Rhythm, page 3

The Rest

The rest has a fundamental role from a rhythmic level because it develops silent moments in a series of notes. You can therefore vary the rhythm by inserting rests. Their importance is equal to that of played notes and therefore it is best to take advantage of all their possible applications.
Here are the three systems used to obtain rests:

The hand right stops the sound of the strings by placing the palm on the strings themselves. When you need to play the rest, the hand is placed on the strings stopping the vibration with a quick and precise movement. This system is useful when working with chords that use open strings.

The left hand stops the sound of the strings by slightly releasing the pressure of the fingers on the strings while playing a chord. In this case you need to lift the fingers from the strings, in order to stop the vibration, but without completely detaching the fingers themselves from the strings. If the rest comes between two equal fingerings on the same chord, the fingers of the left hand slightly release the pressure, leaving the same fingering above the strings themselves. It's a typical way of using rests when there are no open strings.

Both hands stop the strings. Combining the two previous methods to get a single rest. This is the most commonly used system.

The time values of rests, as you can see in the appropriate section, are the same as the played notes and therefore are added (time value of rests + time value of notes) to get the total time available within the bar.

Ex #1 - In the first example you will work on the quarter note rest. As you can see from the score, quarter notes are alternated with quarter rests. To correctly perform the exercise, play the first chord in the first movement, then use the palm of your right hand to stop the vibration of the strings. This is done in the second movement of the bar. Play the chord in the third movement, and the rest in the fourth. Repeat in the following bar.

Ex #2 - Now play the 8th note in the first and third movements (with alternate picking), using a quarter note rest in the second and fourth movements.

Ex #3 - Now lets work on the 8th note. In comparison to the two previous exercises, you must pay a lot of attention to the fact that you need to block the strings as quickly as possible: its possible that you can lose the rhythm when performing the rest. To avoid this, practice beating your foot with the metronome, performing the rest when your foot is raising.
Ex #4 - Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, it is not very easy to use this technique on the 8th note, but it is extremely important that you use the rests, which offer a lot of possibilities from a rhythmic point of view. This exercise is the opposite of the previous exercise, putting the rest in beat on the movement and the raised chord, played with the up stroke.
Ex #5 - Using the sixteenth note the rhythmics obviously become faster, always based on the speed of the metronome. In any case, the system doesn't change until the rests are fourth notes, as in the example here.
Ex #6 - The use of the octave rests in a sixteenth note rhythmics is a little more complex. It's mostly the coordination of the hands that creates the difficulties, and therefore its best to work at a reduced speed, at least for the first few times.

In the next page we will look at the technique of sixteenth note rests, also using the left hand to stop the vibration of the strings.

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