Really Useful Guitar Stuff - Part 3

Understanding Rhythm Notation

by Justin Sandercoe
& Justin Scott

2010 - justinguitar.com
All rights reserved.
Written by Justin Scott & Justin Sandercoe.
Version 1.1
Please do not copy or distribute our work.
The web site gives away a lot for free so please dont abuse it.

Page 1

Table of Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................................

Part 1: The Basics

Lesson 1
The Notes

...............................................................................................................

Recognition Test 1 ......................................................................................................

10

Beaming .....................................................................................................................

11

Bars ............................................................................................................................

11

Time Signatures .........................................................................................................

12

Recognition Test 2 ......................................................................................................

14

Counting Systems ......................................................................................................

15

Clefs ...........................................................................................................................

16

Repeat Brackets .........................................................................................................

16

Exercise 1 ..................................................................................................................

17

Lesson 2
Quarter Note and Eighth Note Figures .......................................................................

19

Exercises ....................................................................................................................

20

Lesson 3
The Rests ...................................................................................................................

26

Counting Rests ...........................................................................................................

26

Recognition Test 3 ......................................................................................................

27

Exercises ....................................................................................................................

28

Lesson 4
Tied Notes ..................................................................................................................

33

Recognition Test 4 ......................................................................................................

34

Exercises ....................................................................................................................

36

Page 2

Lesson 5
Dots ............................................................................................................................

42

Quarter Note and Eighth Note Figures Involving Dotted Notes .................................

43

Exercises ...................................................................................................................

44

Lesson 6
Syncopated Quarter Note and Eighth Note Figures ..................................................

50

Exercises ...................................................................................................................

52

Lesson 7
Introducing Sixteenth Notes .......................................................................................

58

Basic Sixteenth Note Figures .....................................................................................

59

Exercises ...................................................................................................................

60

Lesson 8
Sixteenth Note Figures Involving Dots .......................................................................

72

Exercises ...................................................................................................................

73

Lesson 9
Sixteenth Note Figures Involving Rest .......................................................................

79

Exercises ...................................................................................................................

80

Part 2: Advanced Sixteenth Note Reading

Lesson 10
Studies Involving Mixed Sixteenth Note Figures ........................................................

108

Exercises ...................................................................................................................

109

Page 3

Lesson 11
Studies Involving Mixtures Of All Figures ...................................................................

186

Exercises ....................................................................................................................

187

Lesson 12
Studies Involving Mixtures Of All Figures And Tied Notes .........................................

198

Exercises ....................................................................................................................

199

Lesson 13
Duet Exercises ...........................................................................................................

205

Duet #1 .......................................................................................................................

206

Duet #2 .......................................................................................................................

207

Duet #3 .......................................................................................................................

209

Bye Bye ......................................................................................................................

211

Appendices
Recognition Test 1 Answers .......................................................................................

213

Recognition Test 2 Answers .......................................................................................

214

Recognition Test 3 Answers .......................................................................................

215

Recognition Test 4 Answers .......................................................................................

216

Practice Log ...............................................................................................................

217

Page 4

Introduction
Music is a language, probably the most widely recognised language we have on this planet. It
speaks to us all in different ways and often speaks louder than words.
Music consists of melody and rhythm and in my experience as a teacher, it is rhythm that is
most often overlooked. Everybody worries about what notes to play when perhaps, they should
be thinking about where to play them! Without a proper understanding of rhythm you will only
ever be half way there! This book is about fixing that balance.
This ebook is written for you to learn about reading, as well as writing and understanding
rhythm. Each of these three elements are very important to all musicians no matter which
instrument they play.
We are going to start by reading and counting, understanding how note values (durations) are
written and how to read tap and count along. Learning to these basic skills will help your
understanding, and you will find that practising reading rhythms will help your internal
understanding - you will find that just by playing (or hearing or tapping) a rhythm you will know
how to write it and how to feel it.
Feeling the rhythms is the goal here - to have played the rhythms enough times that have been
consolidated internally so that you know them instinctively.
You should aim to recognise the rhythmic patterns in blocks, much the same way as we
recognise words. When a child learns to read they must spell out each letter of the word one at
a time until they have done it enough times that they recognise the word instantly.
It is the same process here - you should be repeating the exercises over and over, without
trying to memorise the exercises, but to recognise the blocks.
I would recommend that all instruments start learning to read by tapping along, without regard
to note duration. Drummers generally do not control the duration of the notes (hit points), but
other instruments such as bass guitar have a great emphasis on the rhythm of the silence.
Once you have played through a given chapter you might like to go through the exercises and
play them on your instrument if you are able. I have found playing scales is a good way to play
the rhythms and can be a creative and fun way to do the exercises - but I would only
recommend doing that after you are comfortable tapping or clapping them.
You will almost certainly find that doing the exercises in this book will improve your general
sense of time and your rhythm playing - and hopefully you will put these exercises into practice
with transcriptions too. If you are a guitarist transcribing music (which you should be) and
writing it in guitar tab, you will find it very useful to add rhythms, it will help you understand what
is being played, help you see the bar lines and the underlying harmony of the song, and
therefor help you analyse the song deeper too. You will find the transcription of rhythm as
challenging as the notes, and equally as beneficial Im sure.

Page 5

Practice Logs
This book is highly structured and very thorough which does mean that there are a lot of
exercises. To help you manage your studies effectively weve included a practice log (its in the
appendices section). Simply print it out and fill it in as you work through the book.
Taking a few minutes to do this will help you track your progress, ensuring that you get the most
out of the time you spend working through the book.

Its also pretty cool to look back occasionally to see exactly what youve achieved. We all tend
to underestimate this a little but you cant argue if if its all recorded in your practice log. Its a
good feeling and itll inspire you to keep working.
OK, enough chat for now - lets get learning!
Good luck,
Justin and Justin

Page 6

Part 1:
THE BASICS

Page 7

Lesson 1

Page 8

The Notes
There five note values that we are going to explore in this book. Recognising each note and
what it means is of course, essential. So were going to start here.
You will notice that there are two names for each note, one European name and one American
name. Personally, I prefer the European names (I learned and used them at school in Australia),
but the American names are more logical and possibly more commonly used in contemporary
music. I would suggest being familiar with both and I am going to use both during the book, so
that you are equally familiar with which ever you find!
This chart shows you what the notes look like, their names and value (duration).

The first note on our chart is a semibreve or whole note and is worth 4 beats. The most
common rhythms in Western music are in 4/4 time (well come to this later) which means that
there are 4 beats in a bar (western music breaks music into time lengths called bars). The
semibreve (having 4 beats) takes up a whole bar, hence the American term, whole note. There
is a logic there. Worth noting that this note does not have a stem, its just a hollow circle.
The next note down, a hollow circle with a stem, is a minim or half note. This has a duration
value of 2 beats, so of course in a bar of 4/4 (with 4 beats) a minim will take up half a bar. Half
note. Get it?
Now we have the solid note with a stem, called a crotchet. These are worth one beat each, so
in 4/4 they take up a quarter of a bar each... so they are called... you got it, quarter notes. Were
going to be starting a lot of material with four of these...
The quaver looks very similar to a crotchet but it has a tail. There would be 8 of these in a bar,
so they are also called eighth notes, and they are worth half a beat each.
Well look at rests (silence) later on, for now I want to you to get familiar with the notes.

Page 9

Recognition Test 1
Stop reading for a moment and print off this page. Complete the following table below to see
how well you know your notes. You can check by using the answer sheet in the appendix.

Page 10

Beaming
In order to preserve the metric structure of the bar, eighth notes and sixteenth notes often
have their tails joined together. This is called beaming. It makes them easier to read and
once you become familiar with the way notes are grouped together you will recognise the
certain rhythms very quickly.
You will always make sure that the start of every beat is shown clearly by the start of a group
of beamed notes. So one bar of 16th notes in 4/4 time will show the groups of 16th notes as
four groups. Look at the example below and you will see that once beamed, the bar is
becomes clearer, less ambiguous and therefore easier to read.

Bars
Music is divided into smaller units of time called bars. A bar is a complete cycle of strong and
weak pulses (or beats), the specific pattern of which is defined by the time signature.
They help keep the groups of notes organised in chunks that are easy to read and after some
practice you will start to recognise rhythms one or two bars at a time!
They also help define grooves with most common styles having an accent on beat 1 (at the
start of a bar). Bars are separated on the page by barlines and there are three types:

Single barlines are the most common and are generally used to separate bars.
Double barlines are used to show the ends of sections.
Fine (pronounced fee nay) barlines are used at the end of compositions.

Page 11

Time Signatures
Time signatures define the contents of a bar- how many beats and pulses make up the groove
of the song.
The top number tells you how many counts there are in a bar

The bottom number tells you the value of each count

The best thing is to think of them as fractions. The top number tells you how many counts there
are in a bar, and the bottom number tells you the value of each count. So if we think of 4/4 as a
fraction it would be four quarters. This tells us that a bar of 4/4 contains four quarter notes.
Compound vs Simple
If you look at the examples on the next page, Youll see that some of the time signatures have
an 8 on the bottom. Thinking of fractions, 6/8 would mean that there are 6 eighth notes in a bar.
Look a little more closely and youll notice that these eighth notes are beamed in groups of 3s.
These types of time signatures are called compound time signatures.
Time signatures where the notes are beamed in groups of 2 or 4 are called simple time
signatures.
I found this incredibly hard to understand when I first started learning. But its all about the
pulse.
Weve established that there are 6 eighth notes in our bar of 6/8. But think about a bar of 3/4 in
which each beat divided in half - there would also be 6 eighth notes.... huh? So why are they
different?
Well 3/4 has three main pulses (or beats), each one naturally dividing in two. It is counted 1 + 2
+ 3 + with accents on the 1, 2 and 3.
One the other hand, 6/8 only has two main pulses, each one naturally dividing in three. It is
counted 1 2 3 4 5 6 with accents on the 1 and the 4 only.
Dont worry about this too much for now - it really just explains the difference between simple
and compound time signatures. This book only deals with 4/4 time, and once youve worked
through all the nasty stuff in it, understanding and playing compound time signatures is gonna
be a breeze!! :)

Page 12

Some Common Time Signatures

4/4 - Four quarter notes (or equivalent) in a bar

3/4 - Three quarter notes (or equivalent) in a bar

6/8 - Six eighth notes (or equivalent) in a bar

12/8 - Twelve eighth notes (or equivalent) in a bar

Page 13

Recognition Test 2
Stop reading for a moment and print off this page. Identify the time signature of each of the
following bars by writing it in the correct place on the staff. Once youve finished check your
answers against the answer sheet in the appendix.

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Example 5

Page 14

Counting Systems
Counting rhythms correctly will enable you to learn rhythm reading quickly and easily. There are
a few reasons, the most important is knowing where you are in a bar. After some time working
on rhythm reading these things will become instinctive and you probably would not need to
count, but will find it very useful if you encounter a new difficult passage.
The most important part of any count is the numbers which in 4/4 would be 1 2 3 4 because
these describe the main pulse. Notes played in between the main pulse will be counted too and
sixteenth notes for example, would be counted using the sounds/words, and (written as +),
ee (written as e) and aah (written as a).
The important trick here is that the beat (numbers) will be counted even when there is a rest! but when there is a rest you would whisper the count. For example:

In the bar above the 1, 2 and the 4 will be counted out loud, but the 3 will be whispered because
it is a rest! The reason is so that you always know where you are in a bar. Something that is
very easy to get lost at when you are starting out with this rhythm reading stuff!

In the example shown above you would count the 1, the 2 would be whispered, then count and,
3 and, the 4 is whispered and then count and again. Practice this bar and get used to the idea
of whispering on the beat.
So just to make sure: You will always count the 1, 2, 3 , 4. It there is a rest on the beat you will
whisper it. All other divisions are only counted when they are there!
It wont take long to get this feeling natural, but it takes a bit of getting used to. Its worth it, I
promise! :)
Some things you just have to hear...

Page 15

Clefs
A clef shows the reader how to interpret the notes on a stave. Guitar is usually written in a treble
clef and bass guitar written in bass clef. Piano uses one of each.
In this book, as we are dealing exclusively with rhythm, the clef is that we will be using is the
percussion clef. It means that the lines of the stave do not represent specific pitch but rather
different percussive sounds and timbres (such as the different parts of the drumset).
Here it is:

All of the rhythms in this book are written on the third space, which in percussion clef is normally
used to represent snare drum. Id recommend working through all of the exercises by tapping
them out at first before applying them to your instrument.

Repeat Brackets
A thick line, a thin line and two dots make a up a repeat bracket. They are very commonly used.
They can cover one bar, one page or a whole section. the end repeat (with the two dots and
thin line on the left of the thick line) will look back to the first start repeat sign it finds.
I always thought of the little dots as eyes looking back through the music and repeating back
when it finds eyes looking forward! Sounds silly but might help you remember them.

Also worth noting is that if you find an end repeat and no start repeat, you will go back to the
beginning of the song.
Interesting fact... repeat brackets are not barlines. It is true that in contemporary music they
most often occur at the ends of bars and so appear to act as barlines but in fact repeat brackets
can be placed anywhere... even in the middle of bars! Ive only ever seen this used in classical
music so youll probably never encounter it. I just thought Id mention it because I find these
kinds of things interesting!

Page 16

Heres a short piece of music that shows how the different notes that youve learnt so far fit in a
bar. Notice the other things that weve talked about too, such as the time signature, the clef, the
staff, barlines and repeat markings:

Exercise 1.1
Single Barline

Time Signature

Percussion Clef

repeat Bracket

Page 17

Lesson 2

Page 18

Quarter Note and Eighth Note Figures

So lets get going! Were going to start by looking at a bar of 4/4 with a note on each beat, and
then add in notes between the beats.
Take a look at this first one and note the crotchets (quarter Notes) on each beat of the first bar,
and that each beat has been cut in half in the second bar and you find that you get the ands.
You will only tap your foot on the numbers (never the ands). Tapping your foot is a really
important skill.

Of course rhythms will rarely be that simple, you will most likely have some beats divided, and
some not, so here are some easy examples where you have both:

As am sure you can imagine, there are many variations, and getting to grips with these basic
patterns is important. So try out the following 5 simple exercises and get used to:
keeping steady time with a metronome (start at 50bpm if you can)
tapping your foot on the beat
counting the rhythms out loud
reading along and letting your eyes follow the music
tap the rhythm out with your hand (right hand is good to use if you play guitar!)
Page 19

Exercise 2.1

Page 20

Exercise 2.2

Page 21

Exercise 2.3

Page 22

Exercise 2.4

Page 23

Exercise 2.5

Page 24

Lesson 3

Page 25

The Rests
A rest is a symbol that represents a silence of a specific length. The most commonly used
rests, their different names and their values (in beats) are shown in the table below:

Counting Rests On The Beat

We have already looked at the importance of counting rhythms, but I want to remind you again
here!
And it is still important to count numbers when there is a rest on the beat. We count the rest
with a whisper - if we counted fully out loud it might confuse our rhythm, and if we leave it out
it would mean that you might get lost!
In the examples that follow it is essential that you learn to whisper the count when a rest is on
the beat.
The only notes to whisper are the numbers (1, 2, 3 and 4) you do not need to count the ands
- the reason we count the numbers is so that you will always know where you are in the bar.
You will find that this helps a lot in the exercises where there are lots of rests, and this often
happens in the real world too.
The most common mistake I see in students learning these skills in that they forget where
they are in the bar (not whispering the beat) and then getting properly lost. It is true that after
some time doing this type of exercise it becomes less and less important - you will learn to
feel the 1 - but starting out it is essential.
So next up we have a chart for you to fill in to help you remember them, and then go ahead
and practice these exercises - SLOWLY. There is no rush here - just keep a steady beat with
the metronome and work your way through them.

Page 26

Recognition Test 3
Stop reading for a moment and print off this page. Complete the following table below to see
how well you know the rests. You can check by using the answer sheet in the appendix.

Page 27

Exercise 3.2

Page 28

Exercise 3.3

Page 29

Exercise 3.4

Page 30

Exercise 3.5

Page 31

Lesson 4

Page 32

Tied Notes
If a note needs to be longer then we can tie it to another note! Its really simple idea, and it even
kinda looks like its being tied to the next note.
When two notes are tied together, the second one is not played, the first ones sound continues
for the length (duration) of both the notes.
If you are tapping out rhythms (the best way to start out) then you would simply not play the
second note. If you are playing the rhythms then you would have to make sure that the note or
chord sustains for the duration of both notes.
If you look at the examples below you can see the first one is a whole note (4 beats) tied to a
half note (2 beats) giving you a total of 6 beats. Of course you wont find this in 4/4 time
because we only have 4 beats in a bar and 6 wouldnt fit!

= 6 Beats
= 3 Beats
= 2 Beats

Page 33

Recognition Test 4
Stop reading for a moment and print off this page. Complete the following table below to see
how well you know the rests. You can check by using the answer sheet in the appendix.

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Example 5

Page 34

Write your Answers below:

Example 1 = _________ Beats
Example 2 = _________ Beats
Example 3 = _________ Beats
Example 4 = _________ Beats
Example 5 = _________ Beats
Then try to play along with the following exercises and put them into practice!

Page 35

Exercise 4.1

Page 36

Exercise 4.2

Page 37

Exercise 4.3

Page 38

Exercise 4.4

Page 39

Exercise 4.5

Page 40

Lesson 5

Page 41

Dots
Dots are used to increase note values, they increase the length of a note by half. So if a regular
note was worth 4 beats, then a dotted note would be worth 6 beats. They are used to help keep
reading as simple as possible and are faster to write too. Although at first it may seem more
difficult, they are very useful for both reading and writing once you get familiar with them!

Page 42

Quarter Note and Eighth Note Figures Involving Dotted

Notes
Next up we are going to look at using some dotted notes with regular ones. The example below
shows you a rhythm with all the beats and ands shown to help you try it out:

Remember to count the beat (if there is no note played on the beat you will whisper it!!). In the
example below both the 2 and the 4 in the second bar will be whispered - and you will only say
the and (+) when there is note.

Heres the other figure that youll encounter in this lesson. First its written with all of the beats
and the ands:

Here it is again with the whispered counts in brackets:

Make sure you are clear with the concept and then have a go at the following exercises. Take it
slow and take time to work out any that you dont understand clearly.

Page 43

Exercise 5.1

Page 44

Exercise 5.2

Page 45

Exercise 5.3

Page 46

Exercise 5.4

Page 47

Exercise 5.5

Page 48

Lesson 6

Page 49

Syncopated Quarter Note and Eighth Note Figures

All of the exercises we have looked at so far have all of the rhythms shown very clearly - it is
easy to see where the beat is - but this is not always the case. Its now time to look at
syncopation: the displacement of the usual rhythmic accent away from a strong beat onto a
weak beat.
Looking at this first example you can see that there is no beat on beat 2 (or beat 4), but there is
no tie or rest. This is because there is a eighth note starting the bar, followed by a quarter note
which runs over the beat line. This could have been done using a tie (all eighth notes with the
2nd and 3rd tied together) but many times it is easier to read and faster to write this way.

Rhythmic groupings like the following can be hard to read because the beat is hidden by the
writing. Personally, I dont like to see music written like this - but it happens often, so you are
better of learning to read it than complaining that you dont like it!

In this rhythmic figure the beats 1 and 3 are missing. Because we are used to hearing them
(they are the strongest beats in the bar) it sounds odd for us to hear a figure with out them.

Another example of beats 1 and 3 missing...

Now it starts to sound very strange, because all the notes are on the ands (the weak beats).

Page 50

Only notes on some of the weak beats...

And another...

And another way of having all the weak beats played...

As you can see from all the above examples there are often many ways of writing the same
thing.
At this stage it is important for you to calculate them, work out the beats, what the note values
are and how they are fitting together. As you become more familiar with them (by doing the
following exercises!) you will no longer need to calculate them - you will just see them and
understand them instantly.
Now its onto some practical work. Syncopated exercises can be a little tricky at first, but are not
hard if you remember to:

Start slowly

Count out loud

Tap your foot on the beat

Stop and work out a rhythm if you dont understand it

Page 51

Exercise 6.1

Page 52

Exercise 6.2

Page 53

Exercise 6.3

Page 54

Exercise 6.4

Page 55

Exercise 6.5

Page 56

Lesson 7

Page 57

Introducing Sixteenth Notes

Weve spent the first part of this book looking at how the beat can be divided in half. Its
important that you are 100% comfortable with that now, because the next step is divide the beat
into 4!
This division is called 16th notes because in a bar of 4/4 there are 4 beats (but you knew that I
hope) and when each one is divided by 4 you get a total of 16 notes in the bar.
Now if you think about it you will realise that we now have hundreds of possible rhythms
available, especially when we add in ties and dots too, so over the next pages we are going to
look at each of the possible rhythms one at a time and combine them with the rhythms that you
have done before. I have found that introducing the new rhythms gradually gives you the most
solid understanding of each, and gives you a chance at using them without freaking out!
It is very important that you develop the skill of reading these in blocks. If you are playing these
fast then there is no time to count them, you should be aiming to look at the rhythm an know
how it is going to sound instantly.
It is very similar to learning to read. When children first start to read they look at the C...A...T....
then they say CAT and after a few reads they just see the word and they know it is CAT without
having to read out the letters one at a time. This is the skill you need to develop now for your
16th note reading.
One figure at a time.
We are going to do it look at each and every way of combining 16th notes and 8th notes. Were
going to look at just one at a time and work them in with things that have already been covered.
Try and memorise the figures as soon as you can, let them become words and they will
become your friends!
So lets get going...

Page 58

Basic Sixteenth Note Figures

Were going to start by looking at combinations that combine 16th notes and 8th notes.

Figure 1

To help you understand each of the 16th note blocks well

look at this grid showing the beat divided into 4 - the count
is also shown.
Notice that the + (and) is still at the halfway point - but
weve added an E (said ee) and A (said like Ah). Practice
saying:
1 ee and ah

2 ee and ah

3 ee and ah

4 ee and ah

Make sure you start your beat slowly when you check these out or your 16th notes will be too
fast and you wont be able to tap fast enough! 50 bpm or slower is suggested.

Once you feel confident with counting these, have a go (SLOWLY) at the following exercises.
This is new and going to be a little difficult at first. This is normal, because its new, but it wont
take long to get yourself familiar with these new blocks and soon youll be looking at them and
reading them just as easily as 8th not patterns!

Page 59

Exercise 7.1

Page 60

Exercise 7.2

Page 61

Figure 2

Next up we are looking at two 16th notes followed by one

eighth note. This is a very common pattern, not hard to
recognise.
Start now my counting and tapping along slowly and getting
the rhythm in your ears and mind. Then get into the following
exercises.

Recommended is that you count the first bar and tap the rhythm in the second. Make sure you
are still tapping your foot on the beat too!

Page 62

Exercise 7.3

Page 63

Exercise 7.4

Page 64

Figure 3

Here we have Next up we are looking at one 8th note

followed by two 16th notes.
Make sure you count, the extra 16th note is coming after
the and - personally I found it helpful to play 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
and then insert the 16th note after the +

Play and count along SLOWLY and get it in your head. Then get into the exercises!

Page 65

Exercise 7.5

Page 66

Exercise 7.6

Page 67

Figure 4
This figure is missing the and and is a 16th note, followed
by an 8th note, followed by another 16th note. Its a common
and fun pattern, when you first learn it do it VERY slowly, or
you may feel rushed when you loop the pattern.

SLOWLY now play the pattern. Get this figure in your head. Of course count it for now, but you
should be aiming to memorise the figure as a rhythm in your head!

Page 68

Exercise 7.7

Page 69

Exercise 7.8

Page 70

Lesson 8

Page 71

Sixteenth Note Figures Involving Dots

We have already looked at dotted notes so you should have then sorted by now... if not - then
go back to page to familiarise yourself with them.

Figure 5

This first dotted 16th rhythm is a dotted 8th note (worth 3 x

16th notes) and a 16th note at the end (we needed it of
course to make up the beat.
This rhythm pushes along, I always feel like its moving
forward... just how I perceive it... how do you feel it?

Count out loud... do it slowly. Get it in your head and then off into the exercises.

Page 72

Exercise 8.1

Page 73

Exercise 8.2

Page 74

Figure 6
Now we are looking at the reverse of the last figure, this time
its a 16th note followed by a dotted 8th note.
I feel this one like a double hit - count and tap along and you
will see what I mean, but make sure you are open to how
YOU feel it, it really helps.

Do I need to say it again? SLOWLY, count along, get it in your head :)

Page 75

Exercise 8.3

Page 76

Exercise 8.4

Page 77

Lesson 9

Page 78

Sixteenth Notes Figures Involving Rests

So now we get into silence and look at the various patterns that we get we we use rests.

Figure 7

This first pattern with rests has the rest on the beat.
Your foot should be tapping on the beat so you get:
foot, tap, tap, tap.
Should be quite easy because you can hear every
16th notes...

Slowly of course, make sure you keep your 16th notes even... you will whisper the beat and
count the rest at full volume!

Page 79

Exercise 9.1

Page 80

Exercise 9.2

Page 81

Figure 8

Now the first half of the beat is missing!

You will whisper the beat and have the and ah
tapped - I get a real up feeling from this figure, how
are you feeling it?

Dont forget to whisper the beat, count the notes out loud, do it slow, work it in.

Page 82

Exercise 9.3

Page 83

Exercise 9.4

Page 84

Figure 9

This is the reverse of the last one!

If the note is not sustaining (like you are taping or
playing a drum) then this will sound the same as Figure
6, the difference that in Figure 6 the note sustains, and
in this we have silence after the notes.

Sound like the double to me... if you are using a guitar or piano, then compare this with Figure
6.

Page 85

Exercise 9.5

Page 86

Exercise 9.6

Page 87

Figure 10

Some people find this one a little hard because its not on
the beat and feels a little strange. I struggled when I learned
it, but I got to say - its just practice. You need to do patterns
like this a lot and really get then into your soul! Play them
enough so that they feel natural and instinctive.

VERY SLOWLY and count along, then speed it up once you are comfortable so that you hear
the word correctly.

Page 88

Exercise 9.7

Page 89

Exercise 9.8

Page 90

Figure 11

This one is very similar to the last - but with silence at the
end - if you are tapping the rhythms you wont notice any
difference, you will later if you start playing them for real, but
more on that later. I recommend just learning to tap the
rhythms and worry about the sustain later!

Make sure you see the figure - look at the bar and make sure you can see where the beat is!

Page 91

Exercise 9.9

Page 92

Exercise 9.10

Page 93

Figure 12

This is fun! :) this is the off beats of a 16th notes, just the ee
and the ah - the beat will be whispered and the and is
silent!
I found this one a little tricky when I started combining it with
other patterns, especially if the surrounding figures are on
the beat... but you know the answer by now I suspect...
practice.

Page 94

Exercise 9.11

Page 95

Exercise 9.12

Page 96

Figure 13

This one is just like the last but with a silence between the
16th notes. When you play it for real the notes will have to
be very short, but because right now we are just tapping you
dont have to worry about it!

When you play it, you keep the notes very short, but for now you just need to make sure that
you keep the 16th notes even... its fun once you get it!

Page 97

Exercise 9.13

Page 98

Exercise 9.14

Page 99

Figure 14

We just have one note now, on the ee. This can feel a bit
odd because the note falls just after the beat and it can be a
little confusing at first. It gives a very strong syncopated
feeling if the figure is repeated, but its quite common and
essential to learn!

Of course get this one slow at first, once you speed it up, you will get the true feeling of the
word!

Page 100

Exercise 9.15

Page 101

Exercise 9.16

Page 102

Figure 15

Like the last figure, this one feels a little strange... this one
comes just before the beat - its VERY important that you
count slowly when you are learning this one or it will be very
difficult.
Take it easy and feel it coming just before the beat.

Count. Count. Count. Slow. Slow. Slower...

Page 103

Exercise 9.17

Page 104

Exercise 9.18

Page 105

Part 2:
Advanced Sixteenth Note
Reading

Page 106

Lesson 10

Page 107

Studies Involving Mixed Sixteenth Note Figures

This lesson is the biggy! It features a series of studies that combine all of possible sixteenth
note patterns. That means there are lots of exercises (seventy-six in fact!). But dont be
discouraged... this is where you put it all together and really nail your understanding of all of the
sixteenth note patterns.
A final reminder of things to remember:
Use a metronome, start S L O W L Y .
Only speed up when you can do it few times through without a single mistake.
If you dont understand a rhythm, stop and work it out, go revise the previous section of this
book that deals with that rhythm and then come back to these exercises.
Try and remember your groupings, learn to read them as blocks.
If you are getting stuck on the basic patterns, check out the web site lesson a using
mnemonics.
Use your practice log to keep a track of your progress.

Page 108

Exercise 10.1

Page 109

Exercise 10.2

Page 110

Exercise 10.3

Page 111

Exercise 10.4

Page 112

Exercise 10.5

Page 113

Exercise 10.6

Page 114

Exercise 10.7

Page 115

Exercise 10.8

Page 116

Exercise 10.9

Page 117

Exercise 10.10

Page 118

Exercise 10.11

Page 119

Exercise 10.12

Page 120

Exercise 10.13

Page 121

Exercise 10.14

Page 122

Exercise 10.15

Page 123

Exercise 10.16

Page 124

Exercise 10.17

Page 125

Exercise 10.18

Page 126

Exercise 10.19

Page 127

Exercise 10.20

Page 128

Exercise 10.21

Page 129

Exercise 10.22

Page 130

Exercise 10.23

Page 131

Exercise 10.24

Page 132

Exercise 10.25

Page 133

Exercise 10.26

Page 134

Exercise 10.27

Page 135

Exercise 10.28

Page 136

Exercise 10.29

Page 137

Exercise 10.30

Page 138

Exercise 10.31

Page 139

Exercise 10.32

Page 140

Exercise 10.33

Page 141

Exercise 10.34

Page 142

Exercise 10.35

Page 143

Exercise 10.36

Page 144

Exercise 10.37

Page 145

Exercise 10.38

Page 146

Exercise 10.39

Page 147

Exercise 10.40

Page 148

Exercise 10.41

Page 149

Exercise 10.42

Page 150

Exercise 10.42

Page 151

Exercise 10.44

Page 152

Exercise 10.45

Page 153

Exercise 10.46

Page 154

Exercise 10.47

Page 155

Exercise 10.48

Page 156

Exercise 10.49

Page 157

Exercise 10.50

Page 158

Exercise 10.51

Page 159

Exercise 10.52

Page 160

Exercise 10.53

Page 161

Exercise 10.54

Page 162

Exercise 10.55

Page 163

Exercise 10.56

Page 164

Exercise 10.57

Page 165

Exercise 10.58

Page 166

Exercise 10.59

Page 167

Exercise 10.60

Page 168

Exercise 10.61

Page 169

Exercise 10.62

Page 170

Exercise 10.63

Page 171

Exercise 10.64

Page 172

Exercise 10.65

Page 173

Exercise 10.66

Page 174

Exercise 10.67

Page 175

Exercise 10.68

Page 176

Exercise 10.69

Page 177

Exercise 10.70

Page 178

Exercise 10.71

Page 179

Exercise 10.72

Page 180

Exercise 10.73

Page 181

Exercise 10.74

Page 182

Exercise 10.75

Page 183

Exercise 10.76

Page 184

Lesson 11

Page 185

Studies Involving Mixtures Of All Figures

Congratulations... by now youve travelled a very long way on your journey to become a
confident reader and you should be proud to have stuck with it and made it this far!
Next, were going to mix in all of the figures that you have seen so far. Same rules apply as
before...
In theses exercises you are going to see all the sixteenth note and eighth notes figures and all
of the rests. its going to be a challenge and lots of fun too - just remember to take it slow and
stop when you dont understand something.

Page 186

Exercise 11.1

Page 187

Exercise 11.2

Page 188

Exercise 11.3

Page 189

Exercise 11.4

Page 190

Exercise 11.5

Page 191

Exercise 11.6

Page 192

Exercise 11.7

Page 193

Exercise 11.8

Page 194

Exercise 11.9

Page 195

Exercise 11.10

Page 196

Lesson 12

Page 197

Studies Involving Mixtures Of All Figures and Tied Notes

Now we are going to throw tied notes back into the mix which means that the following
exercises include everything that you have seen in this book, all mixed together into a big
blender! When you nail these (and you will if you remember the rules) you can pat yourself on
the back because youll have acquired some pretty serious reading chops!
In the meantime, welcome to the real world, she said to me, condescendingly...

Page 198

Exercise 12.1

Page 199

Exercise 12.2

Page 200

Exercise 12.3

Page 201

Exercise 12.4

Page 202

Exercise 12.5

Page 203

Lesson 13

Page 204

Duet Exercises
As a last bit of fun for you guys, we have included some duet exercises. You can play these with
your friend, its a great way to practice getting your rhythms solid and playing with other people
will always help you lift your game.
To make things less cluttered these rhythms are written on a single line for ease of reading.

Page 205

Duet #1

Page 206

Page 1/1

Duet #2

Page 207

Page 1/2

Duet #2

Page 208

Page 2/2

Duet #3

Page 209

Page 1/2

Duet #3

Page 210

Page 2/2

Bye Bye
Congratulations for making it to the end of this book. To get this far has taken discipline and
dedication and you should be proud of your accomplishment. We sincerely hope that you have
enjoyed working through the exercises and that youve truly understood all of the areas covered
so far.
Were going to have a couple of days away from our laptops (well earned we think) and then get
stuck into writing the next volume, which will cover other rates such as triplets, compound time
signatures, odd times and a section combining those things with everything in this book.
If you have any problems them please come to the forum on justinguitar.com and well do our
best to help you out!
www.justinguitar.com/forum
Wishing you all the best and thanks for reading!

Justin and Justin

www.justinguitar.com

www.justindrums.com

Page 211

Appendices

Page 212

Appendix 1 - Recognition Test 1 ANSWERS

Page 213

Appendix 2 - Recognition Test 2 ANSWERS

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Example 5

Page 214

Appendix 3 - Recognition Test 3 ANSWERS

Page 215

Appendix 4 - Recognition Test 3 ANSWERS

Example 1 = 4 Beats
Example 2 = 5 Beats
Example 3 = 1 Beats
Example 4 = 7 Beats
Example 5 = 3 Beats

Page 216

Appendix 5 - Practice Log

Date

Exercise

Tempo

Comments

Exercise 1.1

Exercise 2.1
Exercise 2.2
Exercise 2.3
Exercise 2.4
Exercise 2.5

Exercise 3.1
Exercise 3.2
Exercise 3.3
Exercise 3.4
Exercise 3.5

Exercise 4.1
Exercise 4.2
Exercise 4.3
Exercise 4.4
Exercise 4.5

Exercise 5.1
Exercise 5.2
Exercise 5.3
Exercise 5.4
Page 217

Exercise 5.5

Exercise 6.1
Exercise 6.2
Exercise 6.3
Exercise 6.4
Exercise 6.1

Exercise 7.1
Exercise 7.2
Exercise 7.3
Exercise 7.4
Exercise 7.5
Exercise 7.6
Exercise 7.7
Exercise 7.8

Exercise 8.1
Exercise 8.2
Exercise 8.3
Exercise 8.4

Exercise 9.1
Exercise 9.2
Exercise 9.3
Exercise 9.4
Exercise 9.5
Exercise 9.6
Page 218

Exercise 9.7
Exercise 9.8
Exercise 9.9
Exercise 9.10
Exercise 9.11
Exercise 9.12
Exercise 9.13
Exercise 9.14
Exercise 9.15
Exercise 9.16
Exercise 9.17
Exercise 9.18

Exercise 10.1
Exercise 10.2
Exercise 10.3
Exercise 10.4
Exercise 10.5
Exercise 10.6
Exercise 10.7
Exercise 10.8
Exercise 10.9
Exercise 10.10
Exercise 10.11
Exercise 10.12
Exercise 10.13
Exercise 10.14
Exercise 10.15
Page 219

Exercise 10.16
Exercise 10.17
Exercise 10.18
Exercise 10.19
Exercise 10.20
Exercise 10.21
Exercise 10.22
Exercise 10.23
Exercise 10.24
Exercise 10.25
Exercise 10.26
Exercise 10.27
Exercise 10.28
Exercise 10.29
Exercise 10.30
Exercise 10.31
Exercise 10.32
Exercise 10.33
Exercise 10.34
Exercise 10.35
Exercise 10.36
Exercise 10.37
Exercise 10.38
Exercise 10.39
Exercise 10.40
Exercise 10.41
Exercise 10.42
Exercise 10.43
Page 220

Exercise 10.44
Exercise 10.45
Exercise 10.46
Exercise 10.47
Exercise 10.48
Exercise 10.49
Exercise 10.50
Exercise 10.51
Exercise 10.52
Exercise 10.53
Exercise 10.54
Exercise 10.55
Exercise 10.56
Exercise 10.57
Exercise 10.58
Exercise 10.59
Exercise 10.60
Exercise 10.61
Exercise 10.62
Exercise 10.63
Exercise 10.64
Exercise 10.65
Exercise 10.66
Exercise 10.67
Exercise 10.68
Exercise 10.69
Exercise 10.71
Exercise 10.72
Page 221

Exercise 10.73
Exercise 10.74
Exercise 10.75
Exercise 10.76

Exercise 11.1
Exercise 11.2
Exercise 11.3
Exercise 11.4
Exercise 11.5
Exercise 11.6
Exercise 11.7
Exercise 11.8
Exercise 11.9
Exercise 11.10

Exercise 12.1
Exercise 12.2
Exercise 12.3
Exercise 12.4
Exercise 12.5

Duet 1
Top Part
Bottom Part
Duet 2
Top Part
Bottom Part
Page 222

Duet 2
Top Part
Bottom Part

Page 223