One of the best ways to improve your timing and turn you into a rock-solid musician is to learn how to properly tap your foot.  So why aren't people doing it right?  Why is it so challenging? Why is it one of the most important ways to unlock your ability to play and stay in time?  This is a concept you might be working on for a while, but it will pay MASSIVE musical dividends for you.

Tapping your foot is one thing.  Tapping your foot while playing different rhythms with your hands?  Well, that's another thing altogether.  Now that you can tap your foot like the pros, time to take the challenge up a notch by clapping your hands to different rhythms.  It may be trickier than you thought!!

We'll take this foot-tappin', hand-clappin' challenge up to another level entirely when you grab your own instrument (whatever that may be) and play different rhythms while maintaining a steady beat with your foot.  Christopher also discovers his own physical challenge with tapping the "wrong foot" for your instrument!

Now that you are building independence with playing and tapping your foot, we take you through specific eighth-note rhythms to challenge you.

Now that you know how to tap your foot while you are playing/clapping 8th note rhythms, Christopher introduces how the foot works when you play simple 16th note rhythms. The most important thing to remember when you are practicing these Rhythm/Timing videos is not that you play the correct rhythm...it's that you play the correct rhythm while tapping your foot in the correct way!

Now that you've worked out playing some simple 16th note rhythms while tapping your foot to a steady beat, we introduce more challenging rhythms.  If you can keep your foot tapping while clapping or playing these rhythms, you'll be on your way to Rhythmic Mastery.

In this lesson, Christopher gives you a very challenging rhythmic exercise that can take your timing to the next level.  It may take a while (certainly longer than watching this video), but the results will be HUGE!!

After spending many lessons tapping your foot while clapping 8th notes (2 rhythms per beat) and 16th notes (4 rhythms per beat), we now investigate how you tap your foot when clapping 8th note triplets (3 rhythms per beat).

In this video, Christopher explains an alternative tapping idea that is much more challenging.  However, there will be musical instances where this technique is actually better to use.

Most people understand how to play 8th note in a beat.  Each 8th note rhythm is equidistant.  We call these types of rhythms "Straight" 8th notes. But we also have a rhythm that is also considered 8th notes.  These are called "Swing" or "Shuffle" 8th notes. You may have been playing swing 8th note for years and not have understood where they came from.  The mystery will be revealed!!

Christopher does a very deep dive in this unit to demonstrate ways to combine these two very different rhythms.  He even does an impromptu jam on a recorder, which goes about as well as you might think!

Unlike 8th-note triplets, which have their own unique feel, 16th-note triplets are centered around our good ole buddy the 8th note.

Now that you can play all the subdivisions you need to know, we'll work on how you can learn to practice them all.  We do a VERY deep dive into many different ways to work on practicing your rhythms.

After learning everything you need to know about tapping your foot and clapping/playing all various subdivisions, we now put your knowledge to the test with the Ultimate Subdivision Practice! The biggest challenge now is that you'll be playing all these subdivisions with your scales.

Why is this called Subdivisions For Psychos?  Because you might have to be a bit crazy to try the exercises Christopher shows you in this unit!  That's because he'll have you changing subdivisions on every beat!