Notation, counting

Help please. How do you count this passage. I always end up with more than 4 beats. I assume long sticks are quarter notes. I think I can play it I just can’t count it. Just when you think you understand…

Jim - can you answer a few questions for this?
1 - What song is it?
2 - Where did the TAB come from?
3 - if the stems are quarters (as they are in traditional notation) then there are 4.5 beats in each bar… which is wrong.

If the song is Stand By Me, the second to last note of each bar should be an 1/8th note. The notation is still wonky, and would never be written as it is on the page for standard notation, but if you change that thing, it should fix the rhythm, eliminate the extra 1/2 beat, and sound right.

If you want to learn rhythm reading, check out some legit and focused rhythm reading apps or programs. Trying to do it from internet TABs would be like… trying to learn to cook by eating only from the food available in gas station food-marts… which is to say - confusing, problematic, and unhealthy.

3 Likes

Gio, thank you. It is good to know I wasn’t counting wrong. What are some legit apps? BTW, this tab came from Ultimate Guitar.

Ha! You got me.
I don’t know, actually. I would search “Rhythm Reading App” on google, or “Rhythm Reading” on the app store and see what the ratings and comments say.
Anyone out there have a rhythm reading app?

Apps would be perfectly suited for this - the program I used to get into rhythm reading was called Tap Master, and it was casette based, and involved tapping a single-button machine in time to music for each exercise in the book. It was awesome. There’s gotta be an app that does a similar thing?
Lemme know!

2 Likes

Haha Tap Master twins! I didn’t know you did that too. They used to have those at SRJC, I hope they still do. What an awesome invention.

2 Likes

Tap Master in the SRJC Library was such a joy! It was like someone was systematically demystifying the dark secrets of 16th notes and triplets… and it was the first time (and 100th time) I heard Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters.

2 Likes