Rhythmic Density...Sounds Boring But Is Cool

This article deals with the concept and execution of rhythmic density. I recently met with guitar gurus Tom Hess from tomhess.net and Diana de Cabarrus from songwritinglessonsonline.com. We discussed rhythmic density, a fascinating subject worth learning about.
 

 Diana stated it is found predominantly in rap tunes. Rap delivers a lot of words during the chorus and sometimes has little song bits in the choruses. Essentially, the more notes are subdivided, the more it sounds or gives an impression of time moving forward. By contrast, when the notes last longer, there is more of a feeling of space. That variation between busy and spacious things is something to deploy for musical effect and contrast.
This rhythmic density can apply to what the melodies are doing or all the instruments in the band. Each band member could make their parts sparse or dense with rhythm.

Diana explained that you can still do things in a sequence when playing by yourself. Every time you play one rhythm, that rhythm is hanging around in the memory of the people listening. 

Playing with the note length is an excellent exercise to try this out. Set yourself a little task to create a motif with a lot of long notes or two long notes and a short note. Then try two short and long notes—experiment by bringing these in on different beats. You could do the inverse of that, a short note-long note-short note. Then, try three short notes or something else for a different section. You will understand how this variation tends to influence how it sounds.
 

If you audit what you've written or what is happening regarding the note spacing in your favorite songs, you will understand what appeals to you rhythmically. You can use these principles and recreate them in the things you want to play.

Tom Hess then took a turn describing rhythmic density. He said that density is about how much you take a beat and divide it. It is not about tempo. Tempo is the speed of the beat and how fast beats go by. The very definition of tempo is the speed of the beat. Rhythmic density is more about divisions. If you have a beat and the pulse is going evenly, how many rhythmic events might happen between those beats or within the whole measure? The more rhythmic events, the more It sounds like you are getting faster, but the tempo does not change. The speed of the beat is the same. 

When playing in a band you might have a situation where every player plays with a thin rhythmic density. No one is playing 16th notes, and no one's playing very fast. They could all be playing quarter notes. Instead, You can create thicker density if you simply displace the playing of every member's quarter note by a sixteenth note.  Everybody could be playing the equivalent of a quarter note in slight syncopation where every one of these rhythmic events could be happening by a different person in the band. In other words, everyone's playing slow, but the overall effect is faster.


Remember to always have fun with your guitar and I will 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 need help finding 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:

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