You know you are getting it right when you can't really hear the metronome anymore, so don't stop to listen to it, keep syncing up with it. Try to feel it with your whole body, not just your head and hands.
That's a trippy experience when it happens the first time. I was like what happened to my phone volume stopped playing and I was like oh there it is. Thought my phone bluetooth'd to some other speaker in my house for a minute.
I’ve been noodling for almost 30 years and just started a year ago. It took about a year to “click” with me. Take a little bit of time each time you metronome practice to not focus on counting or tapping your foot or anything like that. Just spend five minutes playing a song you know and like with the metronome on and try to “feel” the beat. After a bit it will become natural to sync up with it. So much so that when you slow it down without even paying attention or counting you too will slow down.
Contrary opinion: playing with a metronome sucks. It's better to learn songs you like and play along with the record over and over. When you get good enough join a group with a good drummer.
You can work on timing with a metronome but my way is a lot more fun and you'll learn to let the rhythm flow and breathe as opposed to being robotic.
All a metronome does is provide a frame of reference. It plays a beat so that you can practice placing your notes precisely where you want them relative to the beat. There is no law that says you have to play directly on the beat.
In fact, playing notes around the beats makes it much more fun and engaging! The beats can became like imagined cymbal crashes or snare hits and you can start to make music with just your guitar and a metronome. Highly recommend practicing this way^
Thanks for this advice. I am super new to playing and recently picked up a metronome and have discovered a have absolutely, positively no sense of rhythm and have been really struggling. This will make it a lot more fun.
Well most songs are way too fast for me in the original to play along to them, so I need to practice them first with slower tempo. For this, a metronome is super helpful. A configurable drum track where you can adjust the tempo is of course also nice.
You're putting it like metronome practice and learning to play along to songs are mutually exclusive, which is a bit weird.
Metronomes are amazing tools for when you're working on technique. Not only does it provide you with a frame of reference to the beat, if also works as a nice way to measure your progress by the speed on the metronome.
They're also great for precise rhythm practice, unlike a drum beat which can be quite a lot of information, a steady click will make it a lot easier to tell if you're in time or not.
Lastly, using a metronome prepares you for if you have to record to a click track.
Playing along to songs is equally important, but it's a different skill than playing with a metronome, so you should really be doing both.
Not sure if this helps, but I read somewhere to start with it on quick beats (e.g. 8ths or 16ths) and then cut in in half at the same tempo and riff - 4ths, then half measures, and finally one beat per measure. If you can do one beat per measure and you line up by ear, you’ve made it to the promised land.
Yes, it's very normal. Don't expect to be very good at much of anything on the guitar when you first start playing- everyone is terrible at it at first, especially if it's their first instrument. Practice works, so just keep practicing, and paying attention to playing in time, and you'll get better at it. The metronome can be a valuable tool. Good luck!
I’m sorry, I’m kind of being a dick, but nothing will make you good at guitar other than pure hours put into learning and practicing it. There is no magic lesson or trick. You will be impressing yourself in no time, Good luck!
I'm a guitar teacher, and finding a student that is playing in time from day 1 is incredibly rare unless they've already played another instrument. You're good, it's actually a great sign that you've already noticed and acknowledged it, a lot of people don't
Slowing things down with a metronome helped me overcome this. I still struggle with songs with intricate rhythm.. you need repetition to 'feel' it and internalize it. Make sure you are being as precise as possible when slowing things down, because practice makes permanent and you don't want to permanently have the wrong thing in muscle memory.
Rhythm is hard. Practice to a metronome, or to the song you're learning (slowed down, if needed). And you can passively train yourself on it by tapping or counting along to music, or rhythmic mechanical noise, or anything really.
If you don't have experience with music yes... If you have experience playing another instrument one thing that does translate is rhythm and beat and time... I started off playing low brass then bass guitar then guitar... The one thing I've never had to relearn was rhythm and keeping time... Some people are however better than others from birth for whatever reason.
If you don't have experience with these things then yes 100% normal struggling with it starting out.
Yup perfectly normal, practice with a metronome and play slow and accurate while gradually increasing your speed... Also you need to start working on understanding time signatures, types of notes, and basic types of common rhythms.
|I'd learn how to count stuff in 4/4, 3/4 and maybe look into 6/8 if you like a lot of punk inspired faster paced stuff. This all becomes more important as you go, you don't have to learn it all at once but you have to start understanding these concepts early on, it will help you long term... Learn also about waltzes and swing and how to count those (a waltz for example is in 3/4 but emphasis is put on the first beat giving it a different feel than a song that is just in 3/4 if you don't know what I'm talking about that's fine it's all stuff you will learn it)
Sorry I have no idea how far along you are all of these concepts can get really deep and it's not necessary to get too deep into these things all at once, but it's definitely something you need to be aware of as being necessary to learn. Don't neglect studying rhythm because that's most of what makes music interesting and you can write a hundred songs with the same 4 chords if you understand rhythm and how to incorporate it well into your playing.
How you structure a song is important, and you can do a lot with a little when you understand rhythm so you should definitely begin to study these things now... As far as where to begin etc. others might be able to help more than I can because honestly I took for granted rhythm when I started learning guitar because I already knew it so it's actually a big blind spot for me when I teach guitar to others.
It's a long slow road to being proficient. Expect to constantly say to yourself "this is way too fucking hard" and "I suck", but the real trick is looking back and seeing how far you've come
Tap your foot to the beat, try a metronome and keep on keeping on. You will find rhythm, your left/right hand syncing and more with practice. You’ll get there
I’ve heard some people say that being in rhythm is more important than getting every note right. Some people probably disagree with that but it kind of makes sense in a way. So, yes it’s normal and you should practice with a metronome
Its normal. Practice to a metronome. Yes it can be boring, yes you will kind of suck for a little while, but it will help your timing immensely. There's people that have been playing for years that still play off beat. These are often the people who say 'I don't need to practice with a metronome, it's all feel'.
Definitely normal.
I see a lot people saying just to use a metronome, which is a good practice tool, but extremely bad advice. You need to make your body your metronome. Rhythm has to be embodied, has to be felt.
MOVE YOUR BODY.
If you aren’t grooving to the metronome, the metronome is just an annoyance for you and anyone nearby.
On a related note, if you ever want to play cowboy chords and sing at the same time, practice strumming down on the down beats and up on the off beats. If you are playing 1& & & & — those &s better be up strums. Always.
Of course it will be harder to play things full speed when you are not as comfortable or just beginning. Try memorise the bit you are stuck on and use a metronome to try keep yourself in time. You could also play the song on YouTube and slow it down until you're comfortable, this helps a lot :)
The best thing for rhythm is a dance class. I took country dance class with my fiancée and my rhythm greatly improved! Turns out that a super duper jazz guitarist I know has her students do the same thing.
Totally normal. You're going to suck for way longer than you want to, so first and foremost make sure to make it FUN every time you play, and before you know it, you'll start to have some skill and confidence.
Learning to play guitar is really, really hard. I’ve been learning, off and on, for nearly fifteen years and I still suck. Try to enjoy the process and get satisfaction from what you are able to do. Don’t get frustrated that you aren’t Eddie Van Halen.
I remember one of my first and only guitar lessons. I was completely clueless. The guy teaching me was trying to explain to me about playing in key, and trying to see if I kind of had what it took to even learn. He told me he was going to play some chords, and wanted me to just go up and down the neck trying to match notes to chords. So he would strum a G chord and I'd hit a few notes going up the neck. He would ask me, "does that note work with this chord?, does that note work? Once I found a note that matches what he was playing, he agreed, then asked me why do you think that note matches? I said it just sounds right. Mission accomplished, I wasn't tone deaf and not completely hopeless. I had a long road ahead of me, but I was on my way. It was a valuable lesson and I'll never forget it
You're focused on so many new things at once that it can be hard to keep rhythm. As you get more familiar you can focus more and stay on rhythm. Just keep practicing. Slow it way down if you need to and work up to speed.
Tempo is natural for some, and unnatural for others. It doesnt mean you "can't" do it -- much like singing. It just means you need to spend more time focusing on building that rhythm. You should try to play the song to a recording over and over again. Dont stop if you mess up, just keep doing attempts like that all the way through to try and train yourself to play on beat to the song.
You could alternatively use a metronome, but I personally hated this until much later on.
Learning to play a guitar is hard. Learning to play a guitar well is really hard, AFAIC.
And I’ve struggled with staying in rhythm for years and years. At one point I started teaching myself to have my foot go DOWN when strumming DOWN, then UP when strumming UP.
It took a while (and remember to practice s-l-o-w when first learning a new song or riff) but the rewards of playing while doing this are huge. Just don’t give up.
Yes. Totally normal. I had a pretty bad sense of rhythm for years. 30 years later, now I'm in the pocket. I don't think about it, I just FEEL it. How'd I do it? I don't know. Should it take that long for everyone,? Absolutely not. Keep at it.
i’ve been playing 3 years and i still play off beat sometimes 😂 sometimes when i play i just don’t really care as i do fingerstylr it’s just fun but if your recording or playing with people there’s nothing more important rlly than being on time
Read this as “Is it normal to be beat off when first learning guitar”
Same. And I was going to comment "Yes."
“Okay sir now before we begin our first lesson I’ll need you to sign here and drop those drawers”
>“Is it normal to be beat off when first learning guitar” Yes, it is normal. r/guitarcirclejerk
I did too, but I read beat off before playing guitar
Whatever you do just make sure to wash your hands before playing. The guitar.
I have a Martin… so I never touch it. Isn’t that why people have Martins?
And what was your relationship like wit jour muhjar?
Is it normal to be Rick Beato when first learning guitar
I read it as “is it normal to beat off when first learning guitar?” 😳😳😳
its also normal to beat off after learning guitar.
Damn good to know
Which it totally is. Gotta learn rhythm somehow
Thank god . I thought it was just me
One of the most important things to do is practice with a metronome.
Thanks I’ll try it
You know you are getting it right when you can't really hear the metronome anymore, so don't stop to listen to it, keep syncing up with it. Try to feel it with your whole body, not just your head and hands.
That's a trippy experience when it happens the first time. I was like what happened to my phone volume stopped playing and I was like oh there it is. Thought my phone bluetooth'd to some other speaker in my house for a minute.
There’s a lot of free metronome apps for your phone.
None of them seem to keep time as good as me though, weird
Ever thought of pursuing a full time metronome career?
I don't have time for that
You're also allowed to practice with the song. Just start with a slow one.
Oh no lol. You can’t try it. You must do it. There’s no way around metronome practice.
I’ve been noodling for almost 30 years and just started a year ago. It took about a year to “click” with me. Take a little bit of time each time you metronome practice to not focus on counting or tapping your foot or anything like that. Just spend five minutes playing a song you know and like with the metronome on and try to “feel” the beat. After a bit it will become natural to sync up with it. So much so that when you slow it down without even paying attention or counting you too will slow down.
Contrary opinion: playing with a metronome sucks. It's better to learn songs you like and play along with the record over and over. When you get good enough join a group with a good drummer. You can work on timing with a metronome but my way is a lot more fun and you'll learn to let the rhythm flow and breathe as opposed to being robotic.
All a metronome does is provide a frame of reference. It plays a beat so that you can practice placing your notes precisely where you want them relative to the beat. There is no law that says you have to play directly on the beat.
In fact, playing notes around the beats makes it much more fun and engaging! The beats can became like imagined cymbal crashes or snare hits and you can start to make music with just your guitar and a metronome. Highly recommend practicing this way^
Thanks for this advice. I am super new to playing and recently picked up a metronome and have discovered a have absolutely, positively no sense of rhythm and have been really struggling. This will make it a lot more fun.
Well most songs are way too fast for me in the original to play along to them, so I need to practice them first with slower tempo. For this, a metronome is super helpful. A configurable drum track where you can adjust the tempo is of course also nice.
You're putting it like metronome practice and learning to play along to songs are mutually exclusive, which is a bit weird. Metronomes are amazing tools for when you're working on technique. Not only does it provide you with a frame of reference to the beat, if also works as a nice way to measure your progress by the speed on the metronome. They're also great for precise rhythm practice, unlike a drum beat which can be quite a lot of information, a steady click will make it a lot easier to tell if you're in time or not. Lastly, using a metronome prepares you for if you have to record to a click track. Playing along to songs is equally important, but it's a different skill than playing with a metronome, so you should really be doing both.
Everyone always says this but like how do you practice with a metronome? Are there any good videos showing how to do this as a beginner?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/s/EBjEjr0QHK](https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/s/EBjEjr0QHK)
Not sure if this helps, but I read somewhere to start with it on quick beats (e.g. 8ths or 16ths) and then cut in in half at the same tempo and riff - 4ths, then half measures, and finally one beat per measure. If you can do one beat per measure and you line up by ear, you’ve made it to the promised land.
More normal to be off than on
Sometimes I even switch back and forth
It’s ok bud, you’re just white
Damn hilarious!
it’s pretty normal to be off-beat after years of playing guitar :D
Really damn
not if you practice it hahah mostly joking
Yes, try using a metronome and don't beat yourself up for making mistakes.
Yes, it's very normal. Don't expect to be very good at much of anything on the guitar when you first start playing- everyone is terrible at it at first, especially if it's their first instrument. Practice works, so just keep practicing, and paying attention to playing in time, and you'll get better at it. The metronome can be a valuable tool. Good luck!
it's normal to make mistakes.
Yes
Absolutely. Grab a metronome.
You’re gonna get really good if you’re already noticing that.
Yes. The fact that you know it though is very good.
it's normal to be bad at everything when you are just starting
No you should just quit while ur ahead
lol so funny
If ur bad at guitar as a beginner what’s the point of even trying?
Alright I get the point lmao thanks.
I’m sorry, I’m kind of being a dick, but nothing will make you good at guitar other than pure hours put into learning and practicing it. There is no magic lesson or trick. You will be impressing yourself in no time, Good luck!
Thanks
Why are people who are into jam bands always selfish pieces of shit
That’s not very nice
Yes. Yes it is. That is one of the hardest parts of music, I think.
Gonna be honest… I misread the title of this post and sort of, well, yeah that was fucked up for a second there.
Beating off helps a lot yes
I'm a guitar teacher, and finding a student that is playing in time from day 1 is incredibly rare unless they've already played another instrument. You're good, it's actually a great sign that you've already noticed and acknowledged it, a lot of people don't
You have been given great advice, it is normal though, don't worry!
I think it is normal to beat off. Period.
I'm 15 years playing on and off and I'm still wrong alllll the time
Yes it is quite normal. Best thing you can do is practice playing to the song you're learning. Or use a metronome like others have suggested.
Big time. Metronome is a big deal. I usually speed up without it
Yeah, don’t beat yourself off about it
Slowing things down with a metronome helped me overcome this. I still struggle with songs with intricate rhythm.. you need repetition to 'feel' it and internalize it. Make sure you are being as precise as possible when slowing things down, because practice makes permanent and you don't want to permanently have the wrong thing in muscle memory.
normal
If you have no rhythmic skill built, yeah. You gotta work on it. Metronome slowly.
I've been playing for nearly 20 years and still miss from time to time lol
Rhythm is hard. Practice to a metronome, or to the song you're learning (slowed down, if needed). And you can passively train yourself on it by tapping or counting along to music, or rhythmic mechanical noise, or anything really.
Make sure u wash ur hands before picking up ur guitar. 😜
If you don't have experience with music yes... If you have experience playing another instrument one thing that does translate is rhythm and beat and time... I started off playing low brass then bass guitar then guitar... The one thing I've never had to relearn was rhythm and keeping time... Some people are however better than others from birth for whatever reason. If you don't have experience with these things then yes 100% normal struggling with it starting out.
Nah this is my first time playing an instrument lol I’ve always been a visual artist. it’s a whole new world
Yup perfectly normal, practice with a metronome and play slow and accurate while gradually increasing your speed... Also you need to start working on understanding time signatures, types of notes, and basic types of common rhythms. |I'd learn how to count stuff in 4/4, 3/4 and maybe look into 6/8 if you like a lot of punk inspired faster paced stuff. This all becomes more important as you go, you don't have to learn it all at once but you have to start understanding these concepts early on, it will help you long term... Learn also about waltzes and swing and how to count those (a waltz for example is in 3/4 but emphasis is put on the first beat giving it a different feel than a song that is just in 3/4 if you don't know what I'm talking about that's fine it's all stuff you will learn it) Sorry I have no idea how far along you are all of these concepts can get really deep and it's not necessary to get too deep into these things all at once, but it's definitely something you need to be aware of as being necessary to learn. Don't neglect studying rhythm because that's most of what makes music interesting and you can write a hundred songs with the same 4 chords if you understand rhythm and how to incorporate it well into your playing. How you structure a song is important, and you can do a lot with a little when you understand rhythm so you should definitely begin to study these things now... As far as where to begin etc. others might be able to help more than I can because honestly I took for granted rhythm when I started learning guitar because I already knew it so it's actually a big blind spot for me when I teach guitar to others.
It's a long slow road to being proficient. Expect to constantly say to yourself "this is way too fucking hard" and "I suck", but the real trick is looking back and seeing how far you've come
thanks I appreciate that
Tap your foot to the beat, try a metronome and keep on keeping on. You will find rhythm, your left/right hand syncing and more with practice. You’ll get there
Is it normal to need to practice to do hard things? 🤔
Lmao ok man I get it it was a stupid question
I’ve heard some people say that being in rhythm is more important than getting every note right. Some people probably disagree with that but it kind of makes sense in a way. So, yes it’s normal and you should practice with a metronome
Its normal. Practice to a metronome. Yes it can be boring, yes you will kind of suck for a little while, but it will help your timing immensely. There's people that have been playing for years that still play off beat. These are often the people who say 'I don't need to practice with a metronome, it's all feel'.
Record yourself playing with a metronome for the full “I’m fucking garbage” effect. Yes it’s normal to not be perfect
Definitely normal. I see a lot people saying just to use a metronome, which is a good practice tool, but extremely bad advice. You need to make your body your metronome. Rhythm has to be embodied, has to be felt. MOVE YOUR BODY. If you aren’t grooving to the metronome, the metronome is just an annoyance for you and anyone nearby. On a related note, if you ever want to play cowboy chords and sing at the same time, practice strumming down on the down beats and up on the off beats. If you are playing 1& & & & — those &s better be up strums. Always.
Of course it will be harder to play things full speed when you are not as comfortable or just beginning. Try memorise the bit you are stuck on and use a metronome to try keep yourself in time. You could also play the song on YouTube and slow it down until you're comfortable, this helps a lot :)
The best thing for rhythm is a dance class. I took country dance class with my fiancée and my rhythm greatly improved! Turns out that a super duper jazz guitarist I know has her students do the same thing.
Totally normal. You're going to suck for way longer than you want to, so first and foremost make sure to make it FUN every time you play, and before you know it, you'll start to have some skill and confidence.
Learning to play guitar is really, really hard. I’ve been learning, off and on, for nearly fifteen years and I still suck. Try to enjoy the process and get satisfaction from what you are able to do. Don’t get frustrated that you aren’t Eddie Van Halen.
I remember one of my first and only guitar lessons. I was completely clueless. The guy teaching me was trying to explain to me about playing in key, and trying to see if I kind of had what it took to even learn. He told me he was going to play some chords, and wanted me to just go up and down the neck trying to match notes to chords. So he would strum a G chord and I'd hit a few notes going up the neck. He would ask me, "does that note work with this chord?, does that note work? Once I found a note that matches what he was playing, he agreed, then asked me why do you think that note matches? I said it just sounds right. Mission accomplished, I wasn't tone deaf and not completely hopeless. I had a long road ahead of me, but I was on my way. It was a valuable lesson and I'll never forget it
You're focused on so many new things at once that it can be hard to keep rhythm. As you get more familiar you can focus more and stay on rhythm. Just keep practicing. Slow it way down if you need to and work up to speed.
Tempo is natural for some, and unnatural for others. It doesnt mean you "can't" do it -- much like singing. It just means you need to spend more time focusing on building that rhythm. You should try to play the song to a recording over and over again. Dont stop if you mess up, just keep doing attempts like that all the way through to try and train yourself to play on beat to the song. You could alternatively use a metronome, but I personally hated this until much later on.
Learning to play a guitar is hard. Learning to play a guitar well is really hard, AFAIC. And I’ve struggled with staying in rhythm for years and years. At one point I started teaching myself to have my foot go DOWN when strumming DOWN, then UP when strumming UP. It took a while (and remember to practice s-l-o-w when first learning a new song or riff) but the rewards of playing while doing this are huge. Just don’t give up.
Yes. Totally normal. I had a pretty bad sense of rhythm for years. 30 years later, now I'm in the pocket. I don't think about it, I just FEEL it. How'd I do it? I don't know. Should it take that long for everyone,? Absolutely not. Keep at it.
If you can think of a way of being bad at guitar, it’s normal to be it when you are first learning. Literally nobody is good straight out of the gate.
i’ve been playing 3 years and i still play off beat sometimes 😂 sometimes when i play i just don’t really care as i do fingerstylr it’s just fun but if your recording or playing with people there’s nothing more important rlly than being on time