Playing / Practicing / Reading Rhythms – Help Please.

[bagsieblue]

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[font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"]Looking for some input on how to practice reading and playing (improvising ) rhythms, especially syncopated rhythms.[/color][/size][/font]
[font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"]My sight reading has come a long way and the only real stumbling block for me is (fairly heavily) syncopated lines.[/color][/size][/font]
[font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"] [/color][/size][/font]
[font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"]I’ve made good progress with some of Ed Friedlands tips of speaking rhythms as [/color][/size][size="3"][color="#000000"] [/color][/size][size="3"][color="#000000"]playing such as “ookachobop”, “chick – en” , “chk-got-dot” etc,.[/color][/size][/font]
[font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"] [/color][/size][/font]
[font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"]Looking for other practive exercises to get this cemented into my brain and fingers.[/color][/size][/font]
[font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"]Are there any good resources / tips / tricks etc?[/color][/size][/font]

[Bilbo]

I recommend this book. It starts easy and gets more and more complicated but incrementally so it is a good workbook.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Musicians-Institute-Encyclopedia-Workbook-Instruments/dp/0793573793/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403771213&sr=1-1&keywords=reading+rhythms

[bagsieblue]

Thanks Bilbo - I've worked through a few books and have others to work through so will take a look at that book.

I was also looking for some input on how to learn / read / remember the 'sound' of different rhythms/patterns - especially the tricker syncopated / dotted / tied ones.

I am comfortable with straight 8ths 16ths.
I have found the "okachoobop" and "chick-en" etc useful.

Any more of these, or maybe a visual table cross referencing rhythms and 'spoken' tags?

[ambient]

Break each syncopated bar down into individual beats, then work out how they should sound. It's a good idea if you have what you're practicing, using something like Sibelius is very useful, as is working through things with a teacher who knows what he or she is talking out, this doesn't need to be a bass playing teacher.

[CH161]

Syncopated rhythms can always be broken down into quavers or semiquavers. They always look hard to read but tend to make sense if you hear them/know the track with them in. A lot of things that we all play by ear look very hard to read if they are written out. Don't let the rhythms scare you off. Try the old taping out the rhythms trick using quavers or semiquavers being tapped in one hand and tap out the rhythm you are struggling with with the other hand. Get used to the feel of the rhythm then play it with the notes. Theory is your friend - slow it all right down and you'll be fine. Also you will most likely see the same types of syncopation over and over again in different music. Once you get it in your head you'll most likely play it straight off when you see it again in another piece...

[Doddy]

I think the best way of learning rhythms is just to count.Try to count the bar as 1e+a 2e+a 3e+a 4e+a, that way you have all the subdivisions of a bar of semi quavers.So, for example, if you were playing a galloping bassline the rhythm would be
1(e)+a 2(e)+a etc. Eventually you become able to recognise the patterns and you don't have to count them, but when you come across something unfamiliar you'll still be able to count it. This, for me, is where learning verbal phrases falls down short-if you've not seen a rhythm before and you don't have a word or phrase for it, how are you going to work it out? If you're counting, you can work it out easily enough.

[Bilbo]

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1406586679' post='2512873']
1e+a 2e+a 3e+a 4e+a, [/quote]

I always thought that was the most clumsy, complicated way of 'simplifying' a bar of music. You need to concentrate more on this 'paradiddle from hell' AND read the music in front of you

I intially found it easy enough to read quarter notes and eight notes but got lost on sixteeths. I made great progress when, in study (as opposed to when reading 'for real'), I broke everything down into four beats. A bar of quarter notes is four beats, a half bar of eighth notes is four beats and a quarter bar of sixteenths is four beats. That way, everything read the same, it was just a case of learning the 'shape' of each bar in it's entirity so you can read it properly. An example would be a single bar of sixteenth notes would be 'read' as four bars of quarter notes. Now I can 'see' a rhythm much more easily and, if a bar causes me a headache, I can 'talk' my way through it very easily.

[bagsieblue]

Thanks for the suggestions guys - I will give your methods a whirl.....

[Grangur]

[quote name='bagsieblue' timestamp='1403770719' post='2486029']

[font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]Looking for some input on how to practice reading and playing (improvising ) rhythms, especially syncopated rhythms.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]My sight reading has come a long way and the only real stumbling block for me is (fairly heavily) syncopated lines.[/color][/size][/font]

[font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]I’ve made good progress with some of Ed Friedlands tips of speaking rhythms as [/color][/size][size=3][color=#000000] [/color][/size][size=3][color=#000000]playing such as “ookachobop”, “chick – en” , “chk-got-dot” etc,.[/color][/size][/font]

[font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]Looking for other practive exercises to get this cemented into my brain and fingers.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]Are there any good resources / tips / tricks etc?[/color][/size][/font]
[/quote]
There is also another recognised way of enunciating the sounds. One that's been used in formal music teaching for many years is the French Time Names.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/teachershare.scholastic.com-prod/resource_documents/files/5809/original/Rhythm_Chart_Tpt.pdf?1298121176

http://www.nzmeb.org/download/French%20Time%20Names.pdf

These were, apparently invented by the French army to keep their drummers in tune as most were illiterate and couldn't read music.

[Coilte]

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1411896729' post='2563545']
There is also another recognised way of enunciating the sounds. One that's been used in formal music teaching for many years is the French Time Names.

[url="http://s3.amazonaws.com/teachershare.scholastic.com-prod/resource_documents/files/5809/original/Rhythm_Chart_Tpt.pdf?1298121176"]http://s3.amazonaws.....pdf?1298121176[/url]

[url="http://www.nzmeb.org/download/French%20Time%20Names.pdf"]http://www.nzmeb.org...ime%20Names.pdf[/url]

These were, apparently invented by the French army to keep their drummers in tune as most were illiterate and couldn't read music.
[/quote]


Thanks for posting those links Grangur. Just for the pure fun and enjoyment of it, I am learning how to read. I think I am progressing reasonably well, but I can often be tripped up by the likes of the dotted quaver. Those links will help. [size=4] [/size][size=4] [/size]