Foot tapping fast songs

1

Foot tapping for a song in 4/4 at 60 bpm is straight forward and not too taxing on your leg or foot. At 180 bpm it is a different story.

When I first started only practicing 4/4 beat songs I did my best and tapped even for tje fast songs (eg Blowin in the Wind BD). Since practicing other time signatures like 6/8 and 16th note strumming I am considering how to tap the fast songs in 4/4.

Is it advantageous to continue the fast tapping for faster songs (ie > 160 bpm), or is it more effective to tap at the start of the measure and skip beats 2-4? Similar to 16th note or 6/8 strumming keeping in mind the emphasis on each beat in a 4/4 is consistent.

Thanks in advance for yor responses.

Attila

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2

I’m looking foward for the responses as well. Thanks for the question Attila. In a song lesson Justin says he’s tapping only on 1 and 3, I think it’s Karma Chameleon, not sure. I think it’s advisable to tap on 1 and 3 with the 16th notes fast strumming. I know Flamenco players tap on just 1 and 3.

3

On high bpm songs, I find myself just naturally foot tapping at half-speed, i.e. on the 1 and 3.

4

I’d also be interested if anyone taps on 2 and 4.

5

I have heard a teacher (David Hamburger, to be precise), recommend practicing with a metronome clicking on beats 2 and 4. I have never tried it, but I think the idea is to get the feel of accenting beats 2 and 4, which much of blues, rock and country music does.

That’s not the same as toe-tapping on 2 and 4, but I thought I would throw it out there.

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6

So does Josh Skaja, in the following free course…which I found to be the best deep dive on metronome use that I have ever seen.

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8

I have learned foot tapping this way.

  1. Heal down
  2. Toe down
  3. Heal down
  4. Toe down.
    It took me a while to get it down, but it’s becoming more automated. The teacher called it half time foot tapping. Because you don’t count ups when you raise your toe it takes some getting use to.