Rhythm is everything! There’s a lot to being a good rhythm player and it’s an essential skill to have even if you’re a lead exponent. We look at all types of rhythmic strumming/picking across multiple genres. Playing in the pocket, getting the groove and locking in and playing in time with others. Lots of aspects to cover. Feel the rhythm and play it. If you haven’t got rhythm, you’ve got nothing!
Non-stop playing and you’ll leave the course buzzing.
This course is focused on the engine room i.e. the strumming/picking hand/arm. Rhythm is everything – it has a lot to do with both the ears and brain. It’s instantly noticeable if you’re ‘wandering’. The odd misplaced note is easily forgiven but rhythm is critical – if you struggle with time, and keeping to it, this is the course for you.
Listening is at the heart of music. As hobbyists we generally play by ourselves and our rhythm never really gets addressed or practised correctly.
We’ll cover: time signatures, rhythm notation, note and rest values, strumming and finger-picking techniques, counting in, keeping time, ‘playing in the pocket’, listening to others playing and ‘feeling the groove’.
Styles looked at include: rock, funk, blues, folk, soul, classical, jazz and many more. We’ll use some great songs as a basis for all exercises. We’ll consider the likes of Chic, Paul Simon, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Stevie Wonder and many more across a diverse set of genres.
The course is suitable for most players and is based on both iconic (and some unusual) songs that will add to your repertoire and provide you with extra tools and confidence to improve your playing. If you can play open chords and some basic barre chords then you’re good to go.
This course, in particular, is a real ‘guitar fest’ and you’ll definitely add songs to your repertoire.
The course comes with its own prep sheets which will be handed out a week or so before the course but we also have an online session covering the basics called, surprisingly, Rhythm Guitar Basics. This is a summary session covering most aspects of being a rhythm guitarist; techniques and concepts will be discussed at an overview level as well as being demonstrated. The combination of PDF and session video will provide a real reference for the subject.
We encourage most levels of acoustic, electric and bass guitarists to come along; it’s definitely not for a Beginner. Average-and-above players who have a few songs under their belt, can play most open chords and have attempted barre chords should be fine for the course.
Any hand-outs will be provided during the course we’ll make available all supplementary PDFs, copies of flip chart diagrams, any audio and video recordings.
Unlike our online sessions these Day-Only courses can only accommodate limited group numbers – book early to avoid disappointment.