The rhythmic guitar, page 1

The rhythmic guitar

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With the term rhythmic in the title it means the most common form with which the guitar is played, above all for beginners who start practicing with the instrument. Indeed this term is not really exact, because rhythm is part of every musical form both in accompaniment and in solos. Both a good accompaniment and a solo must be built rhythmically. Then, if its true that the term is not exact, it is also true that for decades this term has been used to describe the so-called accompaniment guitar, which "makes rhythm". I believe it's logical to keep this term, but I just wanted to make a clarification.
Seeing what the great guitar players do, we discover that the they all have three principal characteristics:

Technique: it doesn't matter how much one has, but how they use it;

the feeling, the groove, the expressiveness... call it as you wish, but it is very important;

the sense of rhythm, which can be expressed at any moment in the music, from the single note to a rhythmic piece, and from a simple arpeggio to a solo virtuoso.

From a practical point of view, lets look at the job of the guitarist. About 90% of the job comes from the rhythmics. This is why we need to dedicate so much space to the study of the rhythm applied to all parts of the instrument.
The biggest problems that we come across when beginning the study on this subject is based mainly on the ability to understand the time (tempo). In fact, the rhythmic division is comparable to mathematics, as are many other musical rules. Accordingly the most difficult job is to learn not so much the concepts and the rules, but their correct interpretation on the instrument. It's nothing impossible, and this entire section is adapted to both the beginners (in the first pages) and to those who already have a good familiarity with the instrument.

Set Up

In the theory section of this site, the fundamental rules that govern rhythmic division are analyzed. We need to make note of a new system of writing the notes on the stave to indicate the rhythmic division. This system, borrowed from the notation for the drums, uses a small rectangle instead of the dot to indicated the value of time of the note, independent of the intonation level. The position that this rectangle occupies on the stave therefore doesn't identify the note. The name of the chord in which the time symbol refers is placed under the line. Let's look at an example to show how simple and logical the reading in rhythmic key is.

The aid of a musical base is certainly a huge help. When you see the

symbol, you can click and download the midi base related to the exercise or to the song in question.

Fundamental exercises of
rhythmic division

We can finally begin using the midi metronome. To organize this study, you should prepare a directory on your computer where you can download the midi files. Subsequently, when you select a file your media player will open automatically.
Every exercise is proposed with the rhythmic base (the metronome or the drums) on the right audio channel, while the execution is heard on the left channel. In this way, once you have learned the exercise, you can try to play the base by simply turning off the left channel. All the exercises and musical examples have the beginning time bar, which serves to give the execution time. If you look at the example above, you will see that the time in key is 4/4. Accordingly you will hear four metronome pulsations before the execution.

Ex #1 - In the first exercise play the chord of your preference (the base is in C major) using fixed quarter note rhythmics, played with down stroke picking. The numbers below the stave indicate the flow of time for four movements per bar. Playing in quarter notes, the pickings on the chords must coincide with the click of the metronome. Try to control the force of the pick on the strings, listening to the sound and the tone that comes from different dynamics.

Ex #2 - Play two quarter note chords and then one 2/4 that goes until the third and quarter movement.

Ex #3 - Be careful of the 2/4 chord that is played on the second movement of the bar.

Ex #4 - Lets try to make some chord changes. In this case, the C major is played on the first and third bars, while the Em is found on the second and the fourth. Keep the rhythmics and the pressure of the right hand on the strings constant. Also try to change chords in exercises 2 and 3.

Always verify the exactness of the movements in the exercises and also try some chord changes. In the next page we will continues the study of rhythmics using more complex and interesting examples.

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