Do you struggle with rhythms?
I received this email from Joseph D (Creative Pianist member) about his struggle to get the rhythms right with both hands... I wanted to share this as well as the advice I gave in case anyone else is finding the same thing!
From your opposite hemisphere, I'm still practising from PP on-line resources, and I'm still having fun :-)
With "Lovin' Leadsheet" course, I almost completed all the lessons but I'm stuck in my progression with the last part "Putting the Whole Process Together"
I've been trying hard to apply the process with "Just For The Summer" example song but as I try different rythm patterns for my left hand (chords), my right hands tend to follow the same rythm, so I cannot play the melody according to the required pace and rythm. I tried counting in my head, but it does not seam to help, Any idea of what I could try to get over this ?
_Thank you for bringing up this point - I'm sensing from a few members that difficulty with rhythms is something we could do with covering soon - I'll put some thought to that and see how I can integrate into a forthcoming resource.
Here are a few steps that might help break down that rhythm between the hands:
1- make sure you have practised each hand/rhythm separately so each feel natural and easy - like you could play it with your eyes closed!
2- try recording your right hand part - then play the left hand part along to the recording - this will help you get used to how it should sound together, counting along will also help you get a feel for how each hand appears on each beat/off-beat.
3 - do the same thing as #2 but the other way around (record the left hand, play the right hand).
4 - if you have the capacity to, try to put both of those separate hand recordings into one recording (you could try this in garageband or similar program) so that you can listen to the full arrangement with both hands how they should sound - and try to play along on a table (not the keyboard). just to get the rhythm of the fingers without worrying about the notes.
5 - Once you have the rhythm only in your fingers, try to transfer that to the keyboard - eventually playing without the recording.
That is a long process - you may find you don't need to do every single step - but if you need to, it's there to help._
Do you also struggle with rhythm?
I'm considering a training on Rhythm for next month - let me know your specific struggles, queries and comments on the topic so I can make sure I address them all!
