rhythm worries

I'm getting rather bummed out by the fact I subconsioucly play in a paticular rhythm with variation of speed and I'm finding it difficult to break out of this and I think it's affecting my progression.

Any hints/tips on how to break out of this and to play in different rhythms? I've tried listening to different musicians but it's not seeming to do the trick.


Thanks.

- beth x

well, try a song in a different time signature? it means you have to alter your rhythm to stay in time, also slowly and conscieously try different patterns

personally i tend to play the same strumming pattern too, and it doesnt bother me, what works works, and what sounds good sounds good

Have you used a metronome? Am I reading this correctly -- you're having timing problems?

Play slowly at first. Use said metronome and see if it helps.

I had the same issue many years ago when starting to learn guitar - i would tense up and the rhythm would come from the elbow rather than the wrist... I found that i needed to relax my wrist more - done some tai chi exercises and sorted it out... I still find occassionally i can slip into playing the same rhythms and when i do i just stop and play something with a different rhythm.

Metronome will also help and as sukie says above take it slow and then progress once you have the rhythm down slow... I was looking at that triplet strum (video lesson) the other day and had a few problems with it... but as soon as i slowed it right down it was fine - now im practising that every night and i know that the speed will improve... Good luck!

Stories from my own life: I've been playing a bunch of years now and I still find I return to my comfortable rhythms when I play with others or try to follow a YouTube video. Embrace YOUR rhythm. It may be your dependable friend for the rest of your life. Rather than fighting my rhythm, I started to try to play new styles. I've tried a chunck stroke, a George Formby stroke, various waltz strokes, plucking individual strings using various patterns, and so on. I've also written a lot of my own songs in weird keys to force me to learn how to adapt to uncomfortable left hand positions by compensating with right hand tricks. My plan when I feel stuck is to accept my stuck-ness and march off on a new project. After drowning in new waters, I always come back to my old faithful rhythms and find the happiness I knew when I first played the ukulele.

I agree with Gary, Embrace your rhythm.

If it gets in the way, you'll adjust.

I have a general 4/4 strum I use and a 3/4 strum.

I've added triplets and a latin beat (Sway, Besame Mucho, etc).

If you play different kinds of music, I believe you will end up with a few
familiar patterns/rhythms that will enable you to play all the music you love.

If you're trying to mimic/copy/emulate a particular musician's style, that may
be something else.

If you're enjoying what you're doing, can't go much wrong with that.

I've been having the same problem and was getting pretty bummed out about it, all the songs I had learned seemed to sound somewhat the same to me. Yeah the tempo had changed and chords and all that but they all had that same driving pattern to them just varied a little bit. I was playing today and I started to realize that its not a problem, my guess is that the reliance on one strum goes away eventually. I think whats happening to me is that I fell back on the most familiar strum because I was focusing on the chords and trying (key word trying) to sing and having to pay attention to a new strum pattern would have thrown me off to much but today as I was playing I realized that once I had the words and chords down the familiar strum was starting to vary a little bit. I'm not sure what level you are at but I am at a pretty rudimentary one and I am just happy that I have any rhythm that I can play and not worry about thinking about. Hopefully this happens with you and continues to happen with me.
IMO the key at our level is just having fun and being comfortable with the instrument the rest will come with time (I hope!)
Good luck! =)

Nice advice