Group Songs to improve rhythm

BillMcErlane

Hello All,

I've been playing guitar on and off for a fair few years but I always get dishearten and give up. It's all down to one thing. Rhythm I simply cannot hold time with the music. I recently bought an acoustic to give it another go and a friend plays with me the odd time, and it is pretty clear I have no sense of musical timing or rhythm
(i've been practicing with the old online metronome but still fall out of beat with an easy 4/4 60bpm )
Like I can play the likes of blackbird and whatever but just playing along with a cd or someone else I fall to bits.
So I've decided to grind it out. My mate is being very patient with me (he's a great guitarist one of the met/megadeath kids that is now 25) and is willing to learn whatever. I'd like to learn some songs we can play together with fairly easy rhythm. Anything really just so I can get the groove in my head. I like all kinds of music really I'd be game for anything from Trad to Blues to Rock to Metal but my mates pref cup of tea is mostly rock.

Has anyone else had major battles with rhythm how did you overcome it? Any tips for improving rhythm that I can work with by myself? (Been trying the beginner Rhythm exercises from justinguitar.com but still proving a challenge)

Cheers

J.Ball

Hi

im a guitar teacher and one of the first songs i teach is yellow submarine by the beatles is very simple follows a 4/4 rythm. with the metronome it would go 1 2 3 4 &. the numbers being downstrokes on the beat and the & being and upstroke off the beat (between the clicks) on each chord you play. even if its not your thing you could give that a bash and see what happens. Also revolution by tracy chapman is nice and simple too.

Also this may sound stupid but you may be trying to hard. Relax a little while your playing stay loose and you may find you will keep up with the rythm easy enough

Orando Broom

My tip would be to tap to everything, get used to tapping your foot to the beat of songs, tap your hands clap at every opportunity. It is an exercise that can be done any where any time.

Then to apply it practically, imagine you're a puppet with wires connected from your foot to your arm to your head. When you are playing the songs try to move all the body parts in unison to the beat of the song. Let the beat flow through you, become part of the movement of the music. Keep to songs with simple or few chord changes to develop your strumming. everyone has rhythm, if you hadn't you simply wouldn't be able to walk. Your guitar rhythm just hasn't been fully developed. It will come.

Ostrom

I struggled with this too, you need Russ Shipton's complete guitar player series.

You will probably know many of the songs but his tabs illustrate every single strum with direction, for many time sigs. Helped me no end, it forces you to map out each strum pattern precisely and play it over the backing track. It is a bit cumbersome at first but it improved my timing and changes no end.