A metronome? Actually try clapping solfège rhythms out while tapping every beat with one foot and tapping beats 1 and 3 (classical) or beats 2 and 4 (pop, jazz, blues, rock, etc..). This will really help your sense of time. On 18/04/2008, schoappied <schoappied(a)gmail.com> wrote:

On Sunday 20 April 2008 09:47, Gilles Degottex wrote: Unfortunately, those methods don't provide feedback. As a number of guitarists I've worked with have demonstrated, we can't always judge our own rhythmic ability, so feedback is necessary when you're learning. Rob

On Sunday, 20 April 2008, schoappied wrote: or ska :) Clap the beat, sing a low note on the beat and a high note on the upbeat. then slightly diminish the volume of the low note. but when you do not sing the low note any more, you always have to think it ! Then use the metronome for the beat, think the beat and clap the upbeat. It can be usefull to "load" your clap in the tempo, on the upbeat for exemple. Gilles

Hi Thomas! I definitely use it. I think it's not hardware feature, at least not with my soundcard. But the jackd on my system doesn't use a lot of cpu power. I've got a 1.8GHz processor and I use the "shaped noise" dithering algorithm, which I heard is the most expensive of the builtin ones and gives the best result. Kindest regards Julien -------- Music was my first love and it will be my last (John Miles) ======== FIND MY WEB-PROJECT AT: ======== http://ltsb.sourceforge.net the Linux TextBased Studio guide ======= AND MY PERSONAL PAGES AT: ======= http://www.juliencoder.de

Chris Weber wrote: I routinely advise my groove-challenged students to take dancing lessons. They always improve musically from the experience. I also advise them to learn how to read poetry out loud. Lots to learn there re: phrasing, intonation, shading, expression, etc. And it doesn't cost as much as dancing lessons. ;) Best, dp

On Saturday 19 April 2008 11:14, Dave Phillips wrote: But to bring the topic back to free software, there's always pydance. They don't need to play it with a dance pad if all they're doing is learning rhythm. (If they do get a dance pad, it's good exercise too.) http://icculus.org/pyddr/ Frets On Fire might be good as well, if his students hate disco. The benefit these have over other programs like solfege and any random metronome program is instant objective feedback of their rhythm, which I know helps me learn things faster. Rob

Am Samstag, 19. April 2008 18:44 schrieb Peter Hartmann: A metronome that doesnt whip you on the one and three but clicks on 2 and 4 can also be very helpful. It will rather indicate that you are ahead or behind than force you to be on time. Not easy in the beginning, but I found it to be very helpful. - Burkhard

Loki Davison wrote: I use klick, very great app. Only I have my doubts about the 'beep' at the start of a bar. That beep is a high tone, and I expect there a lower (bass) tone. A high tone do I expect more at the end of a rhythm... Gtick does this job better, it's just more intuitive... (gtick has no jack support). The same tone which is used by klick is also in Ardour or not? Dirk

Loki Davison wrote: Ah, then I've to find a nice sample.... Or does somebody have one? Which files can be used?

On Sun, Apr 20, 2008 at 11:05:48AM +1000, Loki Davison wrote: I've found that practicing WITHOUT a metronome or drum machine is actively harmful to my sense of time. I usually jam along to Hydrogen's variable velocity and timing, which is good for avoiding the "drill through the skull" monotony. The most important thing about rhythm practicing, I've found, is maintaining the discipline to keep an ostinato going for a LONG time. Playing with other guys is one great way to do that, since I have to keep up with everyone else. Kind of like it's easier to stay motivated when playing a team sport: if you're just going to the gym by yourself you can blow it off too easily, but if you're a member of a team then you don't want to let everyone down or risk losing the game by flaking out or slacking off. I also jam on the beach occasionally with some persussion players too. Regular rehersals with other musicians has worked the best for me, personally, so far, in keeping strong rhythm. In the old days of 4-track tape, I'd have to spend hours playing ostinatos in order to lay down tracks. When I was using Rosegarden last year, I'd do it that old-skool way. Now that I'm using loopers it's too easy to just play 4 bars and then let it repeat. Even when I use seq24, my "loops" are often 16-32 bars long. Or just being very self-disciplined works too. A friend of mine is classicaly-trained, and for many years he got up at 5am to get in an hour or two of practicing to a metronome before going to work. Nowadays he takes his guitar and a little Zoom headphone amp-simulator that has a metronome, on the train with him to work every day. His time is solid like a rock. Finally, if you can't stand the monotony of playing the same thing over and over again, reggae musicians make use of a certain not-entirely-legal-even-in-California "herbal remedy" that helps them do that for long periods of time. One of the reasons I can't play reggae convincingly is because I don't use the stuff; I can't imagine anyone being able to play "plink.... plink.... plink... plink" on the 2 and 4 for hours on end without it. :-) -ken

Atte André Jensen wrote: I guess I've been raised in the wrong part of the world to learn 'reggae' rhythms.... About solfege. I like the rhythm learning tool, but is it also possible to repeat a given rhythm constantly? Now you get only one bar...

On Monday 21 April 2008, Atte André Jensen wrote: I played guitar in some reggae combos. It's actually fun to play the 2 and 4 for hours on ends.. I can get pretty meditative.. And you really get to hear when you're ahead or behind just a tad. Usually there's another instrument though which can do the 2 and 4 thing, too (guitar piano, etc), so one can sometimes trade the more interesting parts.. Regards, Flo -- Palimm Palimm! http://tapas.affenbande.org

On Monday 21 April 2008, Ken Restivo wrote: Heh one of my all time favourite songs :) I really dig the studio version, too.. Ack, Flo -- Palimm Palimm! http://tapas.affenbande.org