Rhythm Guitar Fills In Time

Today we are going to be talking about putting licks and fills in between your chord changes...

but the thing is...

They need to be done in time to sound best.

Simon Candy has valuable contributions to make about this topic, so some of his insight will be shared. 

First, Simon will explain the importance of playing in time, and then together, we will demonstrate some simple ways to get started.

Simon begins by sharing how many people often learn licks and fills, People watch videos with lessons on playing in a style like a particular music artist, which Simon describes as "all well and good" but emphasizes one crucial factor. "You've got to be able to put them into a chord progression, keep the chord progression going, keep your time, and awareness of time. So I think a big, foundational thing with this is awareness of time and building your sense of time."

Simon then explains how one can get started using these licks in fills in the context of chord progressions. To start, you can use a single chord to keep it simple. "Let's say you've got an E chord, and you're strumming. Set up a time; don't just strum randomly and play in a sort of rubato way. Set your sound up and set your time up. You want to come in at different points with the fill but return to your chord and keep that groove going the whole time. The most important thing is keeping your time. So we're not trying to do any fancy fill or anything like that. Whatever you do, you can almost think of it as a placeholder. 

It's holding the place where you can throw in some cool riff or rhythmic variation of what you're doing to make it sound more musical. But the purpose of this is not to come out with cool-sounding fills. It's to build your sense of awareness of time and get back to your chord and know exactly where you are because it won't always necessarily be on the one."

Simon played the E major chord and did little fills based on the E major pentatonic. E minor is on the 12th fret. Move down three frets; there's E major, and that's your spot. Simon is going to talk you through his process. "So I might start with one and a half bars on the E chord and a half bar fill. But I could change that. Maybe then I, let's say, I do half a bar on each. Now this isn't necessarily going to sound musical. This is a case for training your awareness of time and being able to come in and out of the chord and fill at different points. Keep it simple because, again, your focus is on time. You can make it sound better later or work on that separately. Now I'm going to do one bar chord, one bar fill. I'm changing up the mix, but I'll keep it much simpler this time, more of the placeholder. I'm just playing on the beat with the fill, and I know I can put in some cool little fill when I'm more up with the time. You can then sort of branch out randomly, at any point, switching between the two but keeping a sense of where that one of the measure is, where that beat is. That's just on a single chord. You could then bring in a chord change so it's more to complete. This is all something you will build over time, I'm not saying do this in 5 minutes, but you need to spend some time on the awareness of the beat and to be able to switch between rhythm and lead playing at any point within a bar."

The critical takeaway from Simon is starting super simple and knowing where you are regarding the number of beats you're supposed to be playing. The idea of playing just two beats of a chord and two beats of a fill for a bar is the best place to start because you'll get a great sense of timing. It's ingraining the pulse and allowing you to become so familiar with where the one is. If you always keep returning to your chord on the one and do that enough, you instinctively know where it is. Many people try to bite off more than they can chew right in the beginning. If you keep it simple, that's the best place to start.

Simon offers suggestions for tracking your timing. He says, "A metronome is a good thing to work with. If you set up your metronome and put a little accent on the first beat, you can hear where it is and know when you're off. Or you could go to YouTube or similar and search for a single-chord backing track. Just have a single chord playing, and you can let that chord play and come in and out at different points. Just find ways that you can get yourself or train yourself to feel where that beat is. It will become second nature to you. "

Focus on the timing. Then you can dedicate other parts of your practice to learning cool fills, and you will be able to play them in time.

Remember to always have fun with your guitar, and I'll see you next time…

If you are looking to learn another excellent rhythm guitar skill, you can check out my FREE lesson on how to weave lead guitar melody lines to your rhythm guitar playing here: https://rhythmguitarlessons.net/Pro

Have you ever heard extra notes played between chords and wondered, "Why do THESE notes sound good?" or, "How can I do that?".

Most guitar players struggle to find the right notes to play between chords to make their songs sound better.

The fact is, it's easy to do once you learn how. And the result is your guitar playing sounds much more complex than it is...

This is good news for you:

I've created a brand new eGuide (yes, it's free), where I show you an easy way to connect chords with single-note melodies to sound like a pro.

The best part is it's 100% FREE (no strings attached)!

Download your copy to make your rhythm guitar playing sound better instantly. https://rhythmguitarlessons.net/Pro

About Mark Turko: Mark Turko is a professional guitar player and instructor with over 30 years of experience and teaches guitar lessons online.