Best Bpm on Garage Band for Slow Blues Rythm

One of the key means to develop as a blues guitarist is to improve your timing. It is what separates average guitarists from those that are truly exceptional. And information technology is a skill that all of the all-time blue guitarists have in mutual.

Yet despite its importance, information technology is a skill that about guitarists exercise very petty to develop. Nosotros focus on learning new songs and different scales, whilst all of the time neglecting one of the fundamental elements of music.

I was guilty of this for a long fourth dimension. I spent all of my time focusing on other elements of my playing. And it wasn't until I was started jamming with other musicians and realised that my playing was a bit sloppy, that I gave it the proper attention it deserved. My playing has since improveddramatically. And then to relieve you going through the aforementioned embarrassment and to assist you in your quest to become a better blues guitarist, here are my top 7 tips to improve your timing:

ane.) Use A Metronome

I had the pleasance of being acquainted with my first metronome at the age of 12, when I was struggling to learn the violin. Metronomes are used a lot in the education of classical musicians, but much less often for dejection and rock guitarists. And I think this is a missed opportunity, considering they are a brilliant tool to help you lot ameliorate your timing.

If you haven't nevertheless come up across one – a metronome is a device that creates an audible click or beep at regular intervals, which y'all control. This click is measured in beats per minute (BPM) and you can adjust this up or down. And so as an like shooting fish in a barrel case, if you prepare a metronome at threescore BPM, it will click or beep once every second. If you fix information technology at 120 BPM, it will click twice every second. Typically most metronomes permit yous to become downwardly to a tempo as low equally around 30 BPM, and all the manner up to effectually 210 BPM.

You lot can use a metronome in innumerable different ways, and information technology actually is an essential tool if you want to work on your timing. Almost all of the exercises hither crave a metronome, so if you don't have one, I would recommend you add one to your setup.

Metronomes come in a whole range of different styles – from the more traditional mechanical metronomes, to electronic metronomes, to apps. Yous tin even buy watches that pulse on your wrist to assistance go on you in time!

The blazon of metronome that y'all apply is totally upwardly to you. They all perform basically the aforementioned function, but typically electronic metronomes accept additional features that allow you to change the time signature, as well every bit modify the sound of the metronome's click, amongst other things.

Personally I use Metronome Online. It is free, has all of the features that I need, and in that location is a great dashboard where you tin rails your practice time and set yourself daily goals.

2.) Get Slow

Once you have your metronome, one of the all-time ways to use information technology to improve your timing, is to play along to it equally slowly as possible.

When dejection and rock guitarists do utilize a metronome, they often employ it to try and play faster. They gear up it on a loftier tempo, and and so play scales and licks, trying to button the BPM a little higher every calendar week. This is a bully mode to better speed and technique.  But if you want to ameliorate your timing, you need to practise the opposite. Fix the metronome at a depression BPM and play along to information technologyequally slowly as possible.

When you fix your metronome at 60 BPM or less, in that location is a lot of space between each annotation. So the margin for error increases. If yous are playing quickly and are slightly ahead or behind the click, it isn't always that obvious, because the notes are shut together. But when you play slowly, it isveryobvious if your timing is off.

One nice exercise to develop your timing is to play all of the positions of the minor pentatonic scale up and down your neck and in a multifariousness of unlike keys, with a metronome. This is often how I warm up, and information technology serves two purposes. Not only does information technology assist to improve your timing; information technology likewise helps y'all consolidate the shapes of the pentatonic scale all over your guitar.

Start at a level where you tin comfortably play your scales in time, using quarternotes. You should aim to play each note perfectly in sync with the click or beep of your metronome. One time you lot have that nailed, reduce the BPM past a couple of beats and repeat the exercise. Stick at this level until you can play each note in time. Reduce the BPM again and keep going.  It will get more than challenging the more you lot reduce the BPM.

3.) Know Your Subdivisions

Information technology is almost impossible to develop a strong sense of timing without properly agreement different annotation divisions. As I covered in more than detail here, in a 4/4 fourth dimension signature, there are 4 beats per bar, or measure. But those four beats can be made up from a whole range of different note divisions. And developing a sense for the experience of each of these annotation divisions is important.

Some of the near important note values you need to know are every bit follows:

• Whole Annotation = 4 beats
• Half Annotation = 2 beats
• Quarter Note= ane shell
• 8th Notation= 1/ii shell
• Eighth Note Triplets = 1/3 beat
• Sixteenth Annotation = 1/4 vanquish
• Quintuplets= 1/5 beat
• Sixteenth Note Triplets= i/6 beat out

The higher up list might not brand a lot of sense in isolation. But it is helpful as a first step to establish how many notes in each subdivision you lot need to playper beat.And so as an instance, when playing a quarter annotation, yous just need to play 1 note per beat. With your metronome set at 60 BPM, you would play 60 quarter notes per minute. When playing sixteenth notation triplets, you need to play vi notes per beat. So with your metronome fix at 60 BPM you would play 360, sixteenth annotation triplets per minute.

To gain a sense of how these subdivision audio and experience, and how they sound when they are played next to each other, effort working up through the note subdivisions, and then back down once more, whilst playing along with a metronome. This is demonstrated brilliantly at the 1.22 mark in this video, which is where I first discovered the practice. It takes you from playing quarter notes and works you upward through each of the note subdivisions, right up to sixteenth notation triplets, and back downwardly to quarter notes.

In other words, you starting time by playing 1 annotation per shell, work up to playing 6 notes per beat, and and then work dorsum down to playing just 1 note per crush.

You can try going through the exercise on the video by post-obit forth, or by playing forth to this sound track:

As in the video, the audio runway is played by palm muting the open Due east cord. However I have adjusted the practise slightly, pastreducing the tempo of the do to lx BPM.This actually makes playing the longer note divisions similar quarter notes more than challenging, because there is more space betwixt each click of the metronome. And this gives you more room for mistake. Just I observe that reducing the tempo makes it easier to hear the differences betwixt the subdivisions, especially when you get upwardly to playing five or 6 notes per beat.

Whichever tempo you lot cull to play the exercise, it will really help y'all get used to playing along to a metronome, and to develop a experience for different note divisions.

This is a tricky exercise and one that it took me quite some time to get to grips with. Merely stick with it, and pay close attention to the difference between eighth notes and eighth note triplets. This crucial is stardom in dejection, because as I wrote about last calendar week, triplet rhythms are used then frequently in the blues shuffle. So understanding how triplets sound and feel compared to the other note divisions will do a lot to amend your timing.

iv.) Mix & Match

Once you have developed a solid feel for the different notation subdivisions, you can add an extra layer of complexity to both exercises listed in a higher place. Playing scales using 1 note per beat at a slow tempo is challenging, especially when you get down to 30 or 40 BPM. And playing through all of the different note subdivisions at sixty or 80 BPM is also challenging. Only y'all can make both of these exercises much more challenging in the following ways:

When Playing Scales…

Instead of playing 1 notation per beat (or in other words, playing quarter notes); try working down the BPM on your metronome in the same mode using eighth notes and sixteenth notes. The click of the metronome will happen very infrequently (once every 2 notes, or iv notes, respectively). With the very boring tempo, this will leave a lot of room for rhythmic inaccuracy. This is averychallenging exercise, but i that will practice a lot to improve your timing.

When Practicing Note Subdivisions…

Instead of consistently practicing the note subdivisions against a metronome set at either 60 or 80 BPM, try going through the exercise at different BPM settings. This will help you develop a feel for note subdivisions, beyond a range of tempos. Information technology will as well help y'all to navigate through the dissimilar challenges that different tempos nowadays.

At a low tempo, the exercise volition be more difficult to keep time when playing quarter and 8th notes. At that place will exist more than time betwixt the clicks of the metronome, leaving more room for error. Conversely, at a higher tempo, it will exist more difficult to differentiate between the short annotation subdivisions. Altering the tempo in this fashion will build a solid sense of timing that reflects playing in a live setting with other musicians.

five.) Channel Your Inner Slowhand*

Once you take fabricated decent progression with playing your scales slowly,  y'all can go upwardly another level by applying similar ideas to your soloing. This was an exercise I came across for the outset time in Matt Schofield's 'Blues Speak' guitar course.

It follows a similar pattern to the exercises above, except that here you apply the same thought whilst improvising. So instead of sticking on a backing track, simply set your metronome in motion. Set it at a level where you can play a solo (without any backing track at all) and stay in time.

Then, equally above, slowly reduce the BPM by a couple of beats and echo the exercise. Have as long every bit you need at each level to stabilise and ensure that you lot are maintaining proper timing, before dropping the BPM. It isn't a race to the lowest BPM possible, it's about improving your sense of timing.

This isa lotmore difficult than just practicing scales or annotation subdivisions. You're no longer but playing individual notes; yous're trying to create a sense of melody and craft an interesting solo. And this is very difficult when you go down to a low BPM. Schofield can do this effectively and notwithstanding make it audio good at just 30BPM!

*As a brief aside, the nickname 'Slowhand' given to Eric Clapton really had nix to practise with his playing speed. In early on gigs, Clapton used to frequently break his guitar strings. He wasn't the speediest at changing them, and the audience used to break into a ho-hum clap whilst they waited for him to restring his guitar.

6.) Develop Your Ear

If you struggle to find consistent or sufficient time to practice, then I take good news! Every fourth dimension you heed to music, you accept the opportunity to improve your timing.

All you demand to do is listen to a song – from near whatever genre – and then establish the beat. Follow the beat past gently hit the palm of one hand with the index and eye finger of your other manus, or by tapping your foot confronting the ground. Offset by borer forth to the vanquish using quarter notes, and so every bit in the previous exercise, work through dissimilar note subdivisions. This will help you lot to further consolidate your understanding of how these dissimilar notation divisions audio and experience. You can do this most anywhere, any fourth dimension you lot are listening to music.

If you feel also socially conscious to start tapping your human foot in public, then all you need to exercise is mind. Just make sure that you really focus, andactively listento the music. Do this with all kinds of blues music and listen to instruments other than the guitar. Listen to what the drummer and bass player are doing. Focus on the rhythm and the trounce of the music, rather than the melody. Do this when yous are listening to music at breakfast, in the gym, or on your forenoon commute. You will be surprised at what information technology does for your sense of timing and all circular musicianship.

7.) Consistency Is King

There are sure elements of guitar playing that are immensely enjoyable. Developing techniques like bending and vibrato, or learning to play faster is fun. Unfortunately, learning to play slower and with a greater sense of timing isn't quite then stimulating.

But it is crucial if you want to be a killer blues guitarist.

Constructive blues guitar is all about nuance. Simply look at a guitarist like B.B. King. Many of his solos are based around simple patterns from the minor and major pentatonic scales. And for the most part, he doesn't play speedily. But his playing sounds amazing, in part because he plays each note with perfect timing.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is another obvious instance. He was renowned for his ability to 'play in the pocket' and it really defines his sound. It is just one of the reasons that it is and so difficult to imitate his style.

You lot might not immediately feel the benefits of these exercises. But stick with them. Incorporate them in your routine consistently and you will be amazed at what they practice for y'all. They will improveeveryelement of your playing – from your rhythm guitar, to soloing, to improvisation.

Good luck, and if you lot have any questions merely pop them in the comments below, or ship me an email on aidan@happybluesman.com and I'd beloved to help! 😁

Images

Unsplash, Donner Bargain

References

Youtube, Learn Jazz Standards, Youtube, Uber Chord, Youtube

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Source: https://happybluesman.com/7-ways-improve-timing/

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