Feeling The Pulse

Assumptions

This article assumes you have a metronome. It is recommended that you put your guitar away while exploring this article.

Metronome

Metronomes are available as stand alone units or apps. Each can have all sorts of different features but the most important one is that it can be set so every click sounds exactly the same. You do not want your metronome to group the clicks in any way, such as with different sounds (“ping” “tick” “tick””tick” / “ping” “tick” “tick””tick”), or with volume (“tick” “tick” “tick” “tick” / “tick” “tick” “tick” “tick”). You want to be able to make every click sound exactly the same (“tick” “tick” “tick” “tick” “tick” “tick” “tick” “tick”).

You will need to investigate how to achieve this on your particular metronome. There may be an “accent” setting (set it “no accent”). It could be by defining a “time signature” (set it to 1/4). Once you you have sorted this out, set it to click at a rate of around 72 and leave it on as you work through this article.

Time

Start to say the word “tick” aloud along with your metronome.

tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick
tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick

This is time – just a steady stream of “tick” “tick” “tick” “tick” “tick” …

Time Feel

Now start to count repeatedly to two along with the ticks – “1, 2” “1, 2” “1, 2” “1, 2” …

tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick
1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2

When you do this – group the clicks into “1, 2” “1, 2“… – the number “1” just naturally feels “heavier” or more “significant” than “2“. You are feeling the ticks “in 2“.

Now start to count repeatedly to three – “1, 2, 3” “1, 2, 3” “1, 2, 3” …

tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick
1	2	3	1	2	3	1	2	3	1	2	3

Again, the number “1” just naturally feels “heavier” or more “significant”. However, grouping the ticks into groups of three feels very different than grouping them into groups of two. You are now feeling the ticks “in 3“.

Lastly, start to count repeatedly to four – “1, 2, 3, 4” “1, 2, 3, 4” “1, 2, 3, 4” …

tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick
1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4

Again, the number “1” just naturally feels “heavier” or more “significant”. You are now feeling the ticks “in 4“.

How the ticks (pulses) are grouped, or felt, is the foundation for when/how you play everything else you play.

Although you could set your metronome to define these groupings for you with sounds and/or accents, don’t. Do not rely on your metronome for the time feel. Your metronome is only helping you keep the time steady. You need to be able to create different feels with your own ability to feel groupings.

Defining Time Feel

Continue counting to four and, when this feels comfortable, start to say aloud only the “1s” and “3s“, and to just silently feel the “2s” and “4s“.

tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick
1 say	(2)	3 say	(4)	1 say	(2)	3 say	(4)	1 say	(2)	3 say	(4)

You are still creating an “in 4” feel but are doing so by defining each pulse (tick) differently. You are defining the “1s” and “3s” by saying them aloud and defining the “2s” and “4s” by not saying them. You can also do this the opposite way – define the “1s” and “3s” by not saying them and define the “2s” and “4s” by saying them.

tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick	tick
(1)	2 say	(3)	4 say	(1)	2 say	(3)	4 say	(1)	2 say	(3)	4 say

1, 2, 3, 4

Grouping the pulse into groups of 4 and defining the “2s” and “4s” differently than the “1s” and “3s” is far and away the most predominant feel for Popular Music (this term is being used very broadly to mean everything from Blues to Jazz to Country to Rock and all of their derivatives – sometimes referred to as “American Music Forms”). Many variations of this general feel can be created by how significant the contrast is between the “1s” and “3s” and the “2s” and “4s“. For example:

1 & 3 are single notes and 2 & 4 are strummed

The contrast here is more subtle – 2 & 4 have slightly more punch.

2 & 4 are heavily accented

1 +, 2 +, 3 +, 4 +

Once you have a good feel for this, the next thing you’ll want to do is feel two events for each pulse (tick). You can define this by saying the number on the click and the word “and” in between the clicks (the word “and” is written as “+“). To be clear, you are splitting each click into halves – i.e “1 +” is one click, “2 +” is the next click, etc.

tick		tick		tick		tick		tick		tick		tick
1	+	2	+	3	+	4	+	1	+	2	+	etc.

The bass notes are on 1 & 3

The first note on the guitar is 1. (The first drum is 4).

This song song starts right on 1

1-trip-let, 2-trip-let, 3-trip-let, 4-trip-let

The next thing you’ll want to be able to feel is three events for each pulse (tick). You can define this by saying the number on the click and the word “trip-let” in between the clicks. To be clear, you are splitting each click into thirds – i.e “1-trip-let” is one click, “2-trip-let” is the next click, etc.

tick			tick			tick			tick			tick
1	trip	let	2	trip	let	3	trip	let	4	trip	let	etc.

This song starts right on 1

The lyric “yes” is 1

The triplets here aren’t as blatantly defined but they are always felt. The lyric “Time” is 1

You need to internalize a strong sense of these three basic feels in order to effectively play rhythm guitar.