A big thanks to everyone who joined us for the very first episode of Music Space! With our guest Ricky Horton from Jacksonville, Florida – a talented young guitarist, producer and song writer who discussed the importance of Rhythm & Melody in Learning Music. Let’s get a little bit more into that now with our blog post.

 

Rhythm and Melody

In it’s most basic and essential form, music is rhythm and melody, and a melody can’t exist without some type of rhythm. They are the key ingredients; without them it would not really be music. This may seem obvious and simple, and it is. However, for many musicians and guitar players especially, rhythm and melody can sometimes take a back seat, especially in improvising and jamming, which most players love to do.

As musicians, we can get so caught up in the technical side of what we are playing that we forget that it is all, at the end of the day, music. We are worried about what scales to play, when we can put in our new favorite lick, how fast we can play or what kind of guitar or gear we have and forget all the reasons we probably fell in love with music to begin with.

What are the two things that just about any music lover does when they listen to music, even if they’ve never touched an instrument in their life? They will probably tap their foot to the rhythm and sing or hum (even if its out of tune) the melody of the song. No one taught or told them to do it, they just do it naturally. So, what would happen if the song they are listening to falls out of rhythm or the melody sounds erratic or out of key? It would throw them off. It would interrupt their foot tapping and it would make them feel like something has gone wrong. No one had to point it out or tell them, its just something that can be felt. That’s not to say many mistakes still go unnoticed by the average listener, but it certainly can affect whether they find the song to be great or just okay. This principle is constant in every aspect of music and definitely in guitar playing.

More often than not, the thing that separates a good guitar player from a great guitar player isn’t so much their technical ability, but how they implement their technique to play tastefully, melodically and rhythmically. Technique is a means to and end. It should not be the goal. Technique is a wonderful tool. It enables us to play more things and to play them with greater control, but technique alone is not going to make you sound good. Plus, if you learn to play with good rhythm and melody, it will improve your technique anyway!

 

Tools to Practice

Rhythm – Clapping to the Beat

Pick a tempo with a metronome and clap along to the beat until you can really feel the groove. This might sound overly simple, but it is important to make sure you start this way until you really start to get “in the pocket”. Once you’ve got that down, try to change it up while still staying in time. Double up a clap, or take one away. It’s less about what you do specifically and more about just really getting into the groove and letting the music naturally tell you what to do.

Make up different patterns until you’ve found one you really like the sound of and commit it to memory.

Melody – Writing a motif

Using the rhythm pattern you created while clapping, write a 3 or 4 note melody or rhythmic motif in any key and repeat it with variations to create a 4 bar melody. Try to hum or sing the motif first before you play guitar.

 

Putting it together

Now you’re ready to start having fun. Grab your guitar and start playing the melody you just created along with the beat. Play it until you can do it with your eyes closed and without thinking. Listen to what you like and what you don’t like and play around with it until you’ve got it down. Now you can start throwing in some new licks and expanding upon your original melody with the guitar. Experiment with sliding up to notes, or bending them, use hammer-ons and pull-offs all while listening carefully. The song will tell you what to do, you just have to keep your ears open.

The most important tool you can use to improve your playing is a metronome! Start slowly and don’t speed up until you can play it perfectly, four times in a row! It may seem boring, but nothing will make you better and faster than the metronome. Accept nothing less than perfection before you move on.

 

About Ricky Horton

Ricky Horton has been playing guitar since he was ten, and was accepted to Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA which he attended in the Fall of 2009. While he has always been enamored with the writing, recording and production process since first working in a real studio at age 15; he has really begun to shift his focus from just playing guitar to making music as a whole. Since returning from LA, he & his production partners (of Wonderland Productions) have written, recorded, produced and mixed an original EP to be marketed and licensed. Ricky has also personally written music for local commercials as well as created and produced the soundtrack for the iPhone game Airnimals. You can view Ricky’s personal YouTube Channel here.

 

About Music Space

At Learn to Play Music, we know that that there’s more to learning to play music than can be found in any book – music is about people. Each week Music Space will feature great international music guests, who’ll be performing and discussing the hows and whys of their experiences in music and life. In the ‘Learn It’ segment of each show, your hosts will demonstrate and discuss a music topic of the week – and for those who tune in live, you’ll be able to interact by asking questions and commenting on the discussion as it’s in progress.
Each videocast will be available from the LearnToPlayMusic.com YouTube page, and we’ll also be posting a feature article on this Blog expanding on the show’s music topic of the week.
To keep up to date with all the latest ‘Music Space’ news and developments, you can follow us at Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, and if you feel like spreading the word, throw up a post or tweet with the hashtag #LTPMusicSpace .

– Continue learning with Learn To Play Music at LearnToPlayMusic.com