The focus of this lesson is based upon rhythm development along with gaining a better grasp of the basic use of chord skills and their integrated involvement. If these areas are weak for you, then you are definitely going to want to watch this video. 

In it, I’m going to show you an expanding syncopated rhythm exercise that you can study slowly and you can do every single day. The exercise can be learned so that it can gradually help you reach new (more complex) skill levels. Yet it can be done at you own rate of progress. 

WATCH THE VIDEO:

Do you need to learn how to master chords and rhythm guitar? If you said "No," think again because this is the one area for guitar players that can make or break the development of having solid rhythm and groove skills. 

Here's why, rhythm is an area of playing music that most practicing guitar players never reach their full potential in. This means developing your rhythm and chords up to a very high level of skill can be one of the most valuable things that a musician will ever do. 

In this lesson I’m going to cover how you can take a 3-measure rhythmic idea and practice this idea for just one month. Once you develop this rhythm you’ll be able to expand upon it (in several ways), and that will allow you to take it even further in your playing. 

So, grab your guitar and let's get started by starting with how to get into learning more about rhythm exercise warm-ups right now. 

Example 1). Rhythm Warm-Ups

If rhythms are relatively new for you, you’ll need to begin with a warm-up exercise consisting of following along to a metronome or a drum matching and performing; quarter-notes, eighth-notes, and sixteenth-notes in time - with the beat.

Quarter-Notes:

Eighth-Notes:

Sixteenth-Notes:

Now that you’re warmed up, take a look at the lesson rhythm (shown below), it’s going to be our first exercise. This feel is a syncopated groove, so it will feel off-beat.

Playing in-time (like we did with the warm-ups), is important, but being able to play off the beat, (or what is called “syncopated time”), is how you’ll get great at rhythm.

Coming up, I’ve got a couple of examples that demonstrate how to start integrating chords into this rhythm exercise, but first I want to tell you about a special promotional offer that’s related to my, “Handouts Collection eBook.” 

WHAT IS SYNCOPATION?
The syncopated rhythm of this exercise is not exactly easy to play for most people because it seldom pushes the regular flow of time. 

Instead, this example’s “rhythmic stress” ends up accenting places across the beat where we would typically not have the accents of time occur normally. This is the essence of syncopation.

Another thing that happens is we have a measure of 2/4 time right in the middle of this groove. This means that our stress on the next measure (when we return to 4/4 time), needs to have a greater accent upon the down beat. 

When you put all of these things together, you have a practice groove that makes for an excellent practice exercise, and once this groove is mastered (which could take either a few hours for some players, or possibly a few weeks for others). 

Once the groove is mastered it can offer a lot of benefits for not only when we see new rhythms like this, but it can also make those simple grooves (we commonly use in songs) start to feel a lot smoother and a lot easier to perform.

So, next, I want to start expanding upon this exercise by introducing a few chord options… 

Example 2). 

Applying intervals to the rhythm for harmony I often like starting my students off with the use of power chords and simple 2-note intervals to help get them used to performing some harmony over these complex rhythms. 

Now, the intervals I’ve organized for this example are; B, F#, G and E power-chords. As well as, a 2-note “C# and E,” passing interval, into a “D Major” dyad, and finally into a slightly larger open chord of, “G Major.” 

Example 3). 

Applying larger chords to the rhythm As a student’s rhythm improves, I like to move their playing into more involved chord types. These typically include the triad family of chords. 

In the final example that I have for you, we’re going to play over the rhythm exercise with a group of triads. If you want to improve your rhythm and your chord skills spend some time learning these types of syncopated riffs... 

They work the best when they’re only around 2 or 3 measures long. And, you’ll want to keep in mind that these crazy off-time rhythm grooves will definitely produce some really amazing results - because they provide you with a chance to understand the off-beat much better... 

Which has a counter effect of developing your feel (for all types of timing that you’ll encounter in different pieces of music), at a much higher level of playing. So, if you invest as little as a month into this type of work, it will pay off huge. 

I’ve practiced on a lot of these grooves myself and they work wonders. I’ve also taught them to a lot of my students (for many years now), and I can tell you that they are great for every level of guitar player. 

Also, I should let you know that if you enjoy this type of practice, there’s a course in the Members Area of CreativeGuitarStudio.com that’s called “Rhythm Guitar,” and it’s dedicated to specifically this type of work.