Music Lesson: Understanding Rests and Rhythm in Pop

Introduction

Looking at example 1 from the pop section, we notice one important thing: rests. In this example, we have rests on beat three of every bar apart from bar four.

Rhythm Breakdown

• Play Notes on:
  • 1 and 2
• Silent on:
  • 3
• Play again on:
  • 4

This would sound like this if we were to clap:

1, 2, 3, 4.

You can hear that pause on beat three.

Musical Notes

We've seen all these notes before. We start off with G, which, as we learned in the rock section, is the third fret on the E string.

• We then have our pause (rest) on beat 3 for 1 beat, which is a quarter note rest.
• After the rest, we have the open A string, completing bar one.

Playing Example

So if we play that all together, we get:

(insert demonstration here)

The key thing to remember with these rests is to lift your finger up and deaden the note. We don't want to keep the note ringing out. Otherwise, it would be a half note instead of a quarter note or a quarter note rest.

Demonstration of Rests

I'll play those two examples for you:

1. The first one, where I hold the note (what we don't want to do).
2. The second time, I'll add the rest, allowing the silence on beat three.

You can hear that silence in between the notes.

Bar Analysis

Bar Two

In bar two, we have the same rhythms:

• Two quarter notes,
• A rest,
• Another quarter note to finish.

This time we're playing fret two on the A string, which is our B. We have:

• Two Bs,
• The rest,
• Then the open A to finish.

Here's what it sounds like:

(insert demonstration here)

Damping Technique

We can dampen the note and deaden it by using our palm, just touching the string next to the bridge.

• This technique kills the note, ensuring the rests are nice and silent.

Let me show you that again. So, stopping the note with our palm, we'll play the note and push down just after the bridge, so the note ends by the string stopping its ringing.

Bar Three and Four

In bar three, we have the same as bar one:

• Two Gs on the E string,
• A rest on beat three,
• The open A.

In bar four, we replicate bar two.

Final Bar Five

In bar five, we have the third fret on the E string, which is our G.

Here, we see a difference: we're playing half notes (the heads aren't colored in; we see a circle with the stem coming off it).

Let's give that a go, nice and slowly before we try playing with the backing track.

Practice Tips

• If this is a bit tricky at first, take some time clapping the rhythms out to get used to how they sound, then try to apply the pitches.
• I'd recommend playing this one bar at a time and looping it until you can comfortably play that bar.
• Afterward, work on sticking it all together.

If it takes a while, don't be afraid to slow down. Make sure you really get it under your fingers before you try to play with the backing track.