Rhythm Resources

[ohPunky81]

Hello,
My first post here. I am looking for free resources (ie: internet links) to learn more about rhythm. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for because I don't know what I don't know. I have messed around with time signatures in the past. I'm looking for a little more of a kind of study of syncopation and how to create various textures and or tension/resolution effects by accenting different beats in various time signatures. Of course I pick up some of this by listening to the masters, but I want something a little more systematic so I can dig into it.

My motivation is that I feel like my sense of rhythm is solid because when I try to learn new rhythms I do well. However, when I listen to my own jams and riff ideas, or writing a chord progression, many times I am using one of about three or four basic rhythms. I think this is rooted in a (fairly typical) over emphasis on a study of notes and not enough emphasis on time.

Thanks,
Punky

[JazzwithaG]

Hey Punky,

It's really good that you're interested in learning more about rhythm. One tool that you already touched upon a little bit is transcribing, which is a great way to expand your rhythmic feel and vocabulary. There are some exercises that can help diversify your rhythms. One example, taken from a Jerry Bergonzi book, is you can choose a set number of notes (3,4,5 etc...) and limit yourself to three notes per bar, or four and so on. you can play these specific amount of notes in whichever rhythmic values you choose (two eighth notes and a quarter notes, a triplet, three quarter notes etc..). Once you play each grouping within a bar, you can have these note grouping cross between bar while maintaining their grouping. Next, you can play these grouping in a disconnected matter. For example, a 3 note group played two notes on the first beat of a bar and the last note played on the last beat of the bar and so on.

These exercises can help force you form new rhythms that you never would have thought about otherwise. Also, the note grouping is a super important concept that really helps your phrasing and musical thought process.
A great online advice resource is a website called www.jazzadvice.com , this is a link to their rhythm article section with great advice on jazz rhythms:

http://jazzadvice.com/category/rhythm/

Also, you can subscribe to and check out my new jazz guitar youtube channel I just launched. I posted one jazz lesson so far but I plan to post a lot more and I'll dedicate some time on the topic of Jazz rhythms as well. Hope this has been helpful, please feel free to write for any further questions! Here is the link to my youtube jazz lesson. Thanks!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkZo0RmbOHY


Best,

JazzwithaG

[jazz oud]

If you consider the available combinations of only using quarter notes, eighth notes, and rests in a single bar of 4/4 you will realize that the number of basic rhythmic structures is fairly small (if you consider the bulk of jazz ideas to be comprise 8th notes, quarter notes and rests).
You could, in an hour or so, write out every 1-bar possibility, and you would have a large rhythmic vocabulary to practice integrating into your playing.

Another idea is to take a rhythmic idea and work on starting it in different places in the measure (1, and of 1, 2, and of 2, etc.), or in permutations of the elements.

For example (d=quarter, [=8th, Z=quarter rest, j=8th rest)

q q [[ Z = basic idea

Z q q [[ = rhythmic displacement
q [[ q Z = permutation
Z q [[ q = permutation with rhythmic displacement
jq q [[j = rhythmic displacement
j[[q q j = rhythmic displacement with permutation

etc. Sorry if the above is a little confusing, just decode it and write it out, there's just no easy way to write rhythms here.

Also try reading though/listening to some big band-type arrangements and making note of the rhythms and accompaniment figures/backgrounds. Also listen to (good) drummers and check out their figures.