No Rhythm? No Problem!

How To Develop A Good Sense Of Rhythm Without Counting

"Your rhythm is off...listen to the metronome...you're falling behind the beat. Are you counting? Are you listening to the metronome?"

These words came out of my piano teacher's mouth at practically every lesson. So multiply 52 weeks by 13, which is how many years of lessons I had as a kid and teenager, (I rarely missed a lesson), and then you'll know that I heard those same words between 600 and 700 times from the age of 5 to almost 17.

It's a miracle I have good
timing at all. To be honest
though, I had a really good
piano teacher. The problem
is is that a good number of
piano students can count,
and they understand musical
beats, but many piano students
at every level seem to lack one
thing...a good sense of timing.

Counting The Beats

Whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes...and on and on they go. I understood them all and could count any combination of beats, but I lacked a good sense of timing, or a good feel for music.

This may be hard to comprehend, especially if you're new to the piano, but it's just one of those situations in music education that is often missed or just plain overlooked.

So while it's helpful to know how to count the many different types of music notes, it's not the end all, be all.

In fact, I know quite a few musicians who have no formal musical training, and yet they have a great feel for music. It's no surprise that many of them are guitarists. In my experience, guitarists seem to have better musical timing than piano players. There's just something about strumming a guitar that contributes to good timing.

3 Easy Steps For Piano Players To Develop A Good Sense Of Rhythm - All Ages & Skill Levels!