rhythm practice?

Masterplayer1000 · Regular Member Joined: 23 Aug 2018 Posts: 13

In our jazz band, we are playing a piece called GMT ( Greenwich Mean Time), I am generally bad at rhythm and I cant learn to read the music. in order to even play it, i have to memorize the music. is there any way i can improve my jazz skills and my skills with weird rhythms patterns?
Thanks

Turkle · Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2020 7:08 am Post subject:

I was taught rhythm at an early age by counting and clapping along with a metronome. A little diligent practice every day will yield permanent dividends that will last you a lifetime. Always do it with a metronome so you can ensure you're staying in time.

https://laytonmusic.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/rhythm-flashcards/

http://michaeldriscollconductor.com/rhythm/

The above sites have free rhythm flashcards you can use to teach yourself. Put on the metronome and count and clap random flashcards until you can read and accurately play any rhythm whatsoever. (I learned "one - ee - and - uh" for sixteenth notes but there are other syllabalic systems that work as well.)

I still have to count and clap rhythms sometimes when learning difficult etudes!

And finally, although I have not actually seen it, Rich Willey put together this book of challenging rhythms for trumpet players: https://www.boptism.com/boptism-music-store/rhythm-madness-trumpet-treble-clef-instruments-rich-willey/

Good luck!
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Brad361 · Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2020 7:27 am Post subject:

“Masterplayer” (🤔): I would definitely look into Turkle’s suggestions above. The inability to read severely limits your playing opportunities, it’s worth your time to correct that. It won’t happen overnight, but it’s important to do it, IMO.

Brad
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gwood66 · Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 1:59 pm Post subject:

I struggled reading jazz rhythms when started my comeback. I came to the conclusion that it was all about pattern recognition and slowing things down when practicing. It is easy to load up something on youtube, read along and copy what you hear. I found that this practice did not help me improve. I now try to sing and play through tunes to the best of my ability prior to going to the recording. This video help me when I was struggling to figure things out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz-ywUM6hFk&t=319s

It also helps to mark the beats so you keep track of where you should be in the line. It just take a little time and practice. Good luck.

popTbop · Regular Member Joined: 23 Aug 2019 Posts: 34

Benson · Regular Member Joined: 14 Feb 2017 Posts: 35

Rhythmic reading ability, just as any of our trumpet playing skills, atrophies quickly. That said, if you're struggling to read more advanced rhythms, I'll bet the farm you're not reading basic rhythms with an advanced degree of fluency. Schedule a lesson with someone who teaches absolute beginners. Ask them to explain it. Why them? Because they do it ALL DAY!

* Rhythms Complete by Bugs Bower is laid out logically and makes sense. I have used it with great success to torture (re-teach what wasn't ever really taught in the first place) young high school students.

* www.sightreadingfactory.com is practically limitless in it's variation and has audio examples

But neither of those resources will amount to a hill of beans if you don't have the basics locked down.
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Benson

Jaw04 · Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 5:27 pm Post subject:

Bar lines are very important. You need to know where you are in each measure. You need to know which beat, 1, 2, 3, or 4, you are on if you are in 4/4 time. Or, which offbeat of each beat. Count out loud and clap the rhythm. OR tap quarter notes on your foot and speak the rhythm if clapping isn't your thing. Don't even try to play it until you can do that. Start slow and gradually increase the tempo. Draw beat lines in pencil on your music so you can see where 1 2 3 and 4 are visually. Then when the time comes to play, count the numbers in your head while playing.

cgaiii · Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2020 7:51 am Post subject:

kehaulani · Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2020 10:15 am Post subject:

You need to be able to recognize patterns.

Get some big band charts and identify common rhythmic patterns and take, at first, just one note and play the rhythmic pattern, then add the pitches.

If you can recognize the patterns, you can play them at sight and read them as a group rather than a combination of individual notes.
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cgaiii · Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:13 pm Post subject:

cheiden · Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:09 pm Post subject:

It may seem like an odd suggestion but I've found it extremely useful to work on rhythm playing the piano. On the horn I have finite time to work on rhythm before the chops poop out. On the keys I can work on a complex rhythm all day. Once I establish a base level of ability on the keys I worked on sight-reading through whole books of tunes in a single sitting.

On the trumpet it could be very useful to find a book of studies that doesn't stress your range and just practice reading the book cover to cover. If you have the chops, sight-reading Charlier is a great workout. Doesn't cover the jazz stuff but your reading will shoot up which should make everything easier.
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mike ansberry · Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2020 4:47 pm Post subject:

mike ansberry · Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2020 4:48 pm Post subject:

I still use it myself for tuning exercise and for reading.
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Brad361 · Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:38 pm Post subject:

JayKosta · Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:02 pm Post subject:

A challenge for me is that sometimes the way the rhythm is notated (by the composer / arranger) makes it difficult to determine the way it should be played.
So when you DO get the feel for how the rhythm should be interpreted - carefully compare that to the way it is notated.

For example, there's a piece written in 6/8 (played in 2) with this pattern -
1/4 1/8 1/8 1/4
in some places the 1/8's are tied, and in other there is no tie.
The rhythm is intended to have the 'feel' of a triplet (3 1/4's in 2 beats). Trying to 'read it' as
(1/4 1/8) (1/8 1/4) doesn't work - for me anyway ....

Jay
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Most Important Note ? - the next one !
KNOW (see) what the next note is BEFORE you have to play it.
PLAY the next note 'on time' and 'in rhythm'.
Oh ya, watch the conductor - they set what is 'on time'.

jazzjezz · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:03 am Post subject:

I have an iPad app called "Rhythm Calc" that allows you manually input a rhythm in musical notation which can then be played back at various speeds.

I have have found it invaluable for a couple of fiendish passages - (most notably Michel Camillo charts....).

Putting the rhythm in to the app makes you analyse where the beats are, and then the playback demonstrates the straight interpretation of that rhythm.

Doesn't beat listening the to track played properly but I find it a useful tool for getting up to speed.

chuck in ny · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 6:09 pm Post subject:

adam.arredondo · Regular Member Joined: 03 Jul 2018 Posts: 20

I have really improved my jazz sight reading by practicing from these books:

Contemporary Jazz/Rock Rhythms by Chesky, David
Advanced Course in Swing Rhythms for Trumpet by Dunham, Sonny
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