When Tom Bukovac Tells You You're Playing Out of Time, You Listen

Has John's missus booted him out the house? Is he now vlogging from a tent? This is like a Monty Python sketch. ⛺

I think rushing is caused by not quite knowing what you're going to do next, and trying to get ahead of it through trial and error. I know this because I feel like I live it every time I play.

Oz Noy had a great tip for this as well: to get really comfortable with time, set a metronome to whole notes, like 100 bpm for example, pick a scale and play it up and down the neck. First, play whole notes, then half notes, then triplets, quarters, quintuplets and so on and switch between those while you‘re going. A bar of quarters, triplets, quintuplets mixed through. Eventually you‘ll internalize how these quantizations fit and sound in the grid.

Carol Kaye has a YouTube video where she recounts a colleague in a recording studio pointing out her tendency to rush. Made her mad, but she went home, used a metronome…and got a lot better.

Nice to see a new setting. I think that other thing Tom Bukovac mentioned was vibrato, and being intentional with it. Not just nervous sounding vibrato

Love the setting. Love the content. Great insight and beautiful playing.

Time feel and spatial awareness are essential in all genres of music, from blues to jazz to classical and EVERYTHING in between. For those of us studying jazz, the inclination towards advanced harmony makes many of us VERY sloppy with rhythm. Jazz without rhythm is... It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing--as the Duke used to warn. Too many people oversimplify and misconstrue the study of rhythm. Think of it this way, rhythm is the oldest element of music. You'd think that an element of music that goes back to the dawn of humanity would deserve priority in musical study? Without rhythm, your harmony and melodic concepts all fall through the cracks. Rhythm is DEMANDING. Every strum, every note, every sound on your instrument has a rhythmic consequence. For guitar, the notes that you articulate are just as important as how they are released on the fretboard. The silence between the notes is also rhythmically dependent. Accents, groupings, slow, fast--all rhythm. Thus, we work on our technique to be more rhythmically competent. Rhythm is the glue to all musical statements. Rhythm is a concept we should revisit and hone for the rest of our musical lives. Once you get into West African drumming, you learn that time is not reserved for the page--you can't really notate time. Time is three dimensional--and the dance comes from the interplay of poly rhythms and poly meter stacked on top of each other. We've ignored rhythm for too long. Look at university music programs across the world. Most of them require rudimentary piano courses, whether you are playing jazz or rock or classical (even producing hip hop). There are very few programs that also require rudimentary drum or hand percussion. Get to know the language of the drum and you will set yourself right on your musical journey.

Like the different location and guitar! Nature and humbuckers for the win 😉

Excellent lesson. What you said is true regarding not hearing timing errors quite as easily WHILE you are playing. They seem, to me, more apparent upon playback.

Good points your bringing up in this video! also, love the garden background!

I think people who rely on legato tend to go out of time more often. I play drums too, so I am always thinking about timing. I don't think you should deliberately rush or lag, just try to be on the time, listen to the Hats the kick and the snare of the drummer you are playing with!

Man, I love your touch on the instrument. Lots of natural dynamics. Bravo

Beautiful country JOHN.

Excellent John!

The dropout thing is a good idea. Can set a metronome for an 8 bar loop and make it drop out for the last two bars. Tommy Emmanuel and his brother used to play guitar outside and start in time then each walk around seperate side of the house to see if they were still in time when they met up again

Nice grove/playing! Mate!

The 335 is sounding lovely. I’m a big fan of hollow bodies and semi hollow bodies. I recently started taking lessons again and had to concentrate on my timing. Went back to the metronome and tried to be really deliberate about timing. I use an old shooter’s maxim, “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” Now that my timing is coming around I’ve got to try to swing the notes a bit. I’ve got to try to be deliberately slightly out of time on selected notes and as you said emphasize the 2 and 4. Hilarious

Is this a lesson on playing in time or outside?

Nice background :) great setting for a jam!

Loved the intro jam! —Tom