Alex Nolan: Rhythm Rules: 16th-Note Accents lesson

Alex Nolan - Photograph by Samantha Knoop

Alex Nolan: http://alexnolan.com/

Being a strong rhythm player is crucial. Sure, as guitarists, we all want to melt faces. However, the reality is that in most genres of music we will be playing rhythm the vast majority of the time. Therefore, wouldn’t it make sense to strive for perfection at this skill? It’s surprising how few guitarists share this sentiment. Maybe for guitar players, practicing rhythm is like eating your vegetables at dinner, and they’d much rather go straight to dessert. I happen to love playing rhythm, and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to do it well.

Here’s my theory on fine rhythm playing: We must be comfortable accenting on any given beat. I’ve observed among my students—as well as amateur and even professional guitarists—that many are not able to do this effortlessly. Accenting on upstrokes seems to be the biggest problem. Guitarists tend to be more comfortable playing downstroke accents than upstroke ones. While gravity and physiology makes this completely natural, it’s no excuse for failing to get our rhythm chops together. We have to be equally able to accent on both downstrokes and upstrokes. I’ve found that practicing 16th-note accents with a metronome is the best way to approach this.

Full lesson with samples http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2013/Feb/Rhythm_Rules_16th_Note_Accents.aspx

Alex Nolan plays jazz guitar


Amanda Ruzza playing slap/samba bass lines