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Hey, how often and what do you do to practice rhythm?


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Posted

I see endless web pages and posts here and elsewhere about scales, modes, appregiations, etc. as if single notes were all you could play on guitar.

 

What about people who want to improve their rhythm?

 

Where can I find resources, exercises, and lessons on the rhythmic aspect of guitar playing?

 

Or am I the only one that's striken with "white boy" disease?

 

:(

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Posted

One of my favorite books is Chord Workbook for Guitar by Bruce Arnold. It starts with the open chord voicings and then moves into moveable triads and seventh chords. It has a bunch of progressions for blues and jazz which use a huge variety of chords. I normally practice playing these along with my drum machine. It really helps to record yourself, then listen to the tape the next day and you'll notice mistakes that weren't apparent while you were playing.

The book/CD package Blues you Can Use by John Ganapes is also pretty good, it focuses on blues progressions. Though most of the "meat" of the book is devoted to soloing, there is a rhythm part that accompanies just about every song, and it'll certainly teach you something. And since it comes with a CD to play along with it's a lot more fun and instructional.

Also, just learning cover tunes and playing along with the album until you've got it down is great rhythm practice. If you're in a band you'll obviously be playing these rhythm parts over and over and over.

Writing and recording your own songs is probably the ultimate practice. Not only do you have to practice the rhythm parts you've written until you can play them well enough to record, but you'll learn a lot about writing and fitting different parts together, like the intro, verse, chorus, etc. You'll probably want to learn enough theory so you understand how chords relate to the various scales and modes. Once you start writing your own songs, you'll notice yourself listening to other people's songs and really picking apart how the guitar line interacts with the drums and bass, how the verse moves into the chorus, how various rhythm techniques are used to establish various moods, etc. and applying these ideas to writing your own stuff.

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