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Rhythm Guitar: 16th-Note Funk and Soca Grooves

Posted by Andrew Wasson Friday, August 28, 2009


The response from Andrew Wasson of Creative Guitar Studio to;

"I have just started playing in my first band and I feel that my rhythm guitar skills are weak. Can you offer me any suggestions for what I can practice on to help my rhythm guitar get better. I have a pretty good idea of the general rhythms in music, like; eighths, sixteenths and triplets, but I find I have trouble maintaining the groove in a really smooth way through an entire song during a band rehearsal."

Thank you,
Anthony

Andrew discusses the way guitarists can quickly improve their rhythm guitar skills by applying sixteenth-note exercises, (such as those used in Funk & the Caribbean Soca music).

Music Reading: Understanding the Music Staff

Posted by Andrew Wasson


The response from Andrew Wasson of Creative Guitar Studio to;

Was hoping that you could help me with the topic of Music Reading.

I have absolutely no understanding of reading music. So, I will just go over what I have been researching so far...

- Ive learned that music is read off of the Music Staff.

- The staff is composed of 5 lines and 4 spaces.

- The lines are named from the bottom going upwards; E, G, B, D, F. (mnemonic = Every Good Boy Does Fine)

- The spaces are named again from bottom going up F, A, C, E (spelling the word FACE).

- There are 5 note durations:
Whole = 4 beats,
Half = 2 beats,
Quarter = 1 beat,
Eighth = 1/2 a beat
Sixteeth note... (but, I have no idea what it looks like or what it does).

This is all I know. Ive heard that the lines on the staff represent strings on the guitar. If so, how come there are six strings on a guitar and five lines on the staff.? And, if the lines are the guitar strings, what do the spaces on the staff represent?

I am having a very difficult time understanding this. I have been watching your videos and I am hoping that you could help me to understand all of this.

- Shane

Andrew discusses the principles of the music staff including; Clef sign, Key Signature sign, Time Signature symbol, Note layout, pitch relationship to the guitar, and fingerboard concepts involved in learning to read music notation on guitar.

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