I am struggling to get this guitar track down correctly, it is mostly finger picking patterns in a 7/8 time signature. It is around 5-6 minutes long but I have been attempting to break it up into 3 parts though I still find it difficult to stay on time with the metronome though. with the finger picking it has sort of of a flowing rhythm that is hard to want to break up any more than i have to
I just want this initial tracks timing to be as perfect as possible since it will be the groundwork for the rest of the piece. I tried making a drum track but really just cant get the hang of it to create that rhythmic 'feel' i need to hold me on time... probably because I am not a drummer. So I continue to use the metronome.
Obviously practice-practice-practice is important, but I was wondering if anyone out there had any other advice or tricks they use
Comments
Might help to figure out whether it's a 4+3 feel or 3+4 or some
Might help to figure out whether it's a 4+3 feel or 3+4 or some other combo. Create a simple drum part with kicks on the strong beats and either sidestick or hat on the other beats; keep that drum part really simple like that so it's a glorified click but does give you a little feel.
Most 7/8 tracks can be broken down into 3-2-2 or 2-2-3, and some
Most 7/8 tracks can be broken down into 3-2-2 or 2-2-3, and some of the better metronomes (or software equivalent) can be set to give major and minor lifts on the first of each of these sub-sets.
It takes a while to get the right feel of the lick into your head and fingers, but once there, you should be able to work it up to recording standard. Try playing along without concentrating too much to some well-known 7/8 tracks (e.g. Flook's Macedonian Oro).
Is the piece straight 7/8 all the way through? You talked about breaking it in sections, but does that imply that the beat changes at the breaks? Several Greek and other Eastern Mediterranean 7/8 tunes have an A part in a 3-2-2 rhythm and change to a 2-2-3 for the B part.
I've played 7/8 tunes with pros who have been too conscious of hanging on to the last quaver causing a slip into 8/8, with the result that they have grabbed at the first of the next bar too early. This may be OK for jazz, but makes a folky 7/8 sound awkward.
you say practice practice practice. But you have to know HOW to
you say practice practice practice. But you have to know HOW to practice.
Can you play it better by slowing everything down by several BPM's ?
If so, practice slowly until you find out where your problems are, smooth those out, then start increasing the tempo.
You could be easily be ready to record in less than a week with this technique.
Oftentimes this can be helped by halving the tempo of the click.
Oftentimes this can be helped by halving the tempo of the click. But with a 7/8 time sig. this won't be possible. It might help you to have the metronome hit only the downbeat, at least you could gauge if you're getting ahead or behind without the mechanical timing of the click throw off the flowing rhythm of the picking pattern. Another idea would be to leave the metronome on 7/8 but lower the volume of the non-downbeat clicks so they are very faint relative to the volume of the downbeat.
And yes, practice the piece until your fingers know exactly what they're doing, that always helps.
Jeff