The Beauty of the Beat

By Jack Phillips

September 5, 2008

At this moment, I can here the sound of some music playing in my son’s room; only the drums and bass are coming through. The ceiling fan is on, providing a steady white noise in the background along with the steady click of the chain hitting the light fixture. Somehow it is not annoying, merely comforting. The steady drip of the rain is similar (thank you Hanna). As I think about these things, the reason these sound are not annoying is that they are a steady, regular, rhythm. I feel the human mind craves rhythm, leading to my next point.

Have you ever listened to someone play an instrument that couldn’t get the rhythm right? No matter how precise the notes they play are, it just plain sounds weird. Having a sense of rhythm is essential to quality playing. A guitar player that only knows 3 open chords can sound awesome if their timing is good. How do you learn good timing? PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! If you don’t purposely practice your rhythm, you will always sound bad.

To practice, you need a steady beat to practice with. Many people use metronomes. Metronomes are electronic or mechanical devices that provide a steady sound at an adjustable interval. Many inexpensive metronomes are available that include both an aural and visual cues and are highly adjustable. In addition to a metronome, you can use a drum machine. Drum machines are really cool in that they sound like a real drummer without the fills and you can jam and practice with them. Practicing with other musicians, hopefully including a drummer, is a great way to solidify your rhythm skills and discover the beauty of the beat.