Use math to learn how to create polyrhythms. In the previous example of two against three, to find the number of divisions, find the least common multiple, in that case six. Then spread the notes out evenly.
So, with three against four, the number of divisions would be the least common multiple 12. One group is four groups of three and the other is three groups of four, so they come together after 12 beats.
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Use the phrase “Pass the gosh darn butter” to find the rhythm.
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Here is a portion of an original song that uses this rhythm. Repeat the phrase.
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So, is this 3/4 time or 12/8? The answer is that it is either, or both at the same time.
Polyrhythms using five note patterns include
5 against 2
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5 against 3
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5 against 4
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And the possibilities continue to another level with 5 against 3 against 2, a real challenge to play on three strings finger picked.
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Another approach to polyrhythms is to have different instruments play in different tempos. Elliot Carter wrote music where the tempos are ambiguous. Check out his String Quartet #5. And, of course, a great deal of music, such as ambient style, has no set rhythms at all, but simply flows with the mood. Dream Theater takes rhythm to the extreme in The Dance of Eternity.
The previous examples mostly show notes played at the same volume level. However, music can be more interesting when some notes are accented and others are softer or muted. Accent patterns would be the same as the note patterns already presented. Choose a number of notes, and the use the patterns from the tables, but this time do not rest on the notes with an (x), just play them softer or muted.
Because the number of notes in a pattern are limitless, the number of possible rhythmic patterns is literally infinite. Luckily, just as in chord theory, the larger patterns are just permutations of the smaller note patterns. Learning the basic two and three-note patterns is essential, and then the rest fall in line.
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