Rhythm can be tricky.\u00a0 What\u2019s easy on the ears may look difficult on the page. And vice versa.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that a good sense of rhythm is one of those innate skills that musically ‘gifted’ people seem to have.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
But it’s not.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Once we understand the symbols (musical notation<\/a>), rhythm patterns can be learned, just like most things in life.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n But when we see all the different note values on a page (whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth note, etc.) how can we make sense of it all<\/a>?\u00a0 It can help to tap or clap and count<\/strong><\/a> rhythms out loud.\u00a0 But we need some knowledge of the rhythm note values to do that.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n So here is a way we can learn new rhythmic patterns more easily.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n We don’t need to delve too deeply into standard Western music theory to do this.\u00a0 But being able to recognize rhythmic patterns is a vital practical skill for any beginning musician.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n (And for those more experienced too. It’s amazing how many musicians have been playing for years, but have somehow skipped this process along their musical journey.)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n But this system is not solely for those wanting to read notation.\u00a0 If we strum chords along to a song, it’s just as important that we understand the rhythmic sounds of the syllables in the lyrics.\u00a0 So we know how to strum in time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n So we’ll start by looking at the different types of note values.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n (This article does not deal with triplets,<\/a> anything triple meter, or mixed meter<\/a>.\u00a0 Nor polyrhythms.<\/a> We’ll save that excitement for another time!)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n