The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You

This is an article that I recently wrote for a worship music conference magazine. It makes some good points, if you're a musician. If you're not, sorry. ~Dg

Gloria Estefan once sang “the rhythm is gonna get you”. And if you aren’t prepared, that’s exactly what it will do! I’m talking about musical time: rhythm and tempos. In music, I believe it is paramount. You can have amazing vocal or instrumental technique. You can have chops from here to Kansas, and be able to sing or play hundreds of fast scales, licks and patterns. You can even have great tone and a keen understanding of melodic and harmonic structure. But if you are playing out of time, none of that will matter.

When I began playing sessions in my 20’s with really good studio drummers, I began to realize that although I had good technique from classical and jazz studies (as well as thousands of hours logged in club bands), my timing was not yet very well developed. One pivotal moment came at a session when the drummer pointed out in front of everyone that I was the reason why the track sounded off. I was angry, but I quickly realized he was right. I could have either been a whiner and gained nothing, or swallowed my pride and started working on it. From that point on (thankfully, I wasn’t fired from that session!), I only wanted this drummers’ kick, snare and hi hat (along with my piano and the click track) in my mix. I became so intimately acquainted with his impeccable time that over eight years of playing with him, we would unknowingly play a lot of the same rhythmic patterns together, which made for some cool moments. I am forever grateful for the time I worked with him, and today he is among my best friends!

I heard a story once of a young aspiring guitar player who attended a Pat Metheny (famous jazz guitarist) clinic at Berklee School of Music in Boston. He was anxious to learn all kinds of amazing new chords and solo ideas up close from a master. To this person’s disappointment, Pat talked almost exclusively for over an hour about how important developing good time is in music, and that without it, anything you can play (or sing) is meaningless.

I have to agree 110%. We’ve all heard the players who sit down at a rehearsal and start blowing all their favorite fast licks to let everyone know how good they are. Then once a real tune is counted off, they are making mistakes - dragging, rushing, and generally messing up the whole thing. Or the drummer who continually starts dragging the tempo when going to the ride cymbal, or rushing through a tom fill. Of course, most keyboard players (my main instrument) are notorious for learning to play their instrument in a vacuum, creating their own unique sense of timing. This happens so often because the piano is the most self contained instrument for playing the rhythm, bass, and harmonic roles simultaneously. Pianists often play so much that it leaves little room for anyone else to fit in, and if it’s out of time (which it so often is), the song is soon lying in ruins.

In my 30’s, I was the keyboard player in Ricky Skaggs band for about a year. One of the best things I remember about playing in the band was what awesome time the drummer and bass player had. Many of the country rhythms we played were downright simple on the surface, but that is exactly what made them so difficult to play correctly. Every note, every chord, every detail had to have a purpose and be played with impeccable time. At the shows, I sat next to the bass player and drummer, and each night the three of us would lock in as tightly as possible, wordlessly challenging each other to dig in and play tighter and cleaner than the night before.



Everything you play, on whatever instrument it is, must have a purpose, and it must be played in correct time. Of course, playing different musical styles require learning unique “feels” (timing nuances). And sometimes you may even play something more rubato (without a steady beat). But the quickest way I know to make a group of good individual musicians sound like a mediocre band is to hear one of the members play with poor time. Yes, in the world of contemporary worship music (the most popular of which draws its musical influences primarily from the worlds of rock, pop and folk music), the rhythm will get you if you don’t get it first. Before you spend another dime on strings, sticks or samples, acquire a good quality metronome device that does subdivisions. Roland and Tama both make products that work beautifully. Then, don’t practice again without it. When learning a new song, get the tempo from the recording (a unit with a tap tempo feature is very helpful for this) and practice songs with the correct tempos. If you’re running scales or patterns, playing songs, whatever, keep it going as much as possible. Try slowing down a faster song first if it is difficult, and then slowly build up speed, but the key is to keep the tempo consistent. You will then begin to develop your “internal clock”. In other words, your sense of time will develop internally, and you’ll rely less and less on a metronome. Your team/band will sound better, and your music will communicate to others much more effectively.

I Chronicles 25 tells us all about David’s musicians in his army. In verse 7 we are told, “Along with their relatives—all of them trained and skilled in music for the Lord - they numbered 288.” I guarantee you that if 288 musicians were not trained and skilled in keeping good time, the cacophony would have been excruciating! It would be good for us all to keep that in mind when we are playing music with a group of maybe 4 or 5 at a time.