Writing Out Of Time Options

[rheil]

I can play along to a metronome all day long but sometimes when i write my own stuff I will write out of 4/4

This has been something that has troubled me for many years. When i go to write new music I will play along to a click in my daw. The problem there is now it lacks rhythm and I seem to be playing on all the down beats.

Does anyone know a certain practice technique or something I can do to work on this problem? I would love to be able to construct guitar riffs and patterns knowing exactly what I am able to add and subtract and be in time.

Any help would be awesome!

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[jstcrsn]

I can play along to a metronome all day long but sometimes when i write my own stuff I will write out of 4/4

This has been something that has troubled me for many years. When i go to write new music I will play along to a click in my daw. The problem there is now it lacks rhythm and I seem to be playing on all the down beats.

Does anyone know a certain practice technique or something I can do to work on this problem? I would love to be able to construct guitar riffs and patterns knowing exactly what I am able to add and subtract and be in time.

Any help would be awesome!

I don't necessarily think that is bad, if it is something the listener can still tap there foot thru it might be refreshing to here, if not you have to set up your metronome to make a different sounding click on the 3 count , this will be your snare in 4/4 time. and the kick would be on 1

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[rheil]

I don't necessarily think that is bad, if it is something the listener can still tap there foot thru it might be refreshing to here, if not you have to set up your metronome to make a different sounding click on the 3 count , this will be your snare in 4/4 time. and the kick would be on 1

Wouldn't the snare usually be on the 2 and 4 beat? That is not a bad idea. I can set up my metronome for different sounding clicks.

Lately I've been bored with my rhythm playing. I feel like I've been there and done that already.

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[Ben Higgins]

Wouldn't the snare usually be on the 2 and 4 beat? That is not a bad idea. I can set up my metronome for different sounding clicks.

If you're counting 8th notes (a count of 1,2,3,4 per bar) then the snare would fall on the 3rd beat. If you doubled up the timing of the drums then yes, it would land on the 2nd and 4th beat.

I've always been quite comfortable with writing riffs and things that are odd time signatures. I won't always know what they are but I find them natural, just like walking and talking. We don't walk and talk in 4/4 so music can be just as free.

What I would do is record the riff on its own, with no click. Then play it back and keep counting over it until you think you've got the amount of beats that the riff cycles for. Then experiment with the click and see if you can type it in. Let's say your riff cycles for 13 beats.. you can divide it up into 7 and then 6 if you like. So for example you could have 7/4 followed by 6/4.. or something like that. I don't understand how to correctly label and decipher all time signatures but I can figure out any of my riffs and configure the click so that it works. Have a go at it

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[rheil]

Awesome info. I will defintely give it a try.

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[Socky42]

Could try writing some stuff without a guitar in hand, like in Guitar Pro or something.

That way you have a visual representation of the rhythm too.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Ben's suggestion is really useful for being truth to the riffs that you create just from your mind / fingers. However jamming ideas over a drum loop is also really cool to compose so you should practice it. If I'm not wrong, you said that you use the metronome to compose, have you used drum loops?

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[rheil]

Ben's suggestion is really useful for being truth to the riffs that you create just from your mind / fingers. However jamming ideas over a drum loop is also really cool to compose so you should practice it. If I'm not wrong, you said that you use the metronome to compose, have you used drum loops?

I normally write over drum loops. Most of the loops are basic so I tend to find my playing basic as well most of the time.

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[Darius Wave]

I can play along to a metronome all day long but sometimes when i write my own stuff I will write out of 4/4

This has been something that has troubled me for many years. When i go to write new music I will play along to a click in my daw. The problem there is now it lacks rhythm and I seem to be playing on all the down beats.

Does anyone know a certain practice technique or something I can do to work on this problem? I would love to be able to construct guitar riffs and patterns knowing exactly what I am able to add and subtract and be in time.

Any help would be awesome!

Creatin music is a workshop for Your own mind. The worst thing is it depends on how much Your demand from yourself and how much time You need to make something that's satisfying to You. You already passed the most important stage - knowing there is a problem a being able to name it. Now it's only a matter of Your hard work. Otherwise it would be more like "making the song for ya". My basic rule is...put away Your guitar and start to make music without limits from Your fingers.


Exercise?
Try to sing or imagine very short phrases. When You'll be able to get 1 bar of satisfying playing than go for Your guitar and find those notes. Before doing that record Your singing on some recorder or directly to the daw. You don't even have to be able to sing clean. You want to work on the rhythm right? You can do the same making clashes (?) .

This is a creativity workout. Any other support might interfere with the purpose of Your practice.


It's just a simple idea but doing too much at the same moment very often gives same results as...doing nothing at all )

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