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So here we go...how to get better at timing.
These are probably going to be the most boring, most neglected, yet useful parts of practising your guitar playing. Everybody wants to jump in and strum like the pro's. Trust me on this, do this and over the course of a few months (practice every day), you will have a built in metronome in your head!
I will assume you have a metronome. Set it to 80bpm (or slower - NO FASTER) with every beat being 1/4, so you get 4 beats per measure in a technical sense. I am going to also assume a lot of what you play is in 4/4 time.
So let's start.
Pick a chord, any chord (choose one from here!). And start the metronome. Get the feel for the beat and just strum with down strokes to the beat. One strum per beat.
Strumming pattern:
D D D D / D D D D / D D D D / D D D D
Do this until you just can't stand it anymore!
Next exercise:
Let's add an upstroke strum to the picture as 1/8 beats, so for every beat of the metronome you have a down stroke and up stroke. Note the UPSTROKE is denoted with a small "u" since most of the time upstrokes aren't played as loud.
Strumming pattern:
Du Du Du Du / Du Du Du Du / Du Du Du Du / Du Du Du Du
Do this until you feel very comfortable.
Notice that without speeding up the metronome you have doubled your strumming speed to keep within the beat. Make sure you come in with the down stroke on the beat.
Next exercise:
Let's add 3 strums to the picture.
Strumming pattern:
DuD DuD DuD DuD / DuD DuD DuD DuD / DuD DuD DuD DuD/ DuD DuD DuD DuD
This is getting on the fast side but still manageable. You are still at 80bpm but now you have to squeeze in 3 strums. DO NOT DEVIATE FROM THE PATTERN. There is a tendency at this speed to chunk out 3 strums recklessly to try to keep up. If this is the case, slow the metronome down a bit.
You know what's coming next:
Strumming pattern:
DuDu DuDu DuDu DuDu / DuDu DuDu DuDu DuDu / DuDu DuDu DuDu DuDu / DuDu DuDu DuDu DuDu
This will feel really fast even at 80bpm (I know, I do this kind of practice for my scales) but actually easier than the previous 3 strums per beat. Something about even numbers is easy.
After you are cool with all of this start omitting some of the strums for variety.
Again with only down strokes:
D _ D _ / D _ D _ / D _ D _ / D _ D _
Strum very other beat.
Play around with it and work up to:
D D Du D / D D Du D / D D Du D / D D Du D
Or,
Du D Du D / Du D Du D / Du D Du D / Du D Du D
Or,
Du Du DD Du / Du Du DD Du / Du Du DD Du / Du Du DD Du
Or,
DD Du DD Du / DD Du DD Du / DD Du DD Du / DD Du DD Du
Or,
D D D Du / D D D Du / D D D Du / D D D Du
And a hard one,
DuD DD DuD DD / DuD DD DuD DD / DuD DD DuD DD / DuD DD DuD DD
At this point, add and omit any pattern and practice to a metronome.
Once you get used to this start changing chords after every 4 beats and make sure you change fast enough to come in ON THE BEAT of the next measure.
You can practice this by just running a chromatic scale also. This will work both the timing and dexterity for the left hand, while keeping the picking precise.
The chromatic scale:
I recommend starting on the 5th fret until you are comfortable and move it back one fret at a time until you are on the first fret. The spread from fret 1 to 4 is a little "wide".
E|-----------------------------------------5-6-7-8-----------------|
B|---------------------------------5-6-7-8-------------------------|
G|-------------------------5-6-7-8---------------------------------|
D|-----------------5-6-7-8-----------------------------------------|
A|---------5-6-7-8-------------------------------------------------|
E|-5-6-7-8---------------------------------------------------------|
The pick action for this exercise should be dudu dudu dudu dudu dudu dudu (d=down, u=up)
Do this to a metronome with each pick at 1/4 note value (4 beats per measure) so each string is "plucked" 4 times. I find 80bpm is plenty fast for this.
Increase picking to 1/8 note intervals:
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------------------------5-5-6-6-7-7-8-8-|
D|---------------------------------5-5-6-6-7-7-8-8-----------------|
A|-----------------5-5-6-6-7-7-8-8---------------------------------|
E|-5-5-6-6-7-7-8-8-------------------------------------------------|
E|-----------------5-5-6-6-7-7-8-8---------------------------------|
B|-5-5-6-6-7-7-8-8-------------------------------------------------|
G|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
The pick action for this exercise should be
dudududu dudududu dudududu dudududu dudududu dudududu
Triplets (this is hard):
E|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------------------------5-5-5-6-6-6-7-7-7-8-8-8--------|
A|-------------------------5-5-5-6-6-6-7-7-7-8-8-8--------------------------------|
E|-5-5-5-6-6-6-7-7-7-8-8-8--------------------------------------------------------|
Etc, so forth…
The pick action for this exercise should be
dudududududu dudududududu dudududududu dudududududu dudududududu dudududududu
dudududududu
1/16 note intervals:
E|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------5-5-5-5-6-6-6--|
A|---------------------------------5-5-5-5-6-6-6-6-7-7-7-7-8-8-8-8----------------|
E|-5-5-5-5-6-6-6-6-7-7-7-7-8-8-8-8------------------------------------------------|
Etc, so forth…
The pick action for this exercise should be
dudududududududu dudududududududu dudududududududu dudududududududu
dudududududududu dudududududududu dudududududududu
Do all this at 80 bpm on the metronome or less. METRONOME, METRONOME, METRONOME! It is useless to do this with out one.
Once you are capable of doing these exercises at 80 bpm, gradually build up the tempo at intervals of 5 bpm over time. Or try different chords and scales.
This will aid in building your accuracy with playing at speed.
Lan Tran, "Ninjato"
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