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By David Hodge
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Learn how to modify the rhythms you already know to play in any time signature. With audio examples
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| Photo credit: Anne Hamersky
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Level:
If you’ve got a handle on basic strumming and first-position chords, it shouldn’t take you too long to master these rhythms. Your biggest obstacle will be getting your brain to stop thinking in 4/4 time. If your metronome has settings for different time signatures, use it to help you internalize the counts. Count out loud along with your playing until you feel comfortable with the exercises.
Play It: “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (page 56 of the Spring 2007 issue).
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Tune Up
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Introduction
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Have you ever tried to play a song, but were completely stumped by the rhythm? It might not be you—it could be that the song is in a timing that you've never played in before.
Most songs that you hear and play are in 4/4 time. They have the familiar, steady, pulsing count of “one two three four,” so that’s what you strum. But some songs are in a different time signature. Their pulse is measured in twos or threes, so your strumming has to take this into account. In this lesson, we’ll look at rhythms based on a pulse of three (or groups of three) and see how easily and quickly we can adapt to these new time signatures.
Waltz Along
Listen to Paul Simon’s “America” or Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” and you’ll immediately hear the pulse of 3/4 timing. In dancing, waltzes are slow 3/4 songs, and the dancers use smooth, graceful movements to get from the first beat of one measure to the first beat of the next. (Think of the scenes in classic Disney cartoons when the princess and prince finally dance together—it’s usually a waltz.) When you count in 3/4, give the first beat the accent: “one two three, one two three.”
Now let’s translate this rhythm to the guitar. Start with three downstrokes on the A chord, as shown in FIRST WALTZ, below. Don’t be shy about counting aloud so you can keep the three-beat pulse at the front of your brain. When you’re comfortable with the general rhythm, replace the second beat with two eighth notes (strum down then up) as in WALTZ AGAIN. Or use eighth notes for both the second and third beats (THE LAST WALTZ). Easy, right?
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First Waltz
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Waltz Again
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The Last Waltz
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You can also use your boom-chuck rhythms in 3/4, but I suppose it becomes more of a boom-chuck-chuck. Just strum twice after each bass note, as in COUNTRY WALTZ, which uses an A chord. LONESOME WALTZ gives you an alternating bass line using both A and D chords. You can use either of these patterns to play “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (page 56 of the Spring 2007 issue).
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Country Waltz
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Lonesome Waltz
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Printable Version
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