Songs to improve rhythm playing

[Roobubba]

Musical notation has rests as well as notes of different time values. So they're just as important, say for instance, in stop start dynamics. Which all adds to a tight sound.
Lots of musical styles can be tight, has no one mentioned Jazz yet, why the emphasis on Metal?
Listen to Jeff Beck and his band play the tune 'Scatterbrain' That's tight.

I mentioned jazz :P

I glazed over pages ago  :P

And Nolly mentioned jazz immediately above your post :D

[Johnny Mac]

Musical notation has rests as well as notes of different time values. So they're just as important, say for instance, in stop start dynamics. Which all adds to a tight sound.
Lots of musical styles can be tight, has no one mentioned Jazz yet, why the emphasis on Metal?
Listen to Jeff Beck and his band play the tune 'Scatterbrain' That's tight.

I mentioned jazz :P

I glazed over pages ago  :P

And Nolly mentioned jazz immediately above your post :D

Yeah I know he did but that was an amended post  :P

[Johnny Mac]

This thread didn't really recommend anything for Indy in the end did it!

Indy if your serious about tightening up your rhythm playing then I could pass on these fantastic funk lessons that Elliot sent to me from Guitar Techniques. They are on a .pdf and .mp3 so you get the tabs and the sound clips plus backing tracks. Let me know and I'll try and upload them to a file server. They are all about rhythm and are a real work out. They're all written by Jason Sidwell

[Johnny Mac]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AVRNRW2N

One has a lot of Curtis Mayfield, Nile Rodgers, Micheal Jackson's David Williams & James Brown's Jimmy Nolan. The other is Earth Wind & Fire based stuff. This rhythm playing has to be spot on or it sounds like cr@p so you can learn a lot from this.  :D

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5GEOWNJ4


Thanks to Elliot who sent this to me.  :D

[indysmith]

Thanks a load Johnny!! That's my Sunday taken care of!

[Johnny Mac]

Thanks a load Johnny!! That's my Sunday taken care of!

No worrys Indy  :D

[Bradock PI]

Just because I know nothing I think you should practice both parts of dueling banjos and play them against each other recorded - lots of timed puases and slows at the begining and moving on nicely to some slightly faster picking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzae_SqbmDE&feature=related

Of course you may need a Boss BE3 Banjo Emulator

[Elliot]

Johnny - following our conversation at the Jam I got an autowah (a cheap 2nd hand Ibanez AW7) - Even with basic James Brown type stuff it does funk wah absolutely perfectly - in fact even with my limited guitar skill I could now work playing for porn films!

[AndyR]

Johnny - following our conversation at the Jam I got an autowah (a cheap 2nd hand Ibanez AW7) - Even with basic James Brown type stuff it does funk wah absolutely perfectly - in fact even with my limited guitar skill I could now work playing for porn films!

:lol: Perhaps I need an autowah...

[gwEm]

This thread didn't really recommend anything for Indy in the end did it!

bah! i stand by my 'victim of changes' suggestion

[Johnny Mac]

Johnny - following our conversation at the Jam I got an autowah (a cheap 2nd hand Ibanez AW7) - Even with basic James Brown type stuff it does funk wah absolutely perfectly - in fact even with my limited guitar skill I could now work playing for porn films!

Fanatastic! Is it a lot like that Issac Hayes, Shaft sound? Great idea for a new job!  :D

[Dr. Vic]

I found this topic very dense an interesting. After 6 pages of recommendations with more than 50 songs suggested as good exercices (I listen to all of them), I thought the job had been done to answer the OP...until I read that :

This thread didn't really recommend anything for Indy in the end did it!

So Maybe 6 pages weren't enough....  :rock: In fact I also have noticed that among those 50 songs, about 35 are metal songs...Have those 35 songs been considered as bad suggestions ? (without maybe even heard them first ?).

To me this just demonstrate how much true is that post below !  :lol:

The chug chug chug corner vs. the rest is really making this site tedious.

The funny thing is, all the chug chug people are generally very open minded to other types of music, while the anti chug seem to not be :/

Anyway...this never-ending-tiresome-debate may be off topic....So back to topic !    :shock: :shock:

What's a good song to learn/excercise to do to really tighten up my rhythm?
It's not that it's not in time - I have no problem being in time, it's just a lot looser than I'd like it to be.

The philosophical ideas developped here earlier like « playing slow and tight is harder than playing fast » or « concentrate only on feeling that the most important », .... aren't to me an appropriate answer to the question. Of course it is more difficult to stay on time and groovy when you play slow because the more you have to wait in between the notes the more you multiply the risks of not being in time when you play the notes. But that wasn't the question asked here AS THERE IS NO PROBLEM BEING IN TIME.   :roll:

The question appears to me to be more simple because just physical and can be turned in : "How to develop stamina and dexterity, in order to move both hands with more precise movements, (more tight, less loose), NO MATTER WHAT TEMPO (FAST OR SLOW)?"

If I largely agree (as said here) that you must experiment different kind of music / playing because they do help each other to raise your level, I don't suscribe to the fact that Rock, reggae, ska, funk are the best choices to answer the question of this topic too, because they do not cover all the technique you need to be tight. :| As an example (the poorest one suggested here, imo),  you can play your A / D / G highway to hell chords all day long, you will at the end play in time and groovy but you wouldn't have done ANY fingers and wrist exercices on both right and left hands in order to train your muscles to developp that tight motion.
COME ON !!!!!  :non:

To me (as some suggested before) the best styles to get a precise motion with both hands, in any context are : metal, Flamenco, classical, jazz, fusion, folklore/country and other styles in the veins of thoses techniques. :japon:

So as you see the choice is pretty large ! It is not possible to mention everything here but the ones who spring to mind are :

Classical : pretty much anything. Start with a fugue from Bach, or some latin master pieces : so many scores ! ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mZvdGAGlOo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WwlDIExKqQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y8l4KijBA0&feature=PlayList&p=04CE6D6A7192B6FB&index=25

Flamenco : any Paco de Lucia Album, but try also Tomatito, Vicente Amigo....(lot of choice but my favorite are soleas.. !)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o8vszqVL2U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_qzLH3FgxM&feature=related

any kind of Jazz / fusion / country : a mix of Django Reinhart, Franck Gambale, Allan Holdsworth and Chet Atkins ! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMUqHU4nvZ8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wTVLIZaxMk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg3N1ARs2VE

Metal : the 35 songs mentionned here, like the mighty "rust in peace" album from Megadeth (where very few distorsion is used, resulting in a crystal clear sound).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTaULwIUJQ4
and this one is a good cover to help you concentrate on the guitar works (I hope it will be more demonstrative)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au4b8lDyFAk&feature=related

I think many metal songs have been suggested here because the good metal guitarists have mastered HIGHLY tight rythm and lead mechanics that allow them to play pretty much anything...And that's what they do because they are able to adapt their playing to other styles, right down to classical music, and their curiosity bring them to experiment it, successfully. So if you have an aversion with metal songs, then have look at some extra works from metal players, in order to see how much their tight playing is efficient (just very few examples, among the tons available) :

Patrick Ronda's vivaldi tribute : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RggrHIlIlpc
Jason Becker playing Paganinni : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmoRGrMBfIM&NR=1
Chris Broderick playing Legnani : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSchoITeht0&feature=related
(and now the same guy, playing just a lick, just to have A CLOSE UP ON WHAT A TIGHT PLAYING MOTION IS....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJDvtzZWGM8)

And last but not least here is a video on how pratice rythm and being tight, fast (if you want) and groovy . I hope everybody will agree on this one (sorry it is still a shredder...  :huge:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCojcP_6AkI&feature=related

Hope this will help anyway, thanks to the ones who read it from the beginning to the end ! :tin:]

[Elliot]

I thought it was well established that Indy didn't want metal suggestions - why is that so hard to understand?

As to classical or flamenco being good for tightening up rhythm playing - This is true - but as Classical and Flamenco are essentially fingerstyle acoustic based techniques that involve years of dedication to even get near good it is a totally otiose and unhelpful suggestion for a general electric guitarist.  Especially ones who don't believe that shredding up and down a scale at a 200bpm or playing a heavily edited violin caprice by Paganinni is on a par with what those styles demand.  The same can be said about jazz - Jazz is not a practice style to get good at something else - it is a way of being in itself.

I note you dismiss all styles but your own -  Funk for example - But this is a tight rhythm style that anyone can pick up some extra rhythym skills from relatively quickly, so why dis it?

[Dr. Vic]

Reading the time of your post I think, that you obviously didn't read my post and listen to the attached clips...Can't blame you for that I knew my post was very long... :lol: So if you stay eyes closed and ears closed you can easily understand why I give some credit to noodleplugerine's post...Anyway...

I thought it was well established that Indy didn't want metal suggestions - why is that so hard to understand?

If Indy doesn't like metal he doesn't have to experiment such a bad experience, which is why MANY other Styles and guitarists have been suggested !

Classical and Flamenco are essentially fingerstyle acoustic based techniques that involve years of dedication to even get near good it is a totally otiose and unhelpful suggestion for a general electric guitarist. 

Hum...I am both classical and electric guitarist and I think, if you'd like to improve and play different techniques is it worth to be experienced.

Especially ones who don't believe that shredding up and down a scale at a 200bpm or playing a heavily edited violin caprice by Paganinni is on a par with what those styles demand. 

Maybe they are edited a lot, but but indeed very few are able to try the experience, with decent result...You are still focusing on speed as being a bad thing....don't know what to say more on that... :roll:

The same can be said about jazz - Jazz is not a practice style to get good at something else - it is a way of being in itself.

One of the most absolute nonsense thing ever read ! :? The richness of jazz allow you to go everywhere, Man ! 8)

I note you dismiss all styles but your own

Absolutely false. I didn't listed my styles here. Just the one that may be the best help to answer the request.
I true that I am into classical and metal, but I am quite even more on rock and blues.  :D

I note you dismiss all styles but your own -  Funk for example - But this is a tight rhythm style that anyone can pick up some extra rhythym skills from relatively quickly, so why dis it?

Well..what I said at the beginning !

If I largely agree (as said here) that you must experiment different kind of music / playing because they do help each other to raise your level, I don't suscribe to the fact that Rock, reggae, ska, funk are the best choices to answer the question of this topic too, because they do not cover all the technique you need to be tight.

I downloaded the funk files from Johnny Mac. I do not think they would give the expected result. They will give you a specific right hand technique mainly based on playing tight chords with a good wrist motion. But what about the MANY other right AND left hand techniques that maybe more helpful to build tightness in your playing  :?:





   

[Johnny Mac]

 :lol: Have you been smoking crack or what?