Originally Posted by
Mandosopher
I know this forum has tons of skill and a lot of heart, so I hope y'all can help me with a problem that keeps me from playing breaks with our little family bluegrass band.
While I have -- after a long time and with much effort on my part and much patience on my family's part -- finally learned to chop at the appropriate times, I have not been able to learn how to play a break that keeps in time with the beat. When the band is all playing together, I have learned to hear the bass beat and chop after it, but I have not learned how to hear the rhythm in relation to the melody I'm supposed to be playing. When I try, I find myself just lost; I hear kind of a wall of music but without any structure corresponding to what I'm doing. On the other hand, I can more or less play a break all right if I play along with my daughter's fiddle; I can tune into her melody and follow along.
I have tried various things to overcome this hurdle. I have tried practicing with recordings of the melody or recordings of the melody with accompaniment. I can do this all right, because it is like playing along with my daughter. But when I play with the band without someone's else melody to follow, it all falls apart. I have also tried playing with a metronome or with a backing track, beginning with quarter notes and moving to eighth notes. That works ok. But again, when I'm playing with the band, I find myself completely lost.
I have always had a pronounced rhythm deficiency, so I'm wondering if this is just one of those things that are just beyond my ability. If not, I'm thinking that maybe there are some better practice techniques that might help me break through. Of course, part of the complication is that, for the most part, I picked up this whole music thing in my 40s, and I've got two jobs or three jobs (depending on how you count) and kids ranging from ages 5 to 17, so practice time is not reliably generous. Maybe retirement is when these things happen.
In any case, if anybody out there has any tips, techniques, or insights, I'd love to hear them. Sorry for the long post and thanks for your help.
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