Rhythm Exercise

Rhythm Exercise

In this lesson, the focus is on being able to play independently.

Typically, it’s clear that we always orient ourselves to the drums. It gives us the tempo, the feel, and ultimately, the signal (with a fill, for example) for when exactly a new part comes in.

But what if we can’t rely on the drums because the drummer is playing a completely different rhythm or has a solo and intentionally plays the rhythm slightly offbeat? Let’s take a closer look at an idea:

In summary, in this exercise we have 2 instruments; drums and guitar (let’s just ignore the rest like piano and bass for now).

The drums play a regular 4/4 beat. Precisely 17 times. The guitar plays its own pattern, which is repeated exactly 8 times.

Guitar Pattern 1

Audio Example

The guitar (you) in this case has two options:

Either it memorizes 17 patterns (as it doesn’t align with a single bar), or it learns 1 pattern and repeats it 8 times, but in this case, the rest of the band (the backing track) has to be almost completely ignored as it plays with its 4/4 against us.

I personally generally opt for option 2, as it requires memorizing less, but you are left to handle it on your own and see it through to the end =)

The pattern is actually quite simple; 1–2–3–4–5–1–2–3–4–5, etc.. Always 1–5.

There are two 16th note pauses between each number and one between the beats. However, this doesn’t apply between 5 and 1; here, there is only a 16th note pause! The pattern:

With the Groupings (1–5):

Guitar Pattern 2

Audio Example

The second pattern is just as easy to understand as the first, but I play an octave lower on every last note of a group.

It creates a completely different feel because you’re playing the exact same rhythm, but the octave introduces a melodic rhythm.

Guitar Pattern 3

Audi Example

By far the most complicated, but still easy to explain, is the last pattern;

Similar to pattern 2, each last note of a group is octaved, but additionally, every odd-numbered note is also octaved (by the way, this has absolutely nothing to do with music theory or the like. It’s just an idea to make things even more challenging than they already are). So, every odd-numbered note (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, etc.) is octaved in addition to the last note of a group being octaved.

Guitar Pattern 4

The last pattern is exactly the same as pattern number 3. However, it is reversed. So, high notes become low notes and low notes become high notes. In the example, it changes for sure after the halfway point from pattern 3 to pattern 4.

Here you can listen to the whole Example from 1–4 -> Audio

Here you can download the backing track (without Guitar) and the PDF with the whole Exercise from 1–4 -> Download