Learning to Play With Time

Many guitar players get discouraged, specially when starting to play the guitar, with the concept of "timing". A lot of my students understand this concept, but for some reason don't seem to be able to fully grasp this concept.

In music, playing in time means that you are playing within a steady pulse that happens at a certain speed. There are two ways to go about this that I recommend.

One way is to play along with a metronome. (A device that was made simply to keep a steady pulse, or keep time). Another way, which I prefer, is simply to play your instrument along with music that has already been recorded.

As a guitar player, in the early days of my playing, I always enjoyed putting on my favorite songs on my CD player and just jamming along with them. My favorite bands at the time were bands like Guns 'n Roses, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Jimi Hendrix, Etc..

Those were my favorite bands, and since I didn't like practicing with a metronome too much, I would just put on these CDs and play along with them.

Of course, it won't always sound like you are playing correctly with the music, but that is OK! As long as you are listening to what is going on in the recording, and are trying to adjust, you should be fine. It is better to try and play along with a record and fail than not try at all.

After playing a few times, focus on the parts of the song that you can't play up to speed yet, and play them at your own tempo. A metronome might come in handy here. Turn on the metronome at a slower tempo than the song, and play along until you have it up to speed.

Summing up:
It is very important for musicians to play along with recorded music. It is also very important to play with other live musicians. Find people that you like to play with. People that play other instruments than you do, and just jam! It's fun, and definitely helps us practice our timing in a more creative, and fun way.

Until next time!

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