Road To Nashville - Rhythm Exercise

We've come to the end of the country section. As always, at the end of each section, we're going to learn a small part of a piece we've got coming up in the course. This comes from the song "Road To Nashville."

Overview

It's a real test of our rhythmic reading, and we're going to have to count some bars out before we play.

Bar Breakdown

• Bar 1:

  • Nice and easy, we've got quarter notes
  • Count: 1, 2, 3, 4

• Bar 2:

  • Quarter notes again, except we're missing out on beat two (a rest).
  • Count: 1, 2, 3, 4

• Bar 3:

  • It gets a little tricky.
  • We play a half note to start with a rest (that's a quarter note long) and finish on beat four with a quarter note.
  • Count carefully: 1, 2, 3 (silence), 4

  This would sound like: 1, 2, 3, 4

Final Note

• Finishing off, we've got the C note playing a dotted half note.
• This will last for three beats, and we have a quarter note rest at the end.

Cautions: You could be lazy and think, "Oh, I can just play that for a whole note." But if the music finishes and we're still ringing out, it sounds quite messy.

• Watch out for that last beat (beat four), where we want to kill the note.

It's going to sound like this: 1, 2, 3 (silence)

Note Patterns

• No new notes here; we're using the A on the G string.

• Starting off:

  • Play E on the D string, go to the open G, then A (the second fret on the G string).

• Bar 2:

  • Open G, a rest, another open G, finishing with second fret on the D string (E).

• Bar 3:

  • Open D string (both pitches). As mentioned before, watch out for the rhythms: 1, 2, 3, 4.

• Finishing with a C lasting for three beats (dotted half note).

Remember, we want complete silence on beat four!

Playing Together

Let's play this together at a slower tempo and then try it with the track:

Count in:
1, 2, 3, 4.
1, 2, 3, 4.
1, 2, 3, 4.
1, 2, 3, 4.
1, 2, 3.

Practice Tips

• Slow it down even more if needed.
• Give it a few goes before you drive the track.
• Make sure you're tapping your foot, counting along, and trying to get those rhythms as accurate as possible.