The Magic Of Harmonic Rhythm
One of the coolest ways to get the most out of writing and practicing chord progressions is to experiment with ‘Harmonic Rhythm'. The term ‘Harmonic Rhythm' is used to describe the length or duration of each chord that is played in a progression. By experimenting with different types of harmonic rhythm, a single progression of chords can take on many different sounds. After many years of playing, I've found that many songs actually use the same combinations of chords, but by changing the harmonic rhythm or duration of each chord, many different variations can be created.
When building a chord progression, many song writers will play each chord for a full measure of beats, like this:
|| D Major | A Major | G Major | D Major ||
1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
This is a fairly standard type of progression. By using variations of harmonic rhythm, each chord could be 'expanded' beyond a single measure, or 'compressed' into less than a measure. Here are some examples using the same progression of chords:
|| D Major A Major | G Major | G Major | D Major ||
1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
|| D Major | A Major G Major | D Major | D Major ||
1+2+3+4+ 1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
1+2+3+4+ 1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
|| D Major A Major | G Major D Major ||
1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+ 3+4+
1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+ 3+4+
|| D Major A Major | A Major G Major | G Major D Major | D Major ||
1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
Even though each of these progressions follows the same basic outline, each progression has a different sound. To make things even more interesting, try adding in some rests or pauses between some of the chord changes. For example:
|| D Major (rest) A Major (rest) | G Major (rest) | G Major | D Major ||
1+ (2) 3+ (4) 1+2+ (3 4) 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
1+ (2) 3+ (4) 1+2+ (3 4) 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
|| D Major | A Major (rest) G Major (rest) | D Major | D Major ||
1+2+3+4+ 1+ (2) 3+ (4) 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
1+2+3+4+ 1+ (2) 3+ (4) 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
With examples like this, you'll find that what you DON'T play is just as important as what you DO play. To make things even more interesting, you might experiment with changing chords on the ‘off beats'. This is often referred to as ‘Synchopation" and is a very common technique that song writers use to give their progressions more personality. For example:
Let's say you started with this progression:
|| D Major | A Major | G Major | D Major ||
1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+ 1+2+3+4+
And then you added in some faster changes from chord to chord by using harmonic rhythm:
|| D Major A Major | G Major D Major ||
1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+ 3+4+
1+2+ 3+4+ 1+2+ 3+4+
From here you might change the rhythmic approach (strumming pattern) to put some of the chord changes on off beats like this:
|| D Major A Major | G Major D Major ||
1+2 +3+4+ 1+2+3 +4+
Notice that the use of synchopation means that some of the chord changes now happen on up strums instead of down strums. This type of off beat chord change is a big part of the sound of many songs, and is something that you will run into a LOT of as a guitarist. Some of my favorite progressions by bands like the Beatles, the Who, CCR, Crosby Stills and Nash, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin as well as many others will incorporate combinations of harmonic rhythm, rests and synchopation. This means that every time you learn a new group of chords, you can practice all of these different variations to really get a lot of mileage out of just a few shapes.
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
Nate
Thank you for the tip. Going to try it out.
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Very cool lesson.
Now I've got something to work on this weekend...keep up the great work.
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