The note duration is determined by a single or a double line.
If it’s a beam with a single line then those are 8th notes counted as ‘1 and 2 and’.
A double line is used to beam 16th notes, counted as ‘1 e and a 2 e and e’.
You’ll sometimes see that beats 1 and 2 are grouped together, as well as beats 3 and 4.
I always thought that grouped notes indicated a different pulse. So in the second example I would think beats 1 and 3 are stronger than 2 and 4, but I’m not sure if that’s true.
Thanks this was a great help. I look forward to more of your lessons.
HI all. I have been back at guitar (and now piano and singing) for a few months now, and I have noticed just how difficult it is for me to play in rhythm.
I do my best to use a metronome, but I find myself very often out of time.
I am not sure what to do, although during my search, I found this thread.
So my question then is, is the Rhythm maestro course the way to go? do that and then I would think a lot of practice. There is also that cool video at the start with the hopscotch style layout of the dude using pens on the table as the metronome plugs away, is this something that will help get rhythm engrained in my head?
mr not rhythm over here needs some help 
Hi @bkennedy74. Rhythm & timing are essential elements of music and need to be practiced. How far along the JG courses are you? There are rhythm lessons all through grades 1, 2 and 3, and Justin also has a strumming SoS course.
Rhythm Maestro is useful & short as well (I’ve done it) but it may not be as useful to you if you’re struggling to keep time. It’s definitely not going to hurt.
I struggled with rhythm and timing. Strumming SOS helped me a lot.
The problem with always is that we are too fast. Slow the metronome down, as slow you need to stay in time. You can speed the metronome up in no time.
I did Justin’s course years ago, like 8+ and got pretty good, however I sort of stopped off his course after learning a lot of chords, then I jumped around alot, doing too many things, then I stopped guitar altogether. So now I started again, I am up to like grad 1 Dminor
However, I am building solid foundations and not getting ahead of myself, and a major roadblock I am encountering in piano as well is playing in time.
I’ll look into SoS (I might even have that from when I first did his course lol)
The strumming SOS is a paid course? Is that the right one?
My suggestion for getting the rhythm ingrained is obviously use the metronome but equally important count OUT LOUD with the metronome. A classical guitar teach taught me this and it made a huge difference
Yeah, from my last 24 hours of research it seems like it is get the metronome running and clap, then have different patterns and clap.
Then do muted strumming
Do muted strumming with different BPM and different patterns
Do all of the above with chord changes.
I will finish off maestro. I have an understand of music notation, whole half quater etc, I guess now it is really just doing a lot of basic stuff with those to make it second nature.
I don’t want to complicate it, I usually do that with everything else.
Hello Mr “no Rhythm” 
Mrs “I’m developing some Rhythm” here 
The Strumming SOS is just great and will help you a lot. Regarding the Rhythm Maestro I followed the lessons but instead of working on the strumming patterns and materials provided on the website I did and I keep on doing my practice on Justin’s Rhythm Book. On the Book you don’t have patterns but 4/4 bars of random rhythms…from the very beginning I could perceive that that kind of practice kind of developed flexibility in my brain, my listening skills (which were really poor) improved drastically and I learnt to identify strumming patterns in songs while listening. If you’re are only half as much desperate with your Rhythm as I was I suggest you start tapping the Rhythms with your hand, without a guitar, so you’ll focus on the Rhythm aspect only. It’s my intention to work on the Rhythm Maestro materials as well, but I perceive them as more advanced while the practice on the Book seems to me a better approach for those who lack the basic skills.
Thank you for such a detailed reply. Ill grab a book like this and just ‘clap practice’ separately to help improve that.
Hi Jeremy. It is just two ways to show the same thing. No difference in actual music and what is played.
It is a common issue Bret. Strumming SOS is great. All who have taken the course recommend it. https://www.justinguitar.com/classes/strumming-sos
Also try this topic: Counting and keeping time when playing to a backing track - #5 by Richard_close2u
Ad try some of the live clubs perhaps or check out the resources from the club archive:
Are there videos of the sessions? or just the pdf’s?
The recordings are not published, it is a live event. I write extensive follow up notes that give full guidance on the content of the session so you should be able to make use of that.
I’ve only just watched this lesson today and I’m quite shocked to find it in Grade4!
This is real basic stuff and is what students should be doing in Grade1, right at the start of their learning. It would lay the foundation of rhythm right from the start and save some of the anguish about rhythm that some carry through to following grades.
I have an ear training app on my phone that has this kind of rhythmic dictation. You clap or tap along to written notation and metronome. At the end of each exercise it tells you if you were correct or not and also if you were on, ahead or behind the beats and half beats. The exercises get progressively harder and you can up the tempo of each exercise.
I’m not sure if I should name the app because I know Justin has his own apps, @Richard_close2u ?
David @BurnsRhythm
I tend to agree with you Grade 4 is quite late on for first lesson in the course. I would have thought Lesson 1 should perhaps be in Grade 3 or even Grade 2. As you say the rhythm underpins everything.
I came across it a while ago and thought with a bit nervousness I would give the final test another go, the one with changing chords. Managed to get it right.
I have had the other two lessons on my to do list for quite a while, must get around to doing them.
Michael
@MAT1953
That emphasises my point exactly, Michael.
You’re at a stage (G3,4,5…) where that exercise should be a piece of cake. “Managed to get it right” tells me it maybe wasn’t altogether easy for you. If you had done this lesson in G1, then it would be old hat to you by now and your progress through the grades would have benefited from it.
I haven’t looked at the next two lessons either yet but this one should be much earlier in the grades.
This lesson was a breeze for me because I did this stuff way back, probably in school. I appreciate that not everyone did that - which is why it should be taught much earlier.
David @BurnsRhythm
Sounds as though I did emphasised your point.
I used the word “managed” as I had to listen to question 4 a few times to convince myself I had it right.
Your statement about doing this sort of thing at school, is relevant. I didn’t do music at school so my knowledge about music was zero until started to learn the guitar, well perhaps not quite I knew what the notes on the lines of the stave, only as general knowledge thing, had no idea what the notes were in the spaces.
I suppose this shows we come to learning from different musical backgrounds of knowledge so Justin has difficult task deciding what and when. It is interesting though that Richard did rhythm early on in his vintage club.
Michael
@MAT1953
Richard knows the importance of rhythm, and so of course does Justin.
So why Grade4 before this pops up?
Clapping along and counting out simple rhythms is school kids stuff.
Thinking back…it’s what we did in primary school. When I went to secondary school, most of the kids had no such musical experience. It was grammar school - all about academia!!
