How many times have a guitar player being yelled at for not staying in the “pocket”? What about being blamed for disrupting the “groove” of a band? Most frustrating of all, despite most guitar players’ belief that their timing is spot on, they just cannot seem to fit in with the rhythm section!
Little did they know, their problem with timing is not the end of the world. Here is one simple exercise that all guitar players can implement into their practice routine to make playing out of “pocket” a thing of the past.
An Exercise that Improves Guitar Playing
Instead of blasting through pentatonic scales as fast as possible to work on finger dexterity, try scratching sixteenth notes to a beat. Simply dampen all the strings using the fretting hand and start strumming with the strumming hand. With the company of a practice buddy, this exercise can be a lot of fun.
Start by blasting a favorite song through a music player and scratch sixteenth notes in time with the music until the guitar player believes that he has internalized the timing. While still scratching in time, have the practice buddy turn the volume off for five seconds; the goal is to be able to still keep scratching in time even with the volume off. Next, turn the volume back on to see how well the guitar player has kept the time. Any shift in the timing will be painfully obvious.
To gauge progress, slowly extend the time with the volume off in small increments. The longer one can keep the beat with the volume off, the better his or her internal metronome has become.
Turn this exercise into a friendly competition with the practice buddy to keep it fun and challenging. Make sure to switch up the songs to master different tempos and different musical styles.
Guitar Exercise When Practicing Alone
For the guitar players who practice alone, simply pre-program a beat into a sequencer of choice. Have the beat play for eight bars followed by four bars of silence and then have the beat back on for another four bars. The idea is to scratch sixteenth notes on the guitar in time with the beat and still be able to maintain the correct timing of scratches while the beat turns off for four bars. Set the pre-programmed beats into a loop for prolonged practice session.
If the guitar player has internalized the beat well, then his scratching should still be in time once the beat comes back on after four bars of silence. Conversely, if he is not able to internalize the timing, this exercise will also make it plain as day. To increase the difficulty of the exercise, simply increase the number of silent bars. The longer the guitar player can keep time without the beat in the background, the more his internal metronome has improved.
Difference of Playing Ahead or Behind the Beat
When playing with a band, just playing in time is often not enough. A guitar player has to also be able to listen to the rhythm section and play either ahead, or behind the beat accordingly. To be able to play ahead, or behind the beat, the guitar player will first have to be able to recognize the difference. After getting the basic timing down, try to scratch sixteenth notes slightly ahead of the beat as if rushing. Maintain that rushed feeling for a while and then try to scratch slightly behind the beat as if dragging. Greatly exaggerate the rushing and the dragging in the beginning to get a good feel of what it is like. Gradually tighten up the timing until the guitar player can comfortably play just slightly ahead or behind the beat.
Min-ju Chiang - I am a personal trainer who specializes in training elite MMA athletes as well as corrective exercises to help people with chronic pain ...
