Times like these.

I'll be looking at the rudiments of musical "time" in this article, but first some news.

Who would have thought that the acts of terrorism could directly affect a small-fry guitar player living on top of a hill in south eastern Queensland, Australia, like myself? Well, the fact is, I made a modest living, selling my guitar related products by mail order around the English speaking world. No longer, it seems. Since the mail system became a weapon of terrorism, I haven't filled one order. As a consequence, I'm madly converting my books to pdf format so they can downloaded rather than sent -- see if that works. Meanwhile, there's a "Mail Scare Special" on at my site http://www.lorange.kirk.net

Time and tempo.

When speaking musically, "time" refers generally to that element of Music. I've always liked the idea of an art form requiring a chunk of time to exist. It's one thing talking about a certain tune as being a great piece of music, or seeing its title on a CD cover, but in order to really appreciate it, you need to sit there for 3 or 4 minutes, and experience it. So when you say "Drummers should keep good time", it means that they should have mastery over slicing time up evenly. Of course, all musicians should have this ability, but drummers especially should, because they're meant to be followed.

"Time signatures" are the way we refer to the various ways time can be divided in order to make music. "4/4", "3/4", "6/8", "2/4", are all time signatures. In each case, the first number shows the number of beats per bar, the second number indicates what value the beats have. So "4/4" means that each bar consists of 4 quarter notes; "3/4" means each bar consists of 3 quarter notes, etc. This can still be very confusing for players starting out in Music. "Time" can be one of the most elusive elements of music, mainly because you can't stop it to pin it down.

For those who are still having trouble understanding the concept of musical time, try this:

Start counting slowly, out loud, "One Two Three Four One Two Three Four, etc.". Keep repeating it, nice and evenly, as if you're the second hand of a clock.

Now start tapping your foot, precisely and confidently, on the "One", every time it comes around. The time elapsed between foot taps is a "bar". So, the basic units of time are beats, which are the numbers you're counting out loud, and each set of four fit into one bar. That's for 4/4. For a 3/4 tune, you should count One Two Three One Two Three, etc., and your foot should still tap on the One. If you're in any way musically inclined, you should "feel" the time signatures after a few bars of counting, and it's the feel of these different ways of dividing time which give us such a variety of music. In fact, it's the rhythm of a piece that categorizes it: Samba, Reggae, Swing, Tango, Waltz, ... all these terms refer to a specific way of dividing up time.

I've always shorthanded the time element in my brain by remembering that music really only comes in 4s and 3s, and each can be doubled, tripled and quadrupled. To get a vibe for that, simply add words to your counting. For example:

Count "One Two Three Four One Two Three Four", keep it going nice and steady, then add the word "and" between each number, without altering the speed of the number count. "One and Two and Three and Four and One and Two and Three etc......" That's double 4/4, so it's 8/8. In other words, each bar consists of eight eighth beats. Do the same with 3/4. It becomes 6/8 by counting One and Two and Three and One and Two and Three and One etc...

To get the feel of triplets, add another word: "One and a Two and a Three and a Four and a One ..." and to quadruple, count (I know this sounds silly but it works): One E and a Two E and a Three E and a Four E and a One E and Two etc... You're hearing 16th beats when you count like that.

All the time, your foot keeps thumping on "One".

If you see "5/4", or "7/4" (you probably never will), don't panic. I always think of 5/4 as "One Two Three One Two One Two Three One Two One Two Three One Two. So it's kind of like a bar of 3 and a bar of 2 repeated. Same with 7/4. Count one Two Three Four One Two Three One Two Three Four One Two Three. These can also be doubled, tripled and quadrupled. Here, your foot should tap on alternate Ones to define bars.

Once again, to keep things simple mentally, just remember that music comes in 4s (most common) and 3s. 2/4 is simply counted as One Two One Two One Two, half of 4/4. A lot of country music is based around 2/4, but I just consider it as 4.

"Tempo" is just the speed of music, the rate at which the beats go by. Tempo is usually measured in "beats per minute".

This is all illustrated in graph form at http://www.guitarforbeginners.com in case you're still confused. The main thing to develop and practice is a steadiness of tempo, in other words, don't speed up or slow down. Most of us who are interested in music probably have an innate sense of rhythm, and so should be confident that we can keep good time. Sometimes, of course, the tune calls for a deliberate slow down, in which case, do it. Speed ups are a rarity, but mostly music requires a steady regular pulse to work, especially when several players are involved. To make music, they must all be in the same groove, following the same pulse.

I've always found Time to be the easy part of playing music, the part that comes naturally. The difficult part is finding notes and chords and riffs and melodies on the fretboard, and if you still haven't heard about my book PlaneTalk, which reveals the trick to it all, you must have just got back from a holiday in Siberia.

Here is a shameless plug:

If you're looking for a fretboard landmark, a constant that you can refer everything else to in order to nail it down, a logical method of using the entire length of the fretboard, a tool to locate, analyze and decipher any chunk of music -- then look no further. PlaneTalk -- The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book and the companion video reveal with startling clarity the method I have used for years to do just that. Once you digest this simple visualization technique, you'll never need to think of anything else again. Your fretboard will forever be familiar territory, from nut to 20th fret, in any key.

There.

All the best, keep on twangin', until next time,

Kirk
http://www.lorange.kirk.net
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com
http://mp3.com/kirklorange