The Primacy of Rhythm in practicing popular music

 

When learning a new piece of music, when should a musician work on getting right the rhythm and feel of the piece?

pastelSketchSaxPlayer

Introduction

I have long believed it has to be the very first thing to get right and there's little point playing notes at all unless they are in the desired rhythm and feel.   Tempo, however, is a whole other subject - there's a lot to be said for precision and ev

Who are Song Rhythm Tracks for?

All Musicians!   New Musicians;    Experienced Musicians;     Great Musicians;

Really, any musician including Pianists, Guitarists, Horn Players, Singers and even Drummers.

The tracks can be used for practice, jamming, gigging and cutting a release.

They cover a wide selection of musical genres with thousands of rhythms available.

They are best for musicians who play songs or 'numbers'  and wish to have an inspiring rhythmic accompaniment that fits the song they are playing, both rhythmically and in the musical form.

They are particularly useful for music teachers and students</str

How can I learn about song form?

Song form is the concept that every song has been composed around a musical form or structure.   Popular song often chooses simple forms as a basis but forms can be more complex as well.

A good reference on song form (structure) is the Wikipedia article,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_structure

Alive Drumming aims to provide you with the easiest and most reliable methods to select or describe song form.

Song Form may be selected using either (i) traditional names such as ’16

What song forms does Alive Drumming support?

We support all the popular, essential song forms by name - 12 bar blues, 16 bar tunes, 32-bar A1A2 and 32-bar AABA, and about 30 other less common also by name.    The list is increasing!  We also support identifying these same song forms using stick notation.  This simply specifies section lengths in bars, for example, '8|8/8|8', where 'bridge' sections are preceded by a '/' instead of '|'.

Additionally, we support user-defined song forms using stick notation, repeats, and concatenation of up to four (4) parts</

Why do these Song Rhythm Tracks sound so totally great?

These Song Rhythm Tracks do sound totally great, don’t they?

This is one of the most frequent things I hear.  The great sound quality often comes as surprise, perhaps because of the widespread familiarity everybody has with 'Midi Drum Machines', which don't satisfy in the same way as Song Rhythm TracksMidi Drum Machines and Song Rhythm Tracks are two very different products; we summarize their differences below.

The Song Rhythm Tracks Way

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Could you give me some examples of Song Forms?

writing on a score
writing on a score

Song Forms for a number of songs are here

Musicianship, Song Rhythm Tracks, SongForm, Website

Alive Drumming’s favourite Frequently  Asked  Questions  (FAQ)

We have hand-picked some of our favourite  F.A.Q.s about Alive Drumming and Song Rhythm Tracks.


Why do these Song Rhythm Tracks sound so great?

They do, don’t they! And for a number of reasons:

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How can I learn about song form?

Song form is the concept that every song has been composed around a musical form or structure.   Popular song often chooses simple forms as a basis but forms can be more complex as well.

A good reference on song form (structure) is the Wikipedia article,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_structure

Alive Drumming aims to provide you with the easiest and most reliable methods to select or describe song form.

Song Form may be selected using either (i) traditional names such as ’16

The Primacy of Rhythm in practicing popular music

 

When learning a new piece of music, when should a musician work on getting right the rhythm and feel of the piece?

pastelSketchSaxPlayer

Introduction

I have long believed it has to be the very first thing to get right and there's little point playing notes at all unless they are in the desired rhythm and feel.   Tempo, however, is a whole other subject - there's a lot to be said for precision and ev

Could you give me some examples of Song Forms?

writing on a score
writing on a score

Song Forms for a number of songs are here

Musicianship, Song Rhythm Tracks, SongForm, Website