This is an excerpt from the course Making Theory Practical.
If you want to hear about it when enrollment is open, get on the list.
In the last lesson, we learned:
- Our vision is ~7x stronger than our hearing.
- We can use our eyes to improve our ears…
- …but first we have to get past the Catch-22 of not understanding super basic notation.
- How basic? Well… for today you only need to know ONE kind of note: the 8th note.
- It has:
- A filled-in note head…
- …attached to a stem…
- …joined with a beam…
- …grouped by beat.
So far, every example we’ve seen has been with drums.
It’s a neat & tidy way to explain the basic concept… but we didn’t come here to learn the drums.
Today, we’ll look at seven different guitar parts that share the same rhythm.
For any of these, if you click “View full version” on the inline SoundSlice miniplayer…
…you’ll open a new window like this:
Take a minute now to mess around with SoundSlice.
Press all the buttons, adjust all the settings, zoom in & out, set a loop, slow it down, launch the fretboard visualizer… all of it. It’s a tool we’ll be using A LOT, and it’ll take you all of five minutes to master it.
Here’s a “Slice” for you to play around with.
Steady 8ths
It’s an unbroken string of eighth notes—1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
There are seven examples here.
You don’t have to master each example before moving on.
The big thing we want to take away from this is an awareness of the rhythm.
- Yes, you should listen to each example.
- Yes, you should tap your foot and count along.
- Yes, you should loop and/or slow down anything that isn’t yet obvious.
- Yes, you should get your guitar out and try each example.
- Yes, if it’s something you enjoy, bookmark that Slice and work on it over time.
- No, you don’t have to master any (let alone *all*) of these before moving on.
Just What I Needed – The Cars
- Hit play.
- Count along OUT LOUD…
- (“one and two and three and four and”)
- …while tapping your foot.
- “View full version” to loop or slow it down.
- Try it on guitar…
- …but don’t feel like you have to master it before moving on.
Oh Pretty Woman – Roy Orbison
- Hit play.
- Count along OUT LOUD…
- (“one and two and three and four and”)
- …while tapping your foot.
- “View full version” to loop or slow it down.
- Try it on guitar…
- …but don’t feel like you have to master it before moving on.
Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne
- Hit play.
- Count along OUT LOUD…
- (“one and two and three and four and”)
- …while tapping your foot.
- “View full version” to loop or slow it down.
- Try it on guitar…
- …but don’t feel like you have to master it before moving on.
Every Breath You Take – The Police
- Hit play.
- Count along OUT LOUD…
- (“one and two and three and four and”)
- …while tapping your foot.
- “View full version” to loop or slow it down.
- Try it on guitar…
- …but don’t feel like you have to master it before moving on.
Don’t Speak – No Doubt
- Hit play.
- Count along OUT LOUD…
- (“one and two and three and four and”)
- …while tapping your foot.
- “View full version” to loop or slow it down.
- Try it on guitar…
- …but don’t feel like you have to master it before moving on.
Dream On – Aerosmith
- Hit play.
- Count along OUT LOUD…
- (“one and two and three and four and”)
- …while tapping your foot.
- “View full version” to loop or slow it down.
- Try it on guitar…
- …but don’t feel like you have to master it before moving on.
Hey There Delilah – Plain White Ts
- Hit play.
- Count along OUT LOUD…
- (“one and two and three and four and”)
- …while tapping your foot.
- “View full version” to loop or slow it down.
- Try it on guitar…
- …but don’t feel like you have to master it before moving on.
Recap:
- You don’t have to master each example before moving on…
- …but you should definitely listen to each one, counting along OUT LOUD.
- All of these examples show us steady 8th notes: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
