Tapping Foot While Playing

[yankees1]

I find it very difficult if not impossible to play a melody to any song while tapping my foot to the beat. However, I can tap my foot while playing chords. Anyone else experience this ? Suggestions ?

[bingoccc]

A few things I think help get into the swing of it are-

Tap your foot to any and all music you hear. Even jingles on commercials, to the radio in the car, just always do it.

Practice with a loud metronome or drum program.

Learn to tap with both the left and right foot. You probably have a dominant foot but you want to train both sides of your brain on keeping time.

And...............practice.

[Bertram Henze]

Uh-oh... I was unable to tap with melody playing back when I had poor timing. As soon as I can play a melody with a steady timing I can tap. You might want to check with your best friend The Metronome.

[fatt-dad]

I tap my foot in jams when I really know the tune and got the beat. Just last night, though, I tried tapping the beat on the Bach Invention #8. Now, I got that pretty much up to tempo and know it well. Tapping my foot to the beat (and what I was actually playing) was a challenge. A worthy one though.

f-d

[Ivan Kelsall]

From the OP - "I find it very difficult if not impossible to play a melody to any song while tapping my foot to the beat." Don't tap your foot to the beat then !.
OK - joking apart,do you mean that in order to play the 'melody' to a tune,you feel the need to tap your foot (feet) but can't ?. I'd resist tapping anything at all. It might be ok in informal surroundings,but if you play to an audience,it can be distracting for them. If you play a tune often enough,you should get the 'tempo in your head' as well as the melody,& when playing the tune,you can re-run the tune in your head as you play it up to tempo. I've done exactly that for 50 years or more when memorising tunes. I use I/net radio,YouTube downloads & CD tracks to pick along to as part of my practice & the tempo becomes part of my 'muscle memory' when playing. It's a matter of practice,but if you do it often enough,like most things it'll become second nature,
Ivan

[Barry Wilson]

I am opposite, I can't keep still when I play

[Pick&Grin]

I find the same thing, Ivan Kelsall; tapping becomes a distraction, unless it just happens naturally. I hear you Barry Wilson, I move all around when I play.

[bigskygirl]

When I was playing in concert bands foot tapping was discouraged so I got to the point where I tap my toe or just have the groove in my head.

Now, since discovering Bluegrass where foot tapping is encouraged I find I just tap my foot every so often. It is hard to tap on every beat, when I do tap I tap on the first beat in the measure, on the "boom" part. So like the others said, do a lot of listening to get the tune internalized and then just tap every so often as you feel it.

[Pete Martin]

Scott, I know two top notch players who can't tap their foot in time to save their life, but who play with excellent timing.

My advice is if it is easy do it. If it is not easy, let the metronome keep your time.

[yankees1]

[QUOTE=Pete Martin;1336570]Scott, I know two top notch players who can't tap their foot in time to save their life, but who play with excellent timing.

My advice is if it is easy do it. If it is not easy, let the metronome keep your time.[/QUOTE Everyone tells me that my timing is pretty good most of the time but everyone keeps telling me to tap my foot like they do ! Playing with Band in the Box does help with my timing but no substitute from playing with others !

[JeffD]

Tap your foot to any and all music you hear. Even jingles on commercials, to the radio in the car, just always do it.

Yea get the foot involved. It goes to getting your whole body feeling the music. Its not just two hands and a mandolin. The more of you that is involved the more the instrument becomes an extension of you.

Well I heard that somewhere, but you know what I mean. Get physical. Tap one foot, tap the other foot, tap toe on down beat with heel on up beat, or the reverse, hum along, get into it.

[Randi Gormley]

True story. A bunch of us were playing an elementary school (ITM) and after a set, when someone asked the kids if they had a question, one kid asked, "why are you all tapping your feet at different times?"

Since all I play is melody, tapping to the melody is what I'm doing more often than not, unless it's a s.l.o.w piece and then I don't tap at all. If it's a really fast reel, I'll start tapping every beat and then slow it down to every other beat just so I don't use all my energy up tapping. Our group is all over the map -- one foot tapping, both feet tapping on alternating beats, toe taps, heel taps, alternating toe and heel taps, on the beat, on the off beat, whenever they think about it (the ones whose rhythm is questionable) ... and when I play with the classical types, I appear to be the only one tapping so I try not to tap at all and let the conductor be the rhythm. sometimes I'll nod my head to the time, too. At least I've not been trained to use my feet as percussion!

[Beanzy]

Foot tapping is definitely a no-no in an ensemble performance.
Easy to slip into if I don't haul myself up beforehand and tell the feet to take the night off.
It really is distracting for an audience.

I know loads of people who think they can tap their feet in time but few who do (include myself in there).
In a jam I don't care what my feet are doing and because I love dancing even like to do some shuffling if things are flying.
But foot-tapping definitely one for me to keep for the jams and non-performance situations.

[Bertram Henze]

Foot tapping is not like a built in metronome for the player, because it can express just as bad timing as the playing does. But it has two useful functions:

- if you can tap while playing alone, it is a sign that your playing is robust and even enough to have a small part of your attention diverted to tapping; for an encore you can try to stand on one leg while playing and hop along with the tune (thus impersonating Jethro Tull and Status Quo in one go).
- in a jam or session situation with a mixed bag of time perceptions, it may be useful to have a reassuring constant tap to reel in any stragglers who might otherwise lead you into a runaway race. I know a guitar player who loves to strike his own downbeat just a millisecond before the real one, and survival is possible only with tapping loudly and ignoring him.

[bart mcneil]

Interesting thread. If I tap my foot I am not aware of it. I should think it would be distracting for a new player and that being encouraged to tap your foot while fretting, and wielding your pick effectively would be like learning to ride a unicycle.

But not being a teacher, what would I know?

[mandocrucian]

[catmandu2]

I'm naturally an exuberant foot-tapper, (but I'm also a drummer). As I play/perform mostly solo, I've done some "one-man-band" stuff with various foot percussion and bass pedals...even a bass drum on my right and a sock hat on my left (for fun). When I started playing harp--and generally a more delicate approach to playing--it seemed a little odd to me to be beating out rhythms, so I often have to suppress my foot-tapping and body movements..

[bingoccc]

That JL Hooker video reminds of a few stories I've heard of old time French Canadian fiddle players. When they played at a house party one of the kitchen chairs was placed on top of the kitchen table and they played up there. They would stomp the beat while they played and that added the percussion to the music while folks danced.

[catmandu2]

There certainly are opportunities to integrate the feet while playing...long traditions of using dance as a musical instrument--some traditions generally integrate dance and music...the contradancers like to clog on a board while playing on the stage, etc., and you can easily amplify your appliances too.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6rIpIcJ_RQ