Home Downloads Lessons Soal Jawab About

Date Created: 1/18/2011 Last Updated:

BasicSebelum aku ajar benda-benda yang lagi complex, kita kena belajar dulu pasal one of the building blocks of music: notes. Now, this lesson may be a bit boring, macam belajar ABC. But kalo tak kenal huruf, toksah berangan nak baca kitab, right? This is very basic, and I'm sure ramai yang malas nak belajar benda ni. But please learn it. It's really important. Aku akan cuba buat as simple as possible. Pertama sekali, korang kena tau yang dalam skala muzik (muzik style barat) ade 7 huruf sahaja yang digunakan untuk menamakan pitch-pitch. A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Simple enough, remember that takde huruf H, I, J.... Kalau susah nak ingat, ingat nama band "Def Gab C". So, huruf-huruf ni la yang dipanggil note, sebagai cara untuk kita label pitch (kelangsingan bunyi). Anyway, kalau korang main gitar, sure korang nampak lebih dari 7 notes. Kalau penah tengok piano, mesti nampak lebih dari 7 keys. Betul tak? Now cuba tengok sebahagian dari piano keys kat bawah ni. Walaupon korang tak berminat nak main piano atau keyboard, just follow this. This is I think the easiest way to visualize pasal notes and other stuff related to it.

Kalau tengok piano keys kat atas ni, apa first pattern yang korang nampak? Perasan tak black keys dia, ada dua, pastu tiga, pastu dua balik, pastu tiga balik, and so on? Key putih pertama dalam gambar kat atas tu note C, key putih kedua note D and so on. (Sebelah kiri dua black keys = note C). Now, cuba kita asingkan pattern tu macam kat bawah ni.

So, korang boleh nampak yang antara note C dan note D, antara note D dan E, antara note F dan G, antara note G dan A, antara note A dan B, semuanya ade black key. Tapi antara note E dan F, takde. Antara note B dan C pon takde. What's going on? Jom kita tengok note-note tu dalam gitar kat 5th string (tak hafal lokasi note-note tu pon takpe buat masa ni).

Kat gitar pon sama. Antara note C dan D, D dan E, F dan G, G dan A, A dan B, semuanya ada satu fret yang takde label. Sebenarnya, antara C dan D, fret keempat tu, terdapat note C Sharp

(C atau C#). Note tu juga dipanggil D Flat (D atau Db). C# ialah Enharmonic Equivalent of Db. Enharmonic Equivalent ni maksud dia bunyi (pitch) sama, nama jek lain. Walaupon note tu bunyi (pitch) dia sama, tak bermakna kita boleh suka hati jek nak panggil dia C# atau Db. Nanti lain hari aku kasi tau kenape. But for the time being, takpa kalau nak panggil dia C# ke, Db ke. Sharp ni maksud dia ialah satu half step atas note yang disharpkan tu. Dalam gitar, half-step tu jarak dia satu fret. Whole step pulak jarak dia dua fret. Flat pulak maksud dia ialah satu half-step bawah note yang diflatkan. Tanda Sharp dan Flat juga dipanggil Accidentals. (Bukan bermaksud kesilapan, macam "eksiden"). So, kalau aku sebut note G# dalam 5th string, jawapan dia fret ke berapa? 11? Betul. Antara note G dan note A. Kalau note Bb pulak kat mana? Kalau jawapan ko fret ke 13, betul. So, hopefully by now korang dah paham ape itu sharp, ape itu flat. Sometimes sharp dan flat ni musicians gunakan bila cakap pasal tuning. Kalau orang tu kata "tali E ko ni tak tune, sharp sangat bunyi dia". Apa yang dimaksudkan bukanlah tali ko tu sampai half-step above the correct pitch, maksud dia cuma tuning tu tinggi dari tuning yang betul, walaupon sikit. So, jangan confuse the usage of the term sharp and flat.

Berbalik kepada gambar key piano tu tadi, korang dah boleh agak dah kan ape black keys tu? Kalau black key tu terletak antara note C dan note D, maknanya itu note C# atau Db. So, kenapa takde black key antara note E dan F, dan antara note B dan C? That's just how it is. Dalam

western music memang camtu. Tapi, adakah itu bermakna E#, Fb, B# dan Cb tak wujud? Tidak. E# ialah nama lain bagi note F (enharmonic equivalent). Fb pulak nama lain bagi note E. Same goes with B# and Cb. (Cuba tengok gambar piano keys kat section Advanced Reading kat bawah). Macam yang aku sebut kat atas, ini tak bermakna ko boleh sentiasa refer to note B as Cb just to be fancy. No, nanti belajar pasal key ko akan tau bile Cb digunakan instead of B for example. Ok, sekarang aku nak tunjuk semua note yang ade dekat 5th string (A string), but lepas fret 15 aku tak tulis note yang ade sharp atau flat, sebab leceh. Again, tak hafal dulu lokasi kesemua note kat bawah ni pon takpe buat masa ni. Asalkan korang tau pattern jarak antara dua note bersebelahan. Maksud aku, ko mesti tau yang B dan C, E dan F jarak dia satu fret jek (half-step). Yang lain whole step. Kalau yang tu ko tau, pastu ko tau note C kat mana contohnya, note-note lain at least korang boleh kira dari situ.

So, open string note A. Pastu selang satu fret note B, next fret note C and so on. Cycle dia sama jek dengan piano, cuma dalam piano jelas sket pattern dia sebab ada black and white keys. Anyway, dalam gambar ni boleh nampak, yang open string A, pastu fret ke 12 pon A gak, fret ke 24 pon A jugak. Fret ke dua tu B, fret ke 14 pon B jugak. Setiap note A adalah dari keluarga yang sama. Setiap note B pon camtu, and so on. Sebab note-note tu dikategorikan dalam "keluarga" yang sama ade aku explain sket dekat "advanced reading" section kat bawah. Note A yang dekat fret 12 tu ialah satu Octave lebih tinggi dari open string A. Note A yang dekat fret 24 pulak satu octave lebih tinggi dari yang kat fret 12, dan dua octave lagi tinggi dari open A. Note lain pon camtu gak. Contohnya note D yang fret 5 satu octave lebih rendah dari yang kat fret 17. Jarak satu octave ialah 12 half-steps (12 fret kat gitar).

So, hopefully by now korang dah paham sket pasal note dalam muzik. Kalau tak tau bab ni susah sket nak paham bab scale, key, chords yang aku akan ajar nanti etc.

Advanced ReadingSection ni optional. Kalau belum paham semua yang aku tulis kat atas, baik baca semuanya dulu. Section ni pada aku tak terlalu penting sangat untuk pemain gitar, but useful to know. But dalam

section ni, you may not necessarily understand everything yet, and it's ok. Yang penting kat atas tu paham dulu. There are things yang dalam section ni mungkin dah belajar topik lain baru paham.

Note Punya Family Aku nak start dengan yang senang dulu. Kalau nak tau kenapa semua note A, tak kira octave, semuanya dalam keluarga yang sama, let's look at it from physics point of view. Bila kita main open string A contohnya, frekuensi dia 110Hz. Kat tali yang sama fret ke 12, frekuensi dia 220Hz. Fret ke 24 pulak 440Hz. The next A in existance would be 880Hz. Nampak tak mathematical pattern dia? Family note lain pon pattern dia sama, but frequency jek lain.

Lagi Pasal Accidentals Dalam muzik, accidental bukan sekadar sharp dengan flat jek. Ade jugak double-sharp ( atau

x) dan double-flat ( atau bb). Double-sharp ni macam sharpkan dua kali, maknanya wholestep higher. Double-flat pulak whole-step lower. So, apakah enharmonic equivalent note C double-sharp (Cx)? Jawapan dia D (or E double flat). Apakah enharmonic equivalent of note C double-flat? Jawapan dia note A# dan Bb. Sebenarnya, setiap note kecuali G#/Ab ade tiga nama. Tengok gambar kat bawah ni, setiap pitch aku letak kesemua nama dia.

Pening tak? Don't worry about it. As long as ko faham ape itu double-sharp and double-flat pon cukup. Tak yah hafal kesemua nama setiap pitch pon takpe. Jarang actually aku nampak double sharp ke double flat dalam score lagu pop rock. In fact, GuitarPro sampai version 5 belum recognize simbol-simbol tu lagi. B# dengan Cb pon tak recognized. GP6 baru boleh. So, bila kita pakai benda double ni? Aku ade dua example. Apakah note ketujuh dalam scale G# harmonic minor? Jawapan dia bukan G, tapi Fx. Tak tau kenapa takpe, nanti aku ajar pasal scale baru ko akan paham. Lagi satu contoh, apakah note-note dalam chord Gb minor seventh? Sesetengah reference akan cakap Gb + A + Db + E. Technically, walaupon bunyi dia betul, nama note tu salah. Jawapan dia ialah Gb + Bbb + Db + Fb sebab formula dia root + flat 3rd + 5th + flat 7th. Tak tau takpe. Nanti aku ajar pasal interval dan chord formula baru jelas sket.

Membaca Note Dalam Standard Notation Well, unless ko berminat nak main Jazz atau Classical music (maybe sessionist kena reti gak kot), pada aku takde la wajib reti baca note dalam Standard Notation. Standard notation ni yang orang panggil "taugeh" tu. Another good reason to know how to read it is that it's easier for you to analyze a song. Contohnya, kalau nampak accidental, quickly you can find out if the key modulates to something else. I can read it (sight read, tak tengok TAB), and I don't think it hurts to know how to read it. I'm not fast at at reading the standard notation for the guitar, but I'm ok. But kepada sesiapa yang curious, here's a start. As you can see, lokasi kepala taugeh tu vertically menunjukkan note tu. Aku labelkan note-note tu. In real standard notation, takde label camtu. And aku cuma tunjuk dari open 6th string sampai ke fret 12 first string jek. And unlike the piano or many other instruments, dalam gitar most notes can be played at many different locations. Contohnya, cuba tengok note D yang pertama dari kiri tu. Note tu adalah note yang sama dengan A string 5th fret. There are a lot more that I can say about this, but I won't go there, at least for the time being.

Transposing Instruments Kat sini aku bukan nak ajar pasal macam mana nak transpose satu lagu tu. Contohnya kalo penyanyi ko suruh "turunkan key" ke. Itu aku akan cover dalam lesson lain. But yang aku nak sebut kat sini ialah pasal instruments yang dipanggil "transposing instruments". Let's use the piano as a reference, since piano is a "non-transposing instrument". Katakan pianist main note C, and dia suruh ko main note C jugak. You both will be playing the same note, and if the octaves match, it will sound the same. But kalau dia suruh pemain trumpet, atau saxophone main note C, bunyi dorang lain. The reason is, Trumpets (except for C Trumpets) and Saxophones (except for C Saxophones) are transposing instruments. Trumpet yang common, contohnya Bb Trumpet, kalau nak bunyi yang sama dengan note C piano, dia kena mian note D. Kalau Eb Alto Saxophone pulak kena main note A untuk dengar macam note C piano. Actually, gitar pon sebenarnya transposing instrument gak. But gitar sebenarnya transpose satu octave lower than written. Kalau tak paham jangan risau. Unless ko main dalam jazz band, or an orchestra, you probably don't need to know know too much about it. Aku tau benda ni pon sebab dulu aku main trombone untuk school band mase skolah menengah dulu. But kalau curious gak pasal benda ni, gi baca ni.

Aku Punye

Home Downloads Lessons Soal Jawab About

Date Created: 11/13/2010 Last Updated: 11/14/2010

Asas Rentak (Rhythm)

Bila sebut pasal rhythm, dalam dunia gitar ni, ade at least dua maksud. Satu maksud dia macam main backup. Like, "you play the lead, I play rhythm". Satu lagi erti rhythm ni, erti yang applies to music in general ialah "time value" satu note tu. Yang ni aku nak bincangkan kat sini. First skali, cuba dengar sample ni. Dalam sample ni ade dua part.

So, which one sounds better? First part ke second part? Kalau jawapan ko first part, well, I'm sorry to say, I think your taste is a little bad. Maybe pada ko first part tu lagi bagus sebab lagi laju, siap ade tapping lagi. But kalau dengar part lead tu berbanding dengan drum beat, you can tell that first part ni berterabur gak. Timing tah ape-ape. The second part pulak lebih teratur. (I know it's still not perfect, but better than the first part).

Itu yang patut kita aim bila main muzik. Tak kira lah main lagu yang dah sedia ada, atau improvise something. You should always follow the beat. I notice that some people don't pay enough attention to the beat, some tend to focus on playing their favorite licks as fast as they can, to show off their chops perhaps. They don't always think about what they're playing in the context of the beat. But music shouldn't be about how fast you can play. You have to play the right notes, and follow the beat. And kalau ikut instructor aku, dia kata kalau screw up, lebih baik main salah note daripada screw up the rhythm. Itu pentingnya rhythm ni dari pandangan dia. Kalau pikir balik pon betul gak. Bile orang dengar ko main, orang nak layan, they move their body, or bang their heads, what are they following? Your scales? Your arpeggios? Your sweap picking? No. They follow the beat. And they expect what you play to follow the beat too. Yang aku maksudkan dengan follow the beat tu bukan lah kalau satu bar (or measure) ade empat beat ko main empat note jek. No. Maksud aku, ape yg ko main tu cuba pikir dalam konteks beat tu. Maybe ko nak bahagikan satu beat kepada dua note yang sama panjang. Maybe ko nak main 3 note dalam satu beat. Or setengah beat ko nak main dua note, lagi setengah beat main satu note. Apa-apa pon, beat tu panduan kita. I've been playing music for a long time. And aku mengaku la aku punya rhythm pon tak tight lagi. Honestly, one of the reasons why aku rasa aku ni masih suck dalam main gitar ni ialah sebab rhythm aku tak tight lagi. That's actually the major reason for it. And aku memang plan nak improve on that. I think it's more important to play tight rhythm than to work on my picking techniques. You know, bile aku record, sometimes I made so many takes. And for the most part, aku terpaksa record ulang-ulang kali sebab aku reject takes yang rhythm aku agak kantoi. Even the take that made it to the final mix aren't perfect enough when it comes to rhythm sometimes. :( Aku tulis artikel ni actually sebab aku nak cuba explain macam mana nak main TAB terbaru aku. TAB goreng lagu Nurnilam Sari. But the usefulness of this knowledge goes beyond playing that solo. It's helpful in pretty much everything else you play. This might seem boring a little, but trust me, it's such a valuable knowledge.

Parts of a Guitar Score

Dalam gambar kat atas, yang section belah atas tu dipanggil Standard Notation. Yang belah bawah tu, which I think most of you care about the most, dipanggil TAB, short for tablature. Aku rasa aku tak payah nak cover TAB, since you probably know how to read it. Standard notation ni menunjukkan pitch yang patut dimain, and panjang note tu. Lokasi kepala "taugeh" tu in the vertical direction menunjukkan pitch dia. So kalau kepala taugeh tu tinggi kat atas, pitch yang dimainkan tinggi la. Well, most of the time, kalau aku baca, aku tak baca pitch dia, unless kalau aku main classical, since classical tak (sepatutnya) pakai TAB. Untuk pitch aku just tengok TAB punya line jek. But untuk rhythm, I read the standard notation. It's important. That's why la aku malas nak baca ASCII tabs out there, since it won't tell you a whole lot about the rhythm. So when I read, I read both the pitch from the TAB, and the rhythm from the standard notation. Clef tu pulak menunjukkan macam mana nak baca pitch dari standard notation tu. So I won't cover that. Just know that kalau gitar, it's gonna be on Treble Clef (G Clef), as shown above. Bass pulak pakai Bass Clef (F Clef). Key signature aku dah cover sebelum ni a little bit dalam video pasal program yang aku share tu. Time signature ni penting dalam rhythm.

Time Signature, Note Value etc.Dalam TAB kat atas, Time Signature (sometimes called "meter signature") dia 4/4. Bukan empat per empat ye, since ni bukan pecahan. It's just "four-four". This is an extremely common time, sometimes orang tak tulis 4/4, dia just tulis "C" jek, which stands for Common. Kebanyakan lagu rock dalam this time. Apa maksud 4/4 ni? Angka yang belah atas menunjukkan bilangan beat dalam satu bar (measure). Angka yang belah bawah menunjukkan jenis note yang menerima satu beat. So kalau angka bawah tu 2, maknanya half note (1/2 note) menerima satu beat. Dalam contoh kat atas, quarter note (1/4 note) adalah note yang menerima satu beat. You'll also see 8 or even 16 at the bottom. Apa maksud half, quarter, eighth or sixteenth note ni? Keep reading.

Yang ni dipanggil Whole Note. Yang belah kiri tu whole note yang mesti dimainkan, yang belah kanan tu "rest symbol" for one whole note. Rest ni maknanya ko kena senyap for the duration shown. Note-note lain yang akan ditunjukkan semuanya relative kepada note ni. Whole note ni dalam system US. Dalam system British whole note ni dipanggil Semibreve. But since aku US educated, aku akan refer by the American standard. And I think it makes more sense. You'll see.

Yang ni pulak dipanggil Half Note (1/2 note). Yang paling kiri tu rupa half note bile "stem" dia kat atas. Yang tengah bila stem dia kat bawah. Direction stem tu tak penting. Yang belah kanan skali rest symbol dia (half note punya rest dekat line ke 3 dari atas, whole note punya rest dekat line ke 2 dari atas). Nilai panjang half note ni ialah setengah dari nilai panjang whole note.

Dalam British system half note ni dipanggil Minim. So, like I said, half note ni panjang dia setengah dari panjang whole note. Mana lagi senang nak ingat? "Half note" ke "minim"? I think it's easier to remember "half note".

Yang ni dipanggil Quarter Note (1/4 note). By now korang dah boleh agak yang mana satu note, yang mana satu rest. And korang mesti dah boleh agak, nilai panjang note ni berbanding dengan whole note, right? So, quarter note ni panjang dia sama dengan satu per empat (suku) panjang whole note. Jadi, quarter note ni panjang dia setengah dari panjang half note. Dalam British system note ni dipanggil Crotchet.

Yang ni dipanggil Eighth Note (1/8 note). Likewise, panjang dia satu per lapan panjang whole note, satu per empat panjang half note, dan satu per dua panjang quarter note. The first three symbols aku rasa korang dah boleh faham. But the last symbols ni menunjukkan dua half notes yang di"beam" kan together. So gambar kat atas ni menunjukkan dua note yang patut dimainkan, satu rest, pastu dua note yang sama yang perlu dimainkan. Dalam British system note ni dipanggil Quaver. Make sure sebut betul-betul. Eighth note, bukan eight note. Eighth maksudnya "satu per lapan", eight pulak "lapan" jek.

And in blues yang in 4/4 time, sometimes kita "swing" the eighth notes. So kalau lagu tu kena swing, it means that the eighth note that happens on the down beat is longer than the one on the up beat. I won't go there now, I don't wanna confuse you.

Yang ni pulak dipanggil Sixteenth Note (1/16 note). Lebih kurang macam eighth note, tapi ade dua "flags". Jumlah panjang dia korang wajib dah boleh agak. Dalam British system note ni dipanggil Semiquaver.

Yang ni dipanggil Thirty-Second Note (1/32 note). Dalam lesson ni, ni note yang paling pendek aku akan ajar. By now I trust that you can guess what the value is. Kalau tak boleh, baca balik. Dalam British system note ni dipanggil Demisemiquaver.

Gambar kat bawah ni menunjukkan relative note values yang kita dah belajar so far.

So, satu whole note = dua half note. Satu eighth note = dua 16th note etc.

Lagi satu aku nak cover kat sini ialah Dotted Note. Tengok gambar kat bawah ni.

Tu contoh dotted note. In this case, that's the Dotted Half Note. Panjang dia 1.5 panjang half note. So dot ni tambah panjang note yang didotkan sebanyak setengah pajang asal dia. So kalau nampak dotted quarter note pulak, panjang dia ialah 1.5 kepanjangan regular quarter note.

Simbol yang melengkung kat atas yang sambungkan dua note ni pulak dipanggil Tie. Tie ni gabungkan dua note yang sama pitch dia. So dalam gamba kat atas ni, nilai panjang dia sama dengan Dotted Half note yang aku tunjuk kat atas. So, you might be wondering, kenapa tie sedangkan boleh dot jek kan? The answer is, sometimes kita tak boleh dot jek. Contohnya kalau ko nak gabungkan half note dengan eighth note. Lagi satu, bile kita transcribe sometimes kita kena asingkan note tu dan gabungkan pakai tie for proper notation style. I won't go into that. Be careful, tie ni rupa dia macam Slur kat bawah ni.

Slur ni legato, or in guitar-speak, it means either hammer-on atau pull-off. Slur ni untuk pitch yang berbeza. Tengok gamba tu, kepala taugeh dia kat tempat lain.

Kat bawah ni pulak is what we call Triplets.

Dalam contoh ni, first measure ade lapan eighth notes biasa. Second measure pulak ade eighth note triplets. In 4/4 time, satu eighth note ni panjang dia setengah beat. Eighth note punya triplet pulak panjang dia satu per tiga beat in 4/4 time. So kalau main triplets kat atas ni, setiap beat ko bahagikan kepada 3 bahagian. That is the relatively easy triplet to learn. Well, triplets sounds a little odd. Janggal sebab pembahagian dia tak genap. But if you put it at the right place, it'll sound interesting. There are other triplets, and other n-tuplets that I won't cover here. I don't wanna confuse you.

So, at this point aku dah explain panjang satu-satu note tu berbanding dengan whole note. And memula tadi aku dah kasi tau ape maksud angka-angka dalam time signature. Put the knowledge together.

Macam aku cakap tadi, 4/4 time ni ade empat beat dalam setiap measure (angka atas). Setiap beat sama dengan quarter note (angka bawah). Dalam gambar ni semua measure lengkap. Tengok 3rd measure, ade empat quarter notes. Tengok 6th measure, ade 32 thirty-second notes. Last two measures pulak ade whole note rests. Apakah kelajuan piece ni? Tengok Speed indicator kat atas. Dia tulis Quarter note = 60. Maksud dia, dalam satu minit, ade enam puluh quarter note. And time signature cakap satu quarter note ialah satu beat. So, speed lagu ni ialah satu beat per saat. (FYI, dalam classical music tak tulis exact speed lagu tu). Now tengok video kat bawah ni, aku demonstrate macam mana bunyi dia. Also aku tunjuk different time, macam mana nak kira and all.

Lagi satu aku lupa nak mention dalam video tu ialah Pickup Measure, ataupon technical name dia Anacrusis. Anacruisis ni berlaku dekat the beginning of the song. Contohnya macam dalam gambar kat bawah ni.

So kalau ko kira rhythm dekat first bar tu, jumlah dia 3 beat jek kan? That's fine in this case. It just means that lagu ni start on the weak beat, the second beat.

Another thing that may confuse you is the Grace Note.

You may think that somehow the total of that bar is 4.5 beats. But no, yang eighth note kecik tu dipanggil Grace note. Grace Note ni tak kira dalam kiraan jumlah beat dalam satu bar. It just means that whole note tu actually kita tak main in full, that particular grace note takes a little bit of the whole note.

Practical TrainingOk, tadi tu sume theory. But you're probably not a nerd like me, you wanna know how to apply it right? A good way of practicing would be with a metronome. Set metronome tu kepada beat yang tak laju sangat. Pastu try main Half notes with it. And then try main quarter notes. And then eighth notes. And then 16th notes. Increase the speed after you're comfortable with that speed. But sebelum naikkan speed, make sure korang boleh main semua tu dengan consistent. Try la main each one of those for a minute or so until you are confident that you can be consistent. Dalam video ni aku kasi suggestion cammana nak practice dengan metronome.

Counting VisualizationSo aku dah ajar cammana nak count verbally, macam mana nak hentak kaki. In 4/4 time, the common time, this is how you'd visualize it, for each measure. Yang red dot ni bila ko start main note tu (the last red dot is the beginning of the next measure). Yang garisan melengkung ni visualization motion kaki kau (but you don't have to move sideways, your foot should just tap at the same spot of the floor), and it also indicates the length of the note.

Yang atas ni untuk Whole Note. I think it's still a good idea to count it like One and Two and.. Macam kira eighth note, it's just that ko cuma main note tu dekat "One" jek and hold it until the end of 4th "and". That way you'll be playing the full value of the whole note.

Yang ni Half Note pulak. Just like what I said about counting whole note, kira jek dengan "and".

Yang ni pulak Quarter Notes.

Yang ni pulak Eighth Notes.

Sixteenth Notes.

Thirty-second Notes. Ha, tu pasal la susah nak kira.

Yang ni pulak Eighth Note Triplets. Notice that panjang satu note dia lagi panjang dari 16th notes, but lagi pendek dari 8th notes.

ClosingSo ape guna belajar sume ni? That way korang boleh faham macam mana standard way of organizing rhythm. Bile orang karang lagu, they don't just write random stuff that nobody can transcribe. It's organized in terms of beat. Sometimes ade lagu yang takde beat. Or at least part of it. Contohnya macam intro lagu Another You tu. In that case, you're free of the beat. You can do whatever you want as long as it sounds good. But bile ade beat, you should follow it. You should play in the context of the beat. Kalau main bantai jek goreng selaju yang mungkin, it'll sound disorganized. Maksud aku bukan la kalo korang karang lagu, korang kena pikir eighth notes bla bla bla all the time. It all comes down to what sounds good right? But kalau dah paham benda ni, hopefully you'll have better rhythm, and whatever you play will sound more organized. Aku bukan nak kate jangan main laju. If you can keep up with the beat, do it whenever appropriate. It's just that pada aku beginners usually are too obsessed with speed, that they don't pay attention to other important aspects of music. Dalam sample audio yang aku tunjuk memula kat atas, the way aku record it is like this. First part tu, aku record takde beat, takde drum. Aku just main laju-laju. Pastu baru aku letak drum. So the drum and the guitar lines were created independantly. That's why it sounds a little disorganized. Yang second part pulak aku dah tau beat dia. And aku play along, aku decided yang the first few notes aku nak jadikan 16th notes, etc. The result is this (in 4/4 meter).

So, when I think about it in the context of the beat, the result is better.

Lagi satu, kalau nak buat TAB Guitar Pro cam aku ni, memang kena tau rhythm notation. It's the most important prerequisite. And kalau reti baca rhythm ni, nak main ikut TAB (TAB yang ade standard notation la) pon jadi lagi senang. Kalau baca fast phrases contohnya, you can see on which beat you should finish certain part of the phrase. Dalam video lagu Nurnilam Sari (Solo) yang aku akan post soon, aku tunjukkan kepentingan pengetahuan pasal rhythm notation ni. Instructor aku aritu ade tanye kat class. If you're performing with a band, siapa yang responsible for keeping the beat and rhythm tight? Immediate response aku drummer la kan. He said no. EVERYBODY is responsible for that. He's right. Kalau sorang bercelaru satu band sounds bad. So, you need to learn rhythm. If you're still not convinced why you should know this, just know that it helps in your effort to be a better musician. Why the hell won't you wanna learn it? And honestly, yang aku tunjuk kat atas ni are the most basic. I didn't even cover half of what I know about rhythm. Kalau aku ajar semua yang aku tau pasal subject ni, you might get discouraged. So, I give you the basics, you go from there. Somebody brought it to my attention and aku lupa nak address kat sini in the previous revision of this article. When I say practice with metronome, develop tight rhythm, yang aku maksudkan bukan la wajib boleh main sampai 1 microsecond accurate. No. We're not learning to be robots. We're humans, with certain degree of imperfection. It's ok to be slightly off, but yang kena avoid ialah being too off that it sounds bad. Or main ikut suka hati as if the song has no beat, like you're in the world of your own. Aku analyze many songs thoroughly and I can say that takde record yang extremely perfect in terms of rhythm. Mesti ade part yang contohnya gitar just a tiny bit lambat dari cymbal hit at some point. It's fine, it's only human. But if it's too noticeably off, that can be bad. So bile practice dengan metronome, don't be ultra obsessed with accuracy (but if you wanna be a shredder, I think shredding requires a higher degree of accuracy in rhythm and technique). And when you're playing in a band, there's no way anybody can maintain the tempo like a machine. You can't practice with a metronome enough to prepare you to play with your

bandmates. You have to practice with each other, get used to each other's tendencies and imperfections. Use the metronome as a practice tool wisely. Sebagai penutup, aku nak share a verse of 70's classic, You Make Me Feel Brand New, by the Stylistics. Without you, Life has no meaning or rhyme, Like notes to a song out of time, How can I repay you for having faith in me That's how bad poor timing is, it's like losing somebody you love. :P

Good luck.

Kalau nak baca lagi, I'd suggest this one.

p/s: Here's a good example of someone who knows rhythm extremely well. This is percussionist Assaf Seewi. Dengar betul-betul. Dia bukan sekadar main laju jek. He's playing in tight beat. And he's not only playing in 4/4 meter. Sometimes dia main dalam meter yang pelik-pelik gak, yet still sounds really good. Aku Punye