Let's Play Music #3
The Basics of Rhythm
Rhythm Is Vaguely Absolute
While it is easy to look up concepts of rhythm on the internet, it can often be difficult to describe rhythmic concepts with absolute certainty. Take the song "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles. The song's tempo, or speed, is said to be 111 bpm (beats per minutes). This makes it seem like it is set to a specific time and while that is true, some people clock the song at half that and claim the tempo to be 55 bpm. Well one of these timings must be wrong because 55 + 55 = 110 causing us to miss a beat each minute.
Take another song like "Weird Fishes" by Radiohead. The tempo of this song is 153bpm, yet some claim that it can be played at 77bpm. Once again, 77 + 77 = 154, and not 153. Now we've gained an extra beat each minute. So, which is it? I'd say both. The reason for both being true is because many of the elements of music are subjective.
Listen to any song and then try to count out the tempo in your head after listening to it. Chances are that you won't match any tempo exactly but will come close to it. There are many factors on why this is, so let's think of tempo as a type of energy. In "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, we start off with a high amount of energy in the song that then drops off at the first verse. You can count this energy change out by starting the intro with a fast count of “1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4…”. When the energy drops down for the verse it suddenly feels like moderately fast count of “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1…”. Playing the song in your head from memory will make it feel like the song slows down at the verse, but the tempo never changes. Always be aware of the true tempo when the "energy" of a song changes. This is true whether you are new to music or have been playing for years. Now let's get into some of the basics of timing.
Basic Rhythm Breakdowns
In the above example we have a few of the basics of rhythm and timing. Without getting too deep into this subject I'll focus on what is in the example and then expand upon that a bit.
The first thing to look at is the Timing Signature of 4/4. The top number is how many beats are in each measure and the bottom number is the type of note used to account for each beat. The first example uses four quarter notes because the top number is the number of beats and the bottom number is the type of beat, which is quarter note or 1/4th. A Timing Signature like ¾ would use three beats per measure and would still use quarter notes. Other Timing Signatures like 6/8 would have six beats per measure but use eighth notes. Each of these notes can be broken in half. So, a whole note can become two half-notes, which can be come four quarter notes, which can be broken down into eighth notes and so on.
The space between each vertical line, or bar, is a measure. You may hear musicians say things like, "the chorus starts on the 17th measure." This means that the song goes on with its intro and any other parts for the first 16 measures of the song and the next measure starts the chorus. This can be 4/4 or ¾ timing and it really doesn't matter because we can talk about musical space in measures. This can also help us to describe the structure of a song. If I said that the song had 8 measures for an intro, a verse and chorus of 8 measures each, and that the verse and chorus repeated twice before an outro of 8 measures, then we could treat each section of the song as being equally long. It would also make the song somewhat predictable. By playing sections, or phrases, of a song using the same number of measures we can let our listener know when to expect each phrase to come in. You may also hear people call measures by the term bars. There is nothing wrong with that. If you learn the 12-bar blues progression, then you have a progression of 12 measures. Either way is fine since the terms measure and bar allow us to describe chunks of time.
The Metronome
A metronome is a standard device for any musician that counts out a range of beats per minute. These days you can simply download an app to your phone or use one in a DAW (digital audio workstation). The best kinds that I've come across do two things: they play into headphones and can play the strong beat.
Being able to play a constant timing into a headset can help you stay in time when you need to hear the beat, but don't need that sound for a performance. This could be a live performance or a studio recording. In a performance you may want to have, an in-ear device playing the beat to you when the drums drop completely out so that you can play your part “in time”.
The strong beat is typically the first beat and being able to hear the strong beat helps us to feel the beginning of measures as they come. A metronome that plays the first beat with more emphasis is a great asset. Many songs that use strong beats on the first and third beats out of a 4/4 timing will play the first beat slightly stronger resulting in repeating a pattern of strong, weak, moderate, and weak beats.
I have a DAW and when I need a metronome for recording or practice, I will use a drum track. Even a simple drum track makes a huge difference as it does not play the beeps and clicks of a metronome. Being able to hear a snare, kick, and hi-hat is often enough to separate out the various beats in a measure or phrase. Try out different options and allow yourself to be versatile. You don't want to constantly rely on a metronome or DAW, but being able to work with a device will help you to improve your playing and performances.
Below is a link for a drum track that starts like a metronome and evolves into a drum track. I prefer practicing to a drum track, so take a listen and leave a comment at the bottom on what you prefer to practice to for timing.
Re-Learning How to Count
When we ask a drummer for a beat like "four on the floor", we are asking for the drummer to play the kick drum (which is on the floor) in quarter beats. There are many songs that use this like "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd, "Around the World" by Daft Punk, and "I was Made for Lovin' You" by Kiss. In fact, a lot of Disco and dance songs use "four on the floor" to help add energy to every beat so that people end up moving to a metronome styled low tone.
To learn some basics of counting time we are going to avoid "four on the floor". That constant kick drum will not help us break down a beat as every beat will feel like "one".
Before we get started, think of a 4-count measure being counted out loud as "one, two, three, four." Do this in your head slowly. Each number is a quarter note so that all four notes add up to a whole, which accounts for the time held within a single measure. We can break this count of quarter notes down by adding "and" between each note. The numbers come at the same speed or tempo, but we are breaking down the beat into smaller amounts. Our counting is now in eighth notes and is "one, and, two, and, three, and, four, and." We can break this down further into sixteenth notes by adding the syllables "e" and "a", which can be pronounced as "e" or and a short "eh" and "a" or a short "ah". With this we can count out a single measure as, "one, e, and, a, two, e, and, a, three, e, and, a, four, e, and, a." Listen to the track below that uses the same tempo throughout, but adds in “add” followed by the “e” and “a”.
Typically, the one and three beat are the strongest beats with one getting the most emphasis. Two and four get a moderate amount of emphasis and the finer/shorter beats are the weakest. We are going to use these concepts on the first riff of "Spoonman" by Soundgarden. This riff is one measure of 4/4 and one measure of 3/4. The beat is counted as “1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3” and repeats. Listen to the track below where the first measure of 4/4 and second measure of ¾ are played differently by the drums so that you can hear the difference between these two time signatures.
Listening to the guitar helps us to also here a different pattern using subdivisions. The guitar seems to follow a count of “1 and a, 2 and a, 1 and, 1 and a, 2 and a” that is repeated. In this way we have a measure of 6/4, 2/4, and 6/4 which is all repeated. All together the measures would be 6/4, 2/4, 6/4, 6/4, 2/4, 6/4 and would be counted as “1 and a, 2 and a, 1 and, 1 and a, 2 and a, 1 and a, 2 and a, 1 and, 1 and a, 2 and a”. Listen to the next track which highlights this style of counting using subdivisions.
Can You Feel the Beat?
Was Soundgarden counting this riff in this way? It depends. This works for the guitar section, but so do other patterns like “1 and, 2 and, 3 and, 4 and, 1 and, 2 and, 3 e and a”. The last part counted as “3 e and a” helps to get those deep palm mutes in the right spot and allows for a brief rest, or no sound, on the “a” at the very end. There’s also the drums from the actual song. Counting that beat out at the same tempo can be very different. The point is that there are many ways to count out time. Find what works for you and keep it simple.
The real goal with time is to be able to “feel it.” Listen to some of your favorite songs and once you are used to counting out “1 and, 2 and…”, “1 e and a..”, and “1 and a…” try out this trick that I use to “feel the beat.”
Most songs are in 4/4 and are played in phrases of 4 measures. The image above is how I think of counting this out in a clockwise fashion. I start by rocking forward and feeling out one measure with “1 e and a” followed by leaning slightly to my right and feeling out “2 e and a”. I then take this pattern and lean back a bit into “3 e and a”. Leaning a little left sets me up with “4 e and a” which in turn helps me swing back into “1”. Since I’m literally moving with the music to a simple 4/4 beat I can know where I am in time based on where I am physically. If I’m playing so improvisations for lead guitar, then I don’t need to waste effort on counting in my head. Instead, I play to the beat. I can play a phrase over 1 and 2, sustain a note on 3, and then play to a little lick to whatever fill the drummer uses on 4. There’s plenty of options using this technique to help feel time.
This same technique is how I counted out the “Spoonman” riff. The image above is an example of how you can breakdown complex timing and still feel it out.
The best way to learn timing and counting is to play and count to your favorite songs. You already know them by heart. Now learn a few of them and see what you can learn from them. You may find that most songs are simple 4/4 counts. If you want to try your hand at something more difficult then look up “bands that use odd timings” and try out some songs from some familiar bands. If you really want to push your counting abilities, then go for the song “Pnuema” by Tool. Check out this video where a classical composer follows the drummer. The whole time he is talking about complex rhythms like polyrhythms as he is counting and feeling the beat.
If “Pnuema” is a bit too hard to count then try another great Tool song, “Schism”, which uses unique rhythm patterns. This second video uses subdivisions to help breakdown the beat into workable parts and makes it easier to understand relative to “Pnuema”.