Hi Lee, your books are terrific as is the site. Really helpful stuff.
My question is around timing & rhythm. I feel like I have no natural sense of rhythm and that whatever consistency and flow I achieve always comes from brute force effort and constantly feels like it’s going to slip away any moment. What’s the best way to develop an ear for timing and rhythm, and the “feel” for the hand and finger coordination needed to improve this weakest aspect of my playing? Even guitarists without a great repertoire or a ton of flashy skills sound great when they can play a nice steady beat and sustain it come what may.
I’d love to improve this basic skill before I dig too much deeper on the more technical stuff we talk about here – or at least give it 50% or more of my attention for a while. I am working more with a metronome these days, and it certainly helps. What else can I do to boost progress?
Whatever the problem, it’s almost certainly fixable otherwise you wouldn’t be able to keep time on the ragtime. Keep at it and try to work out where it’s going wrong for you. Find one particular song you struggle with and use that to work with – try to keep time first without the guitar, just tapping. Go from there.
