5 Tips to Improve Rhythm

In this video lesson, “5 Tips To Improve Rhythm”, I share some practice ideas that you can use to level up your rhythm skills.

Apply these practice ideas to any musical devices that you want to master. Whether it is a particular scale, a set of chords, an arpeggio run, or anything else, applying these practice ideas can help you become more familiar with different aspects of rhythm in the context of the specific thing you are trying to master.

My goal in my own practice is to always be practicing rhythm, no matter what else I’m also practicing. This is because rhythm is the source of music; melody and harmony which happen in time, and rhythm is their placement in time. To improve your rhythm, or your time, will make your playing sound more confident, controlled and fluent.

Here are the 5 Tips to improve your rhythm

1. Practice Everything In Time!!!!! Create a complete rhythmic loop out of EVERYTHING. 4 measure patterns feel the most natural but you can do it any way you want. As long as you’re feeling the complete pattern and focusing on the rhythm you’re doing the right thing.
2. Change The Time Signature. Try a pattern that you’re working on in multiple different time signatures.
3. Vary The Subdivisions. Practice the same idea in eighth notes, triplets, sixteenth notes, quintuplets, etc.
4. Add Rests. Adding rests to the pattern you are practicing will change the way the notes play out over the neck. This is good. Put rests in different places in the pattern and see how it feels.
5. Metronome Tricks. Hearing the metronome in half notes and whole notes forces you to develop your internal rhythmic clock.

Bam! Now you don’t have to watch the video. But you still might want to.

Leave me a comment if you are reading this and you have any thoughts about the video or this brief overview I’ve written here. Would love to hear what you find helpful and what isn’t so helpful.

Keep practicing! You rock.