Rhythms: Volume 1

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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QI was wondering if you would have any suggestions on what path one should follow if interested in playing Flamenco Nuoevau guitar style? Would you recommend exclusively your books (and if yes, which ones) or there may be some other school of guitar taught you would find more suitable, seeing as you are mostly concentrated on jazz-style guitar playing?
AI don't think any of my books apply directly to playing the Flamenco Nuoevau guitar style. I will say that quite a few of my books apply to developing basic guitar knowledge which is important no matter what style of music you are interested in. Basically any music that you want to play well requires you have extensive knowledge in the following catagories in order to understand the music from a theoritical and aural perspective.

Music Theory
Technique
Ear Training
Sight Reading
Rhythm and Time

I have books that cover the basics to some pretty advanced stuff. I would suggest you start with

Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One
Ear Training One Note Complete
Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training
Guitar Technique (ebook)
Rhythms Volume One

These books lift up your basic musicianship level so no matter what style of music you play you will have the basic musical skills to play and hear music on a deeper level.

I'm sorry I don't know of any books directly related to Flamenco Nouveau which would also be an important addition to your study.
 
QI have obtained the following books:

Guitar technique (thanks for the email version)
Guitar clinic
Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Vol 2
ET one note complete
Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training
Rhythm primer
Rhythms Vol 1
Single String Studies Vol 1
Chord Workbook Vol 1

Rhythm primer: started working assignments on page xxi. These are not difficult for me, but the faster tempos (whole note = much above 60) seem excessive in that by that point I think I have gotten what I need out of the exercise from a reading standpoint.

ET one note: I read through the book and understand what you are saying. I was on the road in the car a lot this week with the first CD on random play. What a blast! I get more than 80% right overall, but have particular problems with b5, b7 and the highest register for some unknown reason. I'm working on it.

Fanatic's guide: I can sing 1, 3 and 5 in all keys and am working on the other diatonic tones.

Let me also say that I am deeply impressed by your scholarship and dedication. I have been teaching and studying for years and have never seen such a comprehensive and well-thought-out method.

I could use some guidance through this vast forest of material. What next?
A The reason for the faster tempos in Rhythm Primer is to get your eye moving quickly across measures of music. Don't underestimate the importance of this. You should also check out the file on beat reading found in the member's area. This is closely related to training your eye to move ahead of the music which is key to sight reading.

As far as the other books first check out the modal sequencing information found in the Guitar Clinic and the Applying music theory in the member's area. As mentioned before I want you get all 19 scales listed on the www.arnoldjazz.com music workshop website down in all keys from every degree. Remember we are just doing an introduction to all these scales they don't have to be fast but they need to be consistent and Gb major should be as strong as C major. We are working towards using the 19 modes as a warm up everyday. So you might for instance run through all 19 modes in one key from every degree for a warm up. This will take time to reach that point but sooner or later you should be able to do this in 20 to 30 minutes. But for now you want to make sure you know all of these scales by playing all of them in every key. You can also use flash cards to test yourself.

Make the following flash cards:

1 set with list of all 19 scales
1 set with degress 1-7
1 set with all keys.

Flip over one card from each set and play the scale. Along with these technical ways of working on the scales complete the exercises in Music Theory for Guitar Volume Two and play along with the vamps that are suggested for each scale type. Remember there are midifiles of these progressions on line at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/mtwbforguit2/midi.html


For sight reading you want to do this for 1 hour a day. Do 10 minutes out of each of the following books:

Rhythm primer: try to do these as fast as possible
Rhythms Vol 1: metronome on 2 and 4 read with a swing feel if you tap your foot do it on 1 or 1 and 3.
Single String Studies Vol 1: One page a day move through the book by string. So first low E string in C major then A string in C major, D string in C major etc.
Chord Workbook Vol 1: Learn one new chord progression a week. You can also find examples of me playing these progressions at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/chord1/mp3.html

Augment this time with reading out of books check out of the library or other sources. Remember to read as many types of music and manuscripts as you can find.

Ear training continue as you have described, seems like your on the right track.

If you have more questions let me know. I would like to move on past scales in a few months so try to get all the scales together. Study the concepts of modal sequencing and rhythmic variation that I have set forth in the member's area files and Guitar Clinic.
 
QYou sort of answered this question in the email without me asking it, but if a vocalist looked at your Rhythm books, how would they go about working in your books? I'm asking because I know a vocalist that is interested in your books, but I wasn't sure exactly how one should go about practicing. Maybe just like you said, sing the rhythms or tap them. Would it be better for a singer to sing these rhythms just using one pitch? Or maybe for each exercise write out a melody (or possibly even the singing exercises in Fanatics?) using the provided rhythms and work from it using the Fanatics Guide CD in the background?
AAll of your suggestions would work. I think any singer would first work through the rhythm books by just singing the rhythms without adding in a melody. The rhythms are not easy so they will need all their concentration to get the rhythms right just singing one note. It actually will help to develop perfect pitch too, so the singer should make sure they are in tune with each note they use. To help with this Perfect Pitch ear training I would only use one pitch for each book.

Once they finish the books they could also follow any of your suggestions to improve there use of pitch and rhythm together.
 
QI have a question about using Rhythms Volume 1. Should I simply turn on my metronome and play E over and over on the piano (I'm a pianist)? Or should I not use a metronome and simply count the rhythms over and over until I memorize them? Also, how do you recommend that I use the midifiles? Just play along with the midifile without a metronome?
ADepending on your current ability I would do a few things with Rhythms Volume One.

1. If you are just starting out then I would use the metronome and set it to click every beat. Start somewhere around a quarter equals 50 and read 3 pages a day. Speed the metronome up over time until you get to around 100 bpm then move to number 2.

2. Read 3 pages a day, play rhythms on one note at half=80. The metronome will be on 2 and 4. This will be with a swing feel. You can hear some examples at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/rhythm1/mp3.html

3. Use the midifile to help check your accuracy. With Volume One you need to be able to read the rhythms with straight eighths (this is what the midifiles are) or swing eighths (listen to the audio files, basically you are making the eighths into a triplet feel). If you have a problem understanding a swing feel let me know and I'll post a file for you. Once you start putting the metronome on 2 and 4 stop using the midifiles because they are straight eighths. I will be adding on audio swing files for more pages over the next few months.
 
QI had multiple tendonitis, and other muscle inflammation in arms, neck, back and shoulders, and some nerve damage (from prolonged compression). So it was a multi-dimensional problem coming not just from bad guitar technique, but many other areas such as bad posture in daily life, bad diet, not enough water, stress, computer use, other uses of the hand that contributed to it. But bad guitar technique was definitely one of them. Over the 6-7 months that I was not able to touch the guitar, I eliminated most of my bad habits such as those mentioned above and it really has made a big difference along with getting physical therapy.

My old technique was as follows: right hand wrist rested on bridge with all movement coming from wrist, and left hand wrist was bent much more than it should have been. Also, I pressed down with the left hand fingers much harder than is needed. Shoulders were also shrugged. But I have taken all this into consideration and worked with my therapist on correct technique and posture. By the way, she was very delighted to read your right hand technique book, especially for the fact that someone actually described how to move the arm and hand, not just say 'use alternate picking and practice slowly.'

My main confusion is just where to start in getting back to playing. I am feeling much better now and am OK'd by the doctor to start playing again, but I just don't know where my focus should be. Unfortunately, it seems like coming back from injury puts one at rank beginner, if even that, because the risk of injury coming back is so great.

One more thing I should mention is that about a year before this all started I really picked up the amount of time spent practicing to about 5-6 hours daily. So I'm sure going through 5-6 hours of practice with bad technique pushed things over the edge.

So that's where I am as of now. By the way, I just wanted to say that I really, really appreciate you willing to help me out on this. Not only are your books great, but the fact that one can get in contact with you about questions is quite wonderful.
AI would recommend the follow path to get back up and running.

Start with the Right Hand Technique book and do the beginning exercises for proper elbow movement and then work into the exercises for proper forearm movement. I would start off with shorter practice sessions so that you can make them very concentrated and secondly because many students notice pain after they stop practicing and not while they are practicing. You probably will only need a week or two on the elbow movement because this is just used to get you across the strings while the forearm movement is for actually picking the strings. Once you work up to it I would spend 1/2 hour a day on just right hand technique. You can also use the Rhythm Series of books to help develop your right hand technique. Start with Rhythm Primer and Rhythms Volume One. Remember that when you are changing your technique you are actually changing where your mind sends it's 'rhythm' signals so you need to work on a rhythm method to develop your rhythm in the new muscle groups.

After a few weeks of forearm movement exercises I would add in the left hand. I would start with the scales found at:

http://www.arnoldjazz.com/workshop/wslinks.html#SCALES

Work 3 notes per string and use the techniques found in the Guitar Technique Ebook

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/guitartech/lower.html

To start the scales I want you to do an exercise to develop a light feel on the neck. I want you to start with the C major scale starting on the F on the low E string. Press on the F and pick 10 times as you slowly push the string onto the fret. On the 10th time the note F should sound out clearly. Continue up and down the scale in this manner. It will take forever to finish the scale but will help you develop a very light feel because you will know exactly how hard you need to push on each note to make it sound. I would spend a few weeks on this before moving on to playing the scales in a regular fashion. Once again develop this slowly with short practice sessions (10 to 15 minutes). You actually can put in as many 10 to 15 minute sessions as you want just so you wait an hour or so between sessions. Over time you can lengthen your sessions up to 20 minutes but I would make it a habit of taking at least a few minutes for break after 20 minutes as a general rule.

When you feel up to it I would begin working with some chord exercises. I would start with the chord progressions found in the Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One. Try to learn one progression a week. It you find you are pressing too hard with the chords, use the same scale/note pressing technique on the chords.
 
QFirst a little information. I am a bass player. I play a six string bass. I use a three finger right hand technique:

i - index
m- middle
r - ring

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
i m r m i m r m

I do this strictly alternating. I am having a hard time increasing my speed to match your tempo markings. Would you please give me some suggestions? Lastly, is it necessary to have rhythm primer up to advanced speed before moving on to your other books in the series?
AI think your right hand picking technique is good and should present a problem no matter what the tempo is. Your problems with playing faster tempos could come from a few different things. First it could be related to how long you have been playing but I think you could expand upon this technique by doing some right hand technique exercises. First you need to work on all the permutations of your three finger method. To do this you would first take constant triplets and work on the different combinations of fingers.


I, M, R
I, R, M
M, I, R,
M, R, I,
R, I, M
R, M, I

Once you have worked these up you should expand in a few ways. 1st try 4 note combinations:

I, M, R, I
I, R, M, I
I, M, R, M
I, R, M, R

M, I, M, R
M, I, R, M
M, R, M, I
M, R, I, M

R, M, I, R
R, M, R, I
R, I, M, R
R, M, I, R

I would then extend this into complex rhythms. A good place to start is the eighth and sixteenth note rhythms in the Rhythm Primer. I would then do it using the rhythms in Rhythms Volume One and Two. The important thing to remember is that your mind memorizes rhythmic patterns and sends this information to your fingers. So you need both multiple fingering and multiple rhythms to get your fingers responding correctly to any situation.

You don't have to work up to the advanced level of Rhythm Primer before moving on. Come back to it after you have worked through Rhythms Volume One and Two and I think you will find it much easier.
 
QI have made my mind and shall order the suggested books at your store. I have one little question:

I would also order your book A big Metronome for tempo training. Or is it better to start practicing with a metronome?

From the faq I read that the book A Big Metronome is more alike for intermediate to advanced students. If you have a simpler book verse for tempo training I really would have you recommend me this.
AIt's hard to say if A Big Metronome would be good for you because I don't know your exact level. I would though recommend that you work through the rhythm series before attempting the big metronome. To get an idea of what kind of rhythms are involved I suggest you download the examples found at:

http://www.arnoldjazz.com/workshop/index.html

You will see them listed as:

Eighth Note Rhythms (Rhythms Book One)

Sixteenth Note Rhythms (Rhythms Book Two)

Odd Meters (Odd Meters One)

These books will give you a solid foundation in all rhythms on 2 different metric levels plus introduce you to the complexity of Odd Meters. The muse-eek.com Web site also has midi files that you can use to play along with these books to check your accuracy. Rhythms Volume One also has some MP3 files with a swing feel. I think starting with these books would much more beneficial and give you a solid background before moving into the time studies in A Big Metronome.
 
QI own three rhythm series books (with plans to purchase all of them when money permits).

Rhythm Primer
Rhythms Volume 1
Contemporary Rhythms Volume 1

I noticed in both the Rhythms Volume 1 and Contemporary Rhythms Volume1 that each exercise is ten pages long and they look very similar. Would you tell me what each book in your series (all of them) is meant to teach me? How would be the best way to practice out of them?
ARhythms Vol. 1 gives you every combination of eighth note rhythms with rests and ties. Once you finish this book you have read through all the rhythms within one measure that exist in music.

Contemporary Rhythms uses the same rhythms but is written out in more modern notation which breaks the imaginary barline (4/4 measures are traditionally notated by dividing the measure into two beat segments). Contemporary Rhythms helps your eye read through notation patterns that don't divide a measure into two beat segments (in other words they break the imaginary barline).

The books are meant to teach you how to read all rhythms and meters found in music. Some guitar students also use these books to develop right hand technique. I usually recommend you work through the books in the following order:

Rhythm Primer
Rhythms Volume One
Rhythms Volume Two
Odd Meters
Rhythms Volume Three
Contemporary Rhythms Volume One
Contemporary Rhythms Volume Two

You can work on more than one book at a time. For instance freshman students at NYU, Princeton, New School work through:

Rhythm Primer
Rhythms Volume One
Rhythms Volume Two

at the same time. They usually have to read through these books twice in order to reach the recommended tempos:

Rhythm Primer: see practice suggestions in book
Rhythms Volume One: half note equals 120 metronome on 2 and 4
Rhythms Volume Two: quarter note equals 120 metronome on every beat
Odd Meters: eight note equals 200. Usually don't use a metronome when playing exercises
Rhythms Volume Three: quarter note equals 60. Metronome on quarters though you may want to start with metronome on eighths
Contemporary Rhythms Volume One: same as Rhythms Volume One
Contemporary Rhythms Volume Two: same as Rhythms Volume Two
 
QI'm working through your rhythm series books and making good progress. I've worked through Rhythm Primer at the beginner level and some parts at the intermediate level. I don't feel confident with how 16th notes should sound in a swing rhythm, i.e. metronome on beats 2 and 4. I've tried counting.  I get the eighth note feel. When I play exercises 19 - 27 swing style I don't really differentiate between the feel of the dotted eighth note and a sixteenth and just two eighth notes. Do you have an mp3 file for one of those pages? I would really like to hear how you play these in swing style.

I also was hoping you could give me some tips on single string articulation. There are lots of rests in Rhythms Volume One. As the tempo picks up it seems that only some form of muting can accommodate the rests. What technique(s) do you recommend for clean string dampening to accommodate the rests? Muting with my right hand is often too awkward at faster tempos. My instinct is to try to dampen the string with the pick but it makes noises. When I lift off with my neck hand finger I often get some rattling fret buzz sounds.

Rhythm Primer and Rhythms volume one are really helping my sight reading.
AI don't really have an example of 16th note swing feel. I'll try to make one soon but there is quite a bit on my plate right now. One way you could think of it is 16th note rhythms are the same as 8th note rhythms only played twice as fast. So in reality there is no different in sound. You can hear some of the 8th note rhythms on the muse-eek.com website under the Rhythms Volume 1 title.

I would dampen the strings with your left hand and I would play the exercises using an open string. Most of my students us the high E string.
 
QWould you say that in swing time, 2 consecutive 16th notes are played like the outside notes of a sixteenth note triplet? (directly analogous to 8th note swing feel)?
AYes as a general statement you are right. But you need to realize as time goes on most jazz musicians are playing notes straighter and straighter so the triplet thing is a little misleading. Why don't you check out the Rhythm Volume One swing mp3's files. That should give you a sense of what I'm talking about.
 
QI have very limited time to practice music. Is it possible to work through the Rhythm series tapping the rhythms verses playing them on guitar? I could do this on my lunch break at work.
AThat is an excellent idea. You definitely don't need to play these rhythms on the guitar. But you will also find that the rhythms are an excellent way to develop right hand technique.
 
QI followed your advice (a bit more I admit) and I now have in my possession your following books:

Ear Training One Note Complete Method
A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sightsinging
Rhythm Primer
Rhythms Volume One
Music Theory for All Instruments (Will arrive in 2 weeks from amazon)

So now that I have the books I'll be glad to receive some study plan for them so I can be organized with my studies. I already for 2 days listen to the One Note CD trying to identify notes.

I just want to stress that my sole (soul) aim right now in the musical world is to be able to read/sing from a music sheet as if I was reading a text book. I know it's a high aim right now but I'm willing to work hard to attain it provided the working plan is clear in my mind. I'll appreciate any advice you could give.
AHoping that you would have a couple of hours a day to practice. Here is the schedule I would recommend.

Rhythm primer and Rhythms Volume One do 3 pages a week. Read the rhythms at a tempo that you feel you are getting about 80% of the rhythms right. Use the midifiles or the mp3 files for these books found on the muse-eek.com website under the books title to aid your progress. Use a metronome. You can start with the metronome on every beat but over time you want to work towards using the metronome on beat 2 and 4 especially with the Rhythms Volume One book. You should also read the suggested ways of study in the Rhythm Primer for a more detailed practice schedule.

Music theory for all instruments I would do one page a day. You may have to build up to that but that is your goal.

With the Fanatic's Guide and the Ear Training One Note Complete you should work from these books many times throughout the day. They are good books to work with when you are taking a brake from practicing or anytime when you have 5 to 10 minutes.
 
QSometimes I guess g# for g and d for d# and like that. Is this okay? I have read about another of your books. About Rhythm Primer and Rhytym One, I just know that they are teaching rhythm... how important is it and whats the function of these books? And what is your fact that tapping your foot isn't very good? I`m considering to purchase it, because I have a habit to tap the foot. And I'm asking about, if I have learned your ear training method, how can I use it because I have to learn about the solfege in all other scale, right ? So I must learn the solfege in other scales?
AAs I'm sure you know it's not OK if you guess g# for g and d for d#. It doesn't mean anything if you are close to the correct answer. All notes have a distinct sound none are like others.

Rhythm development is extremely important. Rhythm Primer will teach you all the basic rhythms and Rhythms Volume One will introduce you to rests and ties. These are excellent books for developing a strong rhythmic sense and I recommend you get these to start developing your rhythm. Tapping your foot is OK if you are still having problems playing a rhythm or are just a beginner. Overtime though you want to stop tapping your foot as your recognition of the rhythms you are playing improves.

You need to learn all scales and chords in all keys in order to apply the ear training to all keys. I would suggest you work through Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One and Two or Music Theory Workbook for All Instruments if you don't play guitar. This will help you memorize what all pitches are in every key so when you are doing your ear training in any key you will know the correct answers.
 
QI have been playing the 8th and 16th note exercises at the average of quarter note = 200. I am sure this is not nearly fast enough, I just tend to get tripped up by the counting itself and my eyes not moving fast enough across the measure to take the whole thing in.
ALet's do a couple of thing first before we get into Big Metronome land. Go to the member's area. Join if you haven't at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/members/members1.html

and download the information on "beat reading" in the Help Files for Rhythm folder. I want you to use both the rhythm, solos and classical reading in the book and apply the beat reading exercise. Also when you play the eighth note oriented exercises put the metronome on 2 and 4. For the sixteenth note exercises but the leave the metronome on every beat.