Rhythm Essentials

Welcome to the first lesson of The Rhythm Maestro! In this course, you'll learn everything you need to know about rhythm. By the end of it, you'll be to read and write rhythm down and, most importantly, you'll understand how rhythm works!

Working out a strumming pattern on your own the first time feels awesome! But this course goes way beyond being able to do that! It will improve many aspects of your playing! You'll develop a stronger relationship with music—a big deal.

You’ll learn about whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes in this lesson. By the end of it, you'll be able to write them down and be able to recognize some basic strumming patterns.

So, let's get started!

Rhythm Essentials - My Own Experience

I've been playing the guitar since I was a kid, and I learned mostly by ear. As a teenager, I had some lessons and got some books. Later, some video cassettes - but very rarely did anyone talk about or explain rhythm. 

Using just my ear, I figured out a lot, but for sure, I got many things wrong. Sometimes, working out rhythm patterns for songs I played in my cover bands was really tricky! Usually, that stuff was the most time-consuming and challenging part.

I got a scholarship to study at The Guitar Institute in London back in 1996. I dedicated a couple of hours a day (on my train commute to school!) to understand rhythm. 

Three months later... the mystery was solved. I could INSTANTLY hear, copy and write down strumming patterns and the rhythms for solos I was transcribing. It was a revelation. 

Now, I've been teaching guitar and rhythm for over 20 years. I worked a lot on understanding the best way of teaching rhythm to my students. I created The Rhythm Maestro Course, so you don't have to learn it the hard way - as I did!

Before You Start

Before we start, grab a pen and some paper. You'll need a metronome too! Please make sure you have an accurate one. My Time Trainer Metronome is available for iOS and Android - and it's super cool and has awesome features to help with timing.

We're not exploring strumming techniques in the Rhythm Maestro Course. Please see my lessons on strumming mechanics if you need to. I expect you to be comfortable with the strumming basics. If you've followed my Beginner Course, I'm sure you are! :)

Ready? Let's give it a go!

Bars and Time Signatures

First things first! Let's make sure we're on the same page, and you're familiar with some rhythmic terms we'll need to know. 

Time signatures specify how many beats are in a specific space of time. There are many time signatures in music, like 3:6, 6:8, etc. At the beginning of this course, we'll only play at 4:4 - meaning four beats in each space of time. We call each space of time a bar. Later on, we'll explore other time signatures.

Note Values

We use note values to write down how long you should hold a note.

In a 4:4 time signature, a whole note means that the note is held for 4 beats. :)

If we cut that in half, we get a half note. It means that the note will sound for 2 beats. 

The next sub-division will be quarter notes. They're worth one beat, so there are four quarter notes in a bar of 4:4.

And then, the last sub-division is the eighth note - yes, this is dividing the beats in half! There's a specific way of writing when there's just one 8th Note in a bar - but we'll explore that later on. 

American vs. British Musical Terms

In this course, we're using the American Musical Terms. The British Musical Terms are less straightforward, so I recommend avoiding them unless it's necessary for you. 

Here are the related terms in British standards:

Whole Note = Semibreve
Half Note = Minim
Quarter Note = Crotchet
Eighth Note = Quaver

Rhythmic Dictation: Clap Your Hands!

Rhythmic Dictation might sound terrifying, but don't worry! It's actually what will help you to figure out strumming patterns on your own. We'll start very simple using only quarter and eighth notes. And I'll walk you through all the steps! :)

Make sure you follow the exercise along with me! When you're ready to clap your hands, grab your metronome, your pen, and paper, and watch the video lesson! The exercise starts at 11m35s.

Rhythmic Dictation: Muted Strumming

Now that you've done some excellent clapping hand exercises, it's time to grab your guitar!

Around the 17m00s of this lesson, we start work on Muted Strumming Pattern Dictation. We'll always strum down on the beat. And ensure you move your hand down on the beat.

You can strum down or strum up on the offbeat (and). Right now, strum up on the offbeats (and). Later down the line, your ears will help you choose which one will sound better in any given circumstance!

Before you continue practicing rhythm dictation, here are a few tips that will help you out:

Tap your foot! If you can, tap your foot on the beat. But don't stress if it's a bit too much right now!

Count in! And ensure that you get your hand moving on the beats for the count in.

Start your practice with muted strings! It means no chord distractions, and the counting is more evident.

Working out real strumming patterns by ear

Now that we've practiced with muted strings, we're ready for some real-world exercises. This time, I'll change chords, and you'll have to figure out the rhythm and write it down. 

Reminder: keep your focus on the rhythm. Don't worry about chord progressions or anything else. The focus of this exercise is the rhythm - try to hear the full strums as clicks - as we did in the last exercise - try not to allow yourself to be distracted by the chords.

The answers for the exercises are on page 2 of the PDF / GuitarPro Download above! Don't forget to let me know how it went for you in the comments section below. :)

Extra Practice: Clap Along

I've learned this from a snare drum reading textbook. Reading and tapping the rhythm on my leg, and later strumming my finger. Download the PDF and print it out. It's a full page of rhythms to help with your practice. Use the GuitarPro file to see if you are getting it right or not! If you want even more, I have a whole (massive) book dedicated to this - the JustinGuitar Rhythm Reading book.

Also, note that you can PLAY the GuitarPro file and adjust the speed - so perfect for making sure you are getting things right! :)

Real-Life Experience

Straight up. It's hard to find examples of songs that use these real basic patterns.

The good news is that, in the next lesson, we're going to learn the magic ingredient that makes us the most commonly use strumming patterns. It means that you will be able to recognize and write down most strumming patterns. That will be cool, right? :)

Suggested Practice

5 minutes a day on tapping/clapping/reading/playing rhythms as shown!

Do not move on until you can do this confidently - be it a week or a month.

So practice hard and make sure you've got this down before you hit the next lesson. Build a solid foundation!

Need Help?

If you're finding this a struggle, then please let me know in the comments so I can address any issues in the next lesson :) As this is a new release, I will be checking the comments very regularly, at least until the next lesson is out!