Home Forums Guitar Instructor Doug Marks foot tapping

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    • #12934
      Sean
      Participant

      Let’s talk about tapping your foot in time. I don’t really understand this. What is time. Is it always that 4/4? The slow boom boom boom boom. Will I always subconsciously tapping my foot to that even 4/4 even if I’m playing very fast?

      Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

    • #12935
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      I can say what I do. First, can you say “one and two and three and four and one and two and …etc..” to the 4/4 beat? And do you know which part of the drum sound corresponds to those? Very generically it might be like, Kick Snare Kick Snare …etc.. (Boom Snap Boom Snap) If that’s not totally clear, then I think that has to be solid first. Play around in GP6 drum keyboard for a little bit to check the sounds and mess around. Or for sixteenths (four notes per beat) it would go “one ee and uh; two ee and uh; ..etc…” (did I get that right? I guess I can’t explain it without doing it, hah). If all that’s clear, then: At slow BPM (like under 50), I tap toes or heel on the one, two, three, four. The rising of the toe or heel or whatnot peaks on the “and”. At faster BPM, I only tap on the one and three and the rising is on the two and four. At much faster BPM I tap only on the one and the rising is on the three.

      I find it is mostly easier to head-nod or head-bang instead of foot tap though. Or knee-flex. Or at least alternate these body motions. Foot tapping for twenty minutes straight while doing scales seems hard on my foot muscles ;-D In fact that is something I’m working on this past week.

      I think this is important in many ways. I noticed that the frontman in the band I play in, can’t dance for anything. I mean, total white guy jerking all over the place moves. I guess it’s because he doesn’t have his basic rhythm down, like, he probably doesn’t relate to the beat properly, meaning: the kick drum.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #12937
      MotleyCrue81
      Participant

      When you nod your head to a song, you’re normally nodding to the dream beat. That’s the beat, for rock the time is normally 4/4 time which means there are 4 beats per measure. I find it hard to tap my foot while I sit and play, but it’s very natural for me to tap my foot to the beat when I stand and play. I normally nod my head or something when I’m sitting.

      Bring hair metal back!

    • #12938
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I can say what I do. First, can you say “one and two and three and four and one and two and …etc..” to the 4/4 beat? And do you know which part of the drum sound corresponds to those? Very generically it might be like, Kick Snare Kick Snare …etc.. (Boom Snap Boom Snap) If that’s not totally clear, then I think that has to be solid first. Play around in GP6 drum keyboard for a little bit to check the sounds and mess around. Or for sixteenths (four notes per beat) it would go “one ee and uh; two ee and uh; ..etc…” (did I get that right? I guess I can’t explain it without doing it, hah). If all that’s clear, then: At slow BPM (like under 50), I tap toes or heel on the one, two, three, four. The rising of the toe or heel or whatnot peaks on the “and”. At faster BPM, I only tap on the one and three and the rising is on the two and four. At much faster BPM I tap only on the one and the rising is on the three. I find it is mostly easier to head-nod or head-bang instead of foot tap though. Or knee-flex. Or at least alternate these body motions. Foot tapping for twenty minutes straight while doing scales seems hard on my foot muscles ;-D In fact that is something I’m working on this past week. I think this is important in many ways. I noticed that the frontman in the band I play in, can’t dance for anything. I mean, total white guy jerking all over the place moves. I guess it’s because he doesn’t have his basic rhythm down, like, he probably doesn’t relate to the beat properly, meaning: the kick drum.

      Great reply, Superblonde!

      In jazz we foot tap on beats two and four when we want to train how to “swing”. That’s a lot tricky and I don’t think it has any use to metal, but since we’re on the subject …!

    • #12946
      Igglepud
      Participant

      Yes, there are lots of different ways. The important thing is to do it at a constant tempo throuought the song, whether it’s 4/4 or 13/2.

      MY ROCK IS FIERCE!!!

    • #12956
      Sean
      Participant

      Thanks everyone ! What I find happening is that my foot will start racing with the individual notes. If that makes sense. Or I start doubling the foot taps or heal raises. I can’t seem to separate the actual beat you guys are referring too and the melody. I think that’s right.
      You guys are probably cracking up right now saying boy he’s got along way to go.

      Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

    • #12958
      rightonthemark
      Participant

      i used to foot tap for timing.
      now i more move my body for timing.
      i get into what feels like the groove…motley called it the dream beat.
      i guess i call it the strong beat. but same concept.
      i think that became part of my playing when i started practicing “performing” so i wasn’t a statue playing gigs.
      primarily with rock being 4/4 i think it’s already been noted you have a basic kick snare kick sanre that equals 1 2 3 4 for each measure.
      even if the drummer some off beat accents – it should still come back to that strong beat; or at least be implied in th groove…depending on the sum of the other parts (bass, guitar, etc.).
      even for 12/8 or 6/8 time signatures a strong beat should be found in the groove. watch people on the dance floor…they typically hone in on the strong beat of any tune.

      rock and roll ain't pretty; that's why they picked us to play it.

    • #12959
      Francisca
      Participant

      For me it is easier to nod my head to follow the rhythm. But it changes, sometimes I move my leg and head or shoulders at the same time! And when I’m learning a lick or something from a music sheet I count exactly as Superblond said, to internalize it better.

      Time is not always 4/4. That’s the most common though. You can have 2/4, 3/4, 6/8 for example, and so many more! The top number of the time signature tells you how many beats there are in each measure and the bottom number tells you what note is played in that beat (whole notes, half-notes, quarter notes, etc.) Time is hard to explain, it is like the organization of music. It gives it an order, a regular amount of beats.

      I think that we should keep following the rhythm subconsciously so we don’t get lost. I say subconsciously because we are not counting everything in purpose to kind of monitor what we are doing once we learned a song. We end up internalizing the rhythm of the song and I think that we naturally keep the rhythm by moving our feet, head or shoulders during the whole song.

      "...Guitar coming from a radio, Always takes you where you wanna go, Somehow all your troubles always seem to fade away..." - Joan Jett (Play That song Again).

      • #12961
        Sean
        Participant

        Thanks Francisca. I’m sure you are right.Ah but that word rhythm. If I only had it. Dance for getta about it! Clap – sometimes I miss my hands! Heck I can’t even do the wave at a baseball game! I’m doomed!
        Should I take up the drums? LOL

        Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

    • #12960
      Sean
      Participant

      Thanks ROTM,

      I just went and watched a video of my favorite guitarist playing live sitting on a stage. He was flying with his hands but his toe to heel rocking was alternating slow and steady. I don’t know how all of you separate the two tempos. But I’m sure the correct and universal answer is with Practice!

      Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

      • #12967
        barks62
        Participant

        But I’m sure the correct and universal answer is with Practice!

        Very true, lol. I don’t know if you are practicing with a metronome or a drum beat or song, but using one of those is a good way to separate out the beat from the notes you are playing. So, if you are learning a song, play along with the song and tap your foot or nod your head to the kick and snare (or just one of those if it’s a fast beat). If you follow the drums, you’ll be ok. If you need to slow the song down, you can try to find a drum beat and adjust the tempo (GP6 probably?) or a metronome. If you need to play parts of a song slower and just abandon any timekeeping, it will be even harder to find the beat. Use a metronome or drum beat with adjustable tempo a few times and that will help you with finding the rhythm.

        Trust me… I am the whitest person you know and I dance like it… but I did learn to keep time during songs and solos! It wasn’t easy but if you do it right a few times, you’ll get a feel for it.

    • #12970
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      I think just try to separate the skills and get good at them individually. Like practice foot tapping just by itself with a metronome (or GP6 drums) set to different tempos. First do the verbal counting with the metronome for 1-2 min straight. Then do foot tapping with metronome (or GP6 drums) for 1-2 min straight. It really should only take a few days of doing that, to get it. Split up the practice maybe morning & night for extra learning retention. Then when that is down, add the playing simultaneously with foot tapping. But anyway it is always a thing of going back to the beginning. With a new song that seems confusing or just something I want to learn fast (for example a new Doug solo lesson part), sometimes I go back to just counting along as it plays (without trying to play it), do that a couple times until it feels natural (repeat maybe the first three days of learning it), then add the playing either right after that or subsequent days. It really seems to work fastest that way to go in small steps over multiple days for me. Right now I can kind of count subconsciously without having to try to do it, at least for 4/4 time aka “I just feel it”. There’s a song that I’m learning that says it is 12/8 and it is a bit awkward for me right now. So I will probably have to do all of the above myself too, for that beat.

      Super simple dancing ‘on the beat’ is a pretty good skill to have for example at weddings. Need I mention the bride’s maids? 😀 Maybe cha-cha has the most basic of rhythm to learn? It probably took me two or three years (going once or sometimes twice a week to newbie lessons, or sometimes only once a month, to events like swing dance night at a club, did this in college as a stress reliever) to learn the simple basics of white-boy dancing enough to be relaxed enough to just do it. My partners during that time, lol, poor girls. ;-D ha, I did it for stress relief and meanwhile it probably stressed them out, LOL !

      Oh after that then you can try singing with playing. It is similarly uhh, uncoordinated and awkward at first.

      Hmm progress videos of dancing are not necessary hah

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #12971
      Sean
      Participant

      SB
      You beat me to the punch!
      My dancing skills were going to be my next Vid! I’m so not Justin Timberlake.
      Then I was going to follow that up with Singing solo. Guaranteed that would have been BLOCKED!
      Barks62 so it really doesn’t matter the speed of the song just find in the song the drumbeat my ear identifies with and use that as the gauge.

      Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

    • #12975
      barks62
      Participant

      That’s exactly right. The drums set the tempo. So when your drummer plays Enyer Sandman way too fast, you have no choice but to keep up with him! Lol, not that anything like that has ever happened to me…

      But that’s a good place to start. And like SB said, maybe just tap your foot to a couple of songs without playing just to get used to finding the beat.

    • #12990
      Sean
      Participant

      I listened to Thunderstruck by AC/DC a couple of times over and over. First thing I noticed was that I naturally was just going along for the ride as a listener. Bobbing my head to every drum beat. And it felt so fast. Then listening, I separated the two drum beats. Now I just tapped my thumb and bobbed my head to one of the drums. That was now slower controlled that 4/4 time everyone talked about. I just focused on that drum beat. Even when in the song there was not a drum beat I kept the tapping. When the drums came back it was as the saying goes “he didn’t miss a beat” no matter how fast or slow the guitar played it worked off that constant drum beat.

      I think I grasp the concept now. Thanks again for everybody’s input.

      Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

    • #12991
      AlleyCatRocker1980s
      Participant

      Let’s talk about tapping your foot in time. I don’t really understand this. What is time. Is it always that 4/4? The slow boom boom boom boom. Will I always subconsciously tapping my foot to that even 4/4 even if I’m playing very fast?

      4/4  that is the Rhythm measures in the song..the beats…

       

      Practicing Guitar

    • #14443
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Duke Ellington explains how to snap fingers in proper laid back jazz cool cat rhythm 😀


      Duke Ellington on How to be Cool “We do love you madly”

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #14464
      Sean
      Participant

      This was a great find SB!
      He’s got more cool in his little finger Than I have in my whole being.
      I just twisted my neck trying to be conservatively hip! Ouch!

      Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

    • #14946
      Doug Marks
      Keymaster

      Tapping four times per measure is actually easier when you’re playing at a tempo faster than 80 bpm (or so).  When I’m playing slower than that I’ll often tap on the eighth note, eight taps per measure.  Playing along with guitar pro should help.  Either turn on the metronome feature or the click track that I include with most exercises.  You will get better at this over time.  Even so, it can be difficult to tap to something that’s difficult to play for even quite experienced players.  Don’t stress over this, you’ll get it.  On another note, I was discussing this with my wife.  She’s a professional classical vocalist that performs with the Los Angeles Phil and on movie sound tracks.  She’s not allowed to move or tap her foot!  It’s too distracting for others in the chorus.

      Metal Method Guitar Instructor

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