How to Read Music (Guitar) - Count Rhythm

hi I'm Chad with move for a guitar this lesson is from our series how to read music for guitar in this lesson I'm going to explain how to count basic rhythms first off if you like all the diagrams for this series including the diagrams for this lesson you can download our free egide how to read music for a guitar but I am working on it right now as I'm filming this lesson so it might not be available as you're watching this lesson if it is available a link will pop up on the screen that'll allow you to download it and like I said it's free so there's no reason not to download it when it is available this is part 14 from our series how to read music for guitar if you like to go back and start at the beginning you can click the link on the screen so another really important part about reading music and just playing music in general is how to count Rhythm and in this syst we're going to do everything in 44 time because it's common time it's what you're going to run into most especially if you're beginner and it's really important to get down counting in four four time first before you try to dive into more difficult time signatures but we'll have other lessons that dive into that down the road but for now we're just going to focus on four4 time so in this lesson we're going to cover how to count all the note values that we've talked about so far which are the whole note the half note the quarter note the eighth note and the 16th note so starting off with what's on your screen which is just a simple way to write four four time a rhythm out which is four quarter notes per measure and that in four four time the quarter note is a beat so you have four quarter notes per measure that's really easy you would just count right along with those quarter notes one two 3 4 1 2 3 4 and so on so if you set your metronome I just set it to 80 beats per minute you can count along with that it's just 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 and so on so when you're playing a piece of music if that was the pulse of the song that's what you'd be counting that's where your foot would be tapping which is really important you tap with the beat especially when you're talking about four four time you count you tap right with those quarter note beats and being able to tap your foot is really important to be able to do to keep a good time and keep a good pulse and then if you're playing this on your guitar or any instrument right with that metronome beep and right with your foot tap that's right where you play the note that's what's written on the screen cuz every one of these notes is the beat because this is just a really simple example right here but I'll show you some more complicated examples coming up in this lesson now another thing that's crucial about this is that when you're counting those quarter not beats 1 2 3 4 You would count those whether you were playing them or not it's really important to count those and always be aware of where they are because that's the pulse of the song and right now I'm talking about counting out loud cuz it's a good exercise it's really important if you've never done it before to get used to doing that eventually you'll just count in your head and then over time there'll be rhythms that just come really natural to you because you're used to them and you won't even have to necessarily count like that it'll just be intuitive you'll just be able to play it but for starting out you definitely want to count and when you're practicing it's really good practice to count out loud so that's quarter notes those are all on the beat so that's super easy if we were to look at the next note value I'll just go back to the whole note now the whole note takes up four quarter notes so in four four time you play one whole note per bar so that means if you were to play what's on your screen right now you would hit that first note on the one and then count the rest 2 3 4 count one right as you count one you'd play that note in the next bar 2 3 4 and you'd hold that whole note through that whole time so you'd play it on the one hold it through the 2 three and the four so if I was to clap this if I to set my metronome back at 80 beats per minute I'm just going to clap where you would play the note and then count along with it so it sound like this 1 2 3 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 So Right Where I Was clapping is where you would be playing that and you would hold it out let it sustain through that whole bar each time and then for a half note the same thing but now you have two notes per measure with what's written on your screen right now you would play on the one and the three and hold it out so it sound like this if I was to clap and play along 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 so every clap I was doing that's where you would play those notes but you would still count the 1 2 3 4 every time and that's right where your foot would be tapping it's really important to be able to tap your foot along with this and we already did quarter notes so now if we go to eighth notes the way you count e notes since it's actually subdividing the quarter note now you have two eth notes per quarter note you have to add in another phrase so the way you count an eighth note is 1 and 2 and three and four and so still your Beats are on the One 2 3 4 but now you have an extra note in between so the way you count that is with ANS and this time I'll just count along with it because it's not necessary to clap because you would be playing on every count that I'm giving so it's like this 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and four and 1 and 2 and 3 and four and 1 and 2 and 3 and four and so right what I counted is what you would play with what's written on your screen but you would only tap your foot on the 1 2 3 4 cuz that's still your beat so it's important to be able to tap your foot along with that beat so you always keep track where the beat is and then 16th notes are subdividing each quarter note into four so now you have to add three extra phrases and what those are are E and A so for one whole beat this right here is one whole beat that's where one quarter note would be you would count one eanda and then two eanda three e Anda four e Anda and again you're just tapping your foot right along with the One 2 3 4 that's your quarter note beat but you'd be playing along with every thing that I say so the one Anda those are all notes that you'd play along with with what's written on your screen right now so if I was to count this again I'm not going to clap because you would just play with everything I say the one and a two e and Etc it would sound like this if I keep it at the same tempo one E and A 2 E and A 3 E and A 4 e and a one E and A 2 E and A 3 E and A 4 e and a one E and A 2 E and A 3 E and A 4 E and A 1 E and A 2 E and A 3 E and A 4 E and A so so again you just tap your foot with the 1 2 3 fours those are your beat but then you play the rest of these notes which is what I just counted out and that's how you would count 16th notes and that's super simple obviously if you just have a measure filled with the same note value it's really easy to do but then when you start mixing note values it becomes tougher so if you were to look at this right here which we've seen before your quarter note beat is still 1 2 3 4 because this is a half note so that's two quarter notes and then 1 two this is another half note so that's two quarter notes 3 this is 28 notes so that equals 1 quarter notes 4 1 2 this is 46th notes so that equals one quarter note 3 4 1 and this is a whole note so obviously that's four quarter notes 2 3 4 so that beat is still a constant pulse going through here even though you're subdiv dividing that beat up meaning you're splitting it up you're breaking for example right here you're breaking one quarter note beat up into 28th notes or you're breaking one quarter note beat up into 416th notes and the way you would count this would look like this you're always counting the 1 2 3 4 those are your beat you always count that in four four times but anytime you play an extra note like right here you're playing an extra eighth note you would count the and then again you're just counting the quarter note beats but here you're playing extra not so you would count the E and uh and then your back to quarter note beats and then of course for a whole note you just count through the whole thing so always count the quarter note beats and then count anything that's extra that you're playing and again be sure that you're tapping your foot along with the One 2 3 4 so if I was to clap this out which I'll clap it just like it's supposed to be played so all my claps are just like the notes you're playing I'll clap and count it out so you can hear what it would sound like 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 and 4 1 2 E and A 3 4 1 2 3 4 so those claps that I did were the notes that you would actually play on your instrument and then same thing for rests as well if a rest is on the beat the quarter note beat you count it a lot of people like to count it quieter just to make sure that they know it's a rest and that they're not playing every time it lands on a quarter note beat you need to count it to keep that beat the 1 2 3 4 but obviously you're not playing it so a lot of people will put it in parentheses to represent that you're counting that quieter or that it's on a rest not on note that you actually play and then typically you're not going to count any rest that's not on a beat so what I mean by that is this quarter note's on a beat it's a quarter note beat this quarter note rest is right on the bead it's the next quarter note then you have a beat here and a Beat here it's a half note just like it was before again a half note which is two beats 2 e notes which is one beat quarter note which is just a beat and then this rest is right on the first quinal beat of this measure so it's important to count that then you have this the start of your next beat but then it's e and then a 16th note rest and then uh and then here's your next beat and then your next beat and then this is a whole measure of rest which is just going right along 1 2 3 4 so no matter if there's a rest or not or how it's subdivided that pulse goes through constantly and it's always going to land in the same spot so no matter what's happening whether you're playing a note or resting you count those 1 2 3 4 cuz you always count your beat and you want to keep track of that if you play an extra note you count that as well so we've subdivided this one4 note into 2 eth notes so we're going to count that extra eighth note with the end and then if a rest is not on a beat you can see this is right between these two beats you don't typically count that because it's really important to be able to know where your quarter note beat is at all times and that's where you're going to tap your foot like I keep saying because it's so important and eventually that's just going to be intuitive and you're just going to be able to count tap your foot and you're not going to have to count as much in your head even it'll just feel really natural to you but you have to lock this down early on and get used to doing this so if I had to count this out and clap right where you would play those notes it would sound like this 1 2 3 4 1 1 2 3 and 4 1 2 e a 3 4 1 2 3 4 so right where I clapped those are the notes that you would play and that's how you would count it so if this seems really complicated to you we'll get more into it I'm going to have a whole series about Rhythm and counting all that it's just important to actually start getting the concept now but it is something that just takes time and practice and really working on it to get it down and to make it just feel natural to you so if this seems overwhelming to you don't worry about it just keep moving forward through these lessons and eventually over time this will become really simple to you if you work on it and focus on it so that's an explanation of how to count go ahead and move on to the next lesson where I'm going to talk about key signatures and be sure to download the EEG guide all the diagrams are in there and be sure to subscribe because we had at least one new lesson every day

Channel: Move Forward Guitar

Views: 85,436

Keywords: Tempo Music, BPM, Beats Per Minute, BPM Music, Time Signature Music, Note Values, Whole Note, Half Note, Quarter Note, Eighth Note, Sixteenth Note, How to Read Music, Music Reading, Read Music, Read Music Guitar, Music Notation, Clef, Clef Sign, Treble Clef, Bass Clef, Music Staff, Music Stave, Guitar Notation, Music Notes, Musical Notes, Music Theory, Learn How to Play Guitar, How to play guitar, Free Guitar Lessons, Lesson, Music, Chad Lambert, Move Forward Guitar

Id: 4QopYciKsUA

Length: 12min 23sec (743 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 12 2015