Re: I Can't Tap My Foot (pt. 2)
and perhaps the worst of all
- I can't tap my foot to a basic 4/4 beat when trying to read music
All this from a guy who's been mostly a rhythm player, and can play some pretty intricate rhythms.
Don't get me wrong, I'm learning a lot and am really enjoying the lessons! But dang me if I can't tap my foot and play guitar at the same time when I have a sheet of music in front of me. I have added a super well-done metronome to my Apple TV, so I can have both the visual as well as audible timekeeping in front of me, but it frustrates me that the simplest piece of music is hard to play in the proper time when I'm also trying to read the music.
It's like walking and chewing gum at the same time for me. Will practice make me better, or is there some other trick/method I can use to keep time with the music?
Re: I Can't Tap My Foot (pt. 2)
I have taught guitar for years and this a common problem. You might be trying to do too much (audio, visual, metronome). To get the basic feel of tapping your foot in synch with the song, it helps if you start out very slowly and, just for now, turn off the metronome. Pick a very slow song with a simple strum, maybe just a down stroke on every beat. Slow it down even more if you can (say, with the tempo control on youtube). Tap your foot to the song without any sheet music and just keep at it until it you can "feel" the beats. Always emphasize the first beat in every bar, just a little.
When you can do that, try counting the off beats. When your foot is down, it is on the beat. When it is up, it is on the off beat (the "and") between beats, like this:
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
On each "and" your foot is in the air.
Man, this is hard to explain in a post!