Musical Timing Quotes

I started playing piano with a little band in high school. I was terrible. I thought I had absolutely no talent. I couldn't keep time. I only got into McGill, which was a lousy music school, because they were taking American music students.

How to play music may be known. At the commencement of the piece, all the parts should sound together. As it proceeds, they should be in harmony while severally distinct and flowing without break, and thus on to the conclusion.

There is a difference between being a timekeeper and keeping the pulse or being in step with the pulse in the band.

I think it's beneficial to practice with a metronome or drum machine in order to strengthen your sense of time. It will help your concept of time and improve your feel.

He comes in on the beat and plays on top of the beat. I think when Prince makes love, he hears drums instead of Ravel.

You can't outdo 'Street Songs' and I didn’t even try. [It] had that special magic that comes with timing and good vibrations and you can't even try to capture that exactly again.

It is never right to play ragtime fast.

Just because you're not a drummer doesn't mean you don't have to keep time.

I wanted to develop a guitar style where phrases and lines get there just in the nick of time, like with Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper. Subtleties mean so much, and there is a stunning beauty in them.

I had some proper training, but that was only on snare drum. Learning all the techniques in marching bands and realizing how important it is to play tight set a standard for me for when I did get into a band.

Some of [drummers] drop time because they want to hear what you're doin'.

So, first you have to be able to play with a metronome. Then you take your freedom. If you play in an orchestra, you got to watch the conductor, he is like a metronome, but it is more difficult because he can change rhythms.

I have all the rhythm in my left hand, and I use the rhythms that Gene Krupa did on his drums.

Drummers are conductors - we set the pace for the music - so if you're not relaxed and feeling right, the whole thing goes out the window.

I wanted to play the drums, but I had no rhythm.

I have an erratic drummer for anybody who's just listening to this, he can keep time, but just in spurts.

You can't compete with Sweets' sound and time feel. It's impossible.

I love when rappers have a off-beat, very abstract timing, and he certainly did.And any rapper who really approaches rapping with the art form of songwriting melodically - I know a bunch of rappers who actually go in before they write the lyrics and come up with the melody. And you can hear and feel that difference so much when that's the case.

Simon: Anyone ever tell you your sense of timing really sucks? Derek: That's why I don't play the drums. Now what's up?

Rests always sound well.

While you're learning guitar, figure out the drums, too. Not only does it help you have great timing, but it helps you understand how a band works.

And if you are playing in several meters at once, there has to be a - not a rigid - but there definitely has to be a reference to a common pulse in the band.

I've always really liked the rhythm element of songs.

I don't use a Beatmap; I don't use any click track. Any time I count off, it's just in my heart. Sometimes I'll go off the feel of a crowd, like if they way they're bouncing is a little quicker than the song, I might kick up the tempo a little bit. I see where the crowd is at. It's nothing drastic, but all the tempos are from my internal clock.

The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes ah, that is where the art resides.