Do not bother getting all the notes right if the rhythm is wrong. In fact the wrong notes played in the right rhythm will sound better than the right notes played out of rhythm. This is fact. Read that again!
Many people are taught to count the beats in a measure like this: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. That is ok for very beginning, but its too much work to count and think of what you are supposed to be playing. Its gets even wierder, and harder, for triplets: one ti ta two ti ta, whatever! A better system would be to think this way:
oo ga ching ga da ga boo ga
or any other syllabic stuff that is rhythmical. In Southern India, where the music depends heavy on very complex rhythms, they have devised a whole system for saying the rhythm with short words.
Di-ga is often used. It puts di on the down beats and ga on the upbeats. The i in di is like i in big.
di ga di ga di ga di ga
which is the equivalent of
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.
Now for some di-ga exercises. Tap your hand on your knee or thigh or table or whatever but make sure you left hand taps on di only. Your right hand will tap on ga. You must say, continuously, in time, di ga di ga di ga di ga. That alone might be tough. A metronome is very handy to have.
1. Say di ga di ga di ga di ga continuously while tapping every di with your left hand.
2. Say di ga di ga di ga di ga continuously while tapping every ga with your right hand.
3. Say di ga di ga di ga di ga continuously while tapping every di with your left hand and every ga with your right hand, basically alternating. Practice making the first di in a measure of 4/4 be accented (louder) to emphasize beat one. Being able to "feel" four beats is much more important than being able to count four beats as 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.
4. Remember, you have to say di ga di ga di ga di ga continuously but this time tap, with the appropriate hand, only those di or ga which are in capital letters. A | is used where a bar line would be drawn. This is a one measure pattern but written as two measures.
DI ga DI GA di ga DI ga | DI ga DI GA di ga DI ga
5. DI ga DI GA DI GA DI ga | DI ga DI GA DI GA DI ga
6. This is a two measure pattern:
DI ga DI GA di ga DI ga | di ga DI ga DI ga di ga
7. Did you do those exercises with a metronome? If not, stop and go buy a metronome NOW.
Make up one or two different di-ga patterns every day. Write them down and keep them. Put a star by those you like. If a pattern is difficult, slow down and keep trying until you can play it.
Drummers practice rhythm all the time. Why not ask a drummer you know for some exercises? I am sure they will be glad to show you many.
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