TAC Family Forums

We’ll see if this post sticks. I tried yesterday and it said I posted, but the post never appeared.

I’m not exactly sure I know what you mean when you say you can’t find the rhythm. Are you referring to the strum pattern, the timing, the base beat, or possibly something else?

I had problems with all these for the longest time, and I still do more often than I’d like to admit. I can sing a song and tap out the rhythm to just about any song on the radio, but when I play without the help of a YouTube video or streamed music, I’m at a loss.

I found that knowing the count of a song is essential. Is it a 4 beat song, 6, 8, 16 beat song (my musical terminology is horrible). Knowing this helps me figure out a strum pattern. I watch YouTube videos and listen to music to determine the strum pattern, and then I’ll play the strum pattern on muted strings over and over to memorize the pattern. I typically don’t try and add vocals till I have the pattern down — very loose understanding of pattern and timing, because my interpretation differs from the artists a lot, especially because ai can’t play as fast as most musicians.

A metronome is essential in learning the true beat and strum pattern for a song.

I’m not a true “cover” player. I’m more of a rendition player – my own interpretation. Not sure if I even touched on your issue, but keep working at it.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Loraine.