Advanced Guitar Player

When musicians play together in a group, they all have to be going at the same speed and must feel the beat together. In jazz this means they have to synchronize their own internal clock with the other musicians. The raw emotive power of a whole group pulsing as one is often a feature that strikes many listeners first about jazz and other popular musics, before they become aware of any musical detail.

This can be achieved through careful technique, co-ordination and above all by listening to other musicians. Accomplished jazz musicians can feel a pulse, play with it and against it, and invent ideas which interact and interlock with other rhythms. They listen hard and count, initially out loud and later in their heads, until it becomes instinctive. Without a solid internal clock the whole process is impossible - a jazz musician without good time and listening skills is not a good jazz musician.

This need for an internal clock applies to guitar playing, whether in a group context or solo. The rhythmic freedom of chordal, scale and melodic improvisation can only be felt against a really solid sense of where the beat is.

ACTIVITIES

1. In a pair, a group or alone with a metronome, start a steady pulse, perhaps at about crotchet = 120, but later at slower and faster tempos too. If in a group of two, clap, tap or stamp alternate beats like this, and count your beat out loud along with your clapping:

One Two Three Four

First person says and claps:                1             3

Second person says and claps:                   2                4

    (or metronome)

Now swap around, taking the other's part. If in three or more, decide your own way of working - perhaps each repeating the same beat. Then try the same in patterns of three and eventually five beats.

Listen carefully to yourself and others as you work. Were you early or late? Could you support another person, by helping them place their beat? Do you have problems at any point? Ask other what they hear. Use your eyes as your ears to synchronize with them exactly - wach their hands or if a group leader is using percussion instruments, watch the movement of the sticks against the cymbal or the drum. Tap along with them on the troublesome beat. Aim for complete sunchronization, moving as one person.

From the very start always be physically and mentally positive in your rhythm. Don't hold back!

Consciously put aside any inhibitions, and move your body gently but positively and dance along with the pulses and rhythms you make.

Try to get the rhythms into your body as well as your head. If you literally feel  the rhythm through the movement of your limbs, your learning will be more effective as well as more enjoyable.

Learning to let yourself go bodily is as much a part of the jazz process as developing musical self-discipline, and the ideal jazz musician develops both - a controlled but relaxed ease with the music.

ACTIVITIES

1. Listen carefully to a piece of music - any piece of music in any style. As you listen, clap along or tap on the table or dance around. Don't worry too much about keeping strict time to begin with - just feel the beat and move your body along with it.
2. Now listen again and concentrate on the beat itself. Clap, tap and move along with it evenly and positively, whilst staying relaxed.
3. Once you have the pulse clear in your mind, tap on every beat (crotchets), then every two beats (minims) and finally twice within every beat (quavers).
4. Now turn the music off and tap the pulse again on your own, for about a minute. Consciously use your own sense of pulse or internal clock, rather than relying on the music for a lead. Tuen the music back on. Did you keep the same speed?
5. Work at keeping a steady pulse going with other recordings in a variety of styles at different speeds, and try to change the way you move to fit the music. It should be easier when you make the pulse more explicit, perhaps by swaying with bigger movements or stamping with more confidence. Did you rush or drag? Were you relaxed? . . . One way to tell how relaxed you were is to listen to your breathing. You may find that you hold your breath or take quick shallow breaths at certain points - both are signs of tension. Try to ensure you breathe out as well as in as you play, and take breaths as you would naturally. Sometimes breathing deeply can help as part of a warm-up routine . . . Also look for signs of tension in your body, which may interfere later with your playing. How are your shoulders and your neck? Were you tapping your foot with great intensity and tensing all your leg muscles? Once again, the more you can use your body in a relaxed and efficient way, the more responsive and undistracted your mind and body will be once you begin to improvise.
6. As you listen to recordings and performances of a range of music in jazz, rock and latin styles, begin consciously to tap, sing or move along with them - feel the beat. Try to get a sense of the particular rhythmic character of the music you hear, and relate that to how you might dance to it. The way you respond personally will directly influence how you improvise later. Choose music in a variet of styles, moods, tempos and feels, including some that you know and enjoy and others that have been recommended to you. You'll find doing rhythm exercises along with real music is more satisfying.
7. Now listen to another piece of music and pick out a simple repeated rhythm. Tap and clap along with it until you can do so accurately. Listen to more jazz recordings and pick out a simple rhythm that you can hear on a particular instrument - perhaps a bassline or a percussion instrument.
8. Listen again. Were all the notes in your rhythm at the same dynamic or were some more stressed than others? Were some longer or shorter than others? Were some damped or muted whilst others were allowed to ring? Try and imitate the phrasing, dynamics and character of the rhythms you hear as well as their placement from the very beginning.
9. Finally, try making up your regular one or two-bar rhythm that fits with the groove you hear, and clap along with it. Perhaps find a rhythm similar to one you like from what you hear, or invent a totally new one of your own . . . Often the rhythmic character or groove of a piece of music is defined by the bassline.Is it smoothy and pulsing, like a critchet walking bass, or a complex funky one, with offbeats, accents and spaces in unexpected places and a variety of long and short notes? Does it repeat? If so, over how many bars?

Jazz begins and ends as rhythm. Understand the rhythmic language of jazz and the rest will take care of itself. So we begin with a simple set of rhythm games and exercises, which are fun to do, feel natural and will get you moving - both literally and metaphorically.

Use these workshop exercises as the basis of five minutes regular rhythm work in every practice session. Once you have the basics under your belt, you'll find ways of developing them further for yourself, topractise rhythmic improvising on particular pieces.

The exercises and games will help you understand why rhythms in different pieces of music work the way they do, and will help you play more stylishly and in time.

The two basic dynamic indications in music are:

• p  or piano, meaning "soft".
• ƒ  or forte, meaning "loud".

More subtle degrees of loudness or softness are indicated by:

• mp  stands for mezzo-piano and means "moderately soft".
• mƒ, stands for mezzo-forte and means "moderately loud".

Beyond f and p, there are also

• pp, standing for "pianissimo", and meaning "very soft",
• ƒƒ, standing for "fortissimo", and meaning "very loud",

To indicate an even softer dynamic than pianissimo, ppp is marked, with the reading pianissimo possibile ("softest possible"). The same is done on the loud side of the scale, with ƒƒƒ  being "forte possibile" (loudest possible).

NB. Dynamic indications on a musical score are not absolute but are relative to the volume of the rest of the ensemble and also to what has been played previously.