Hey how you doing Justin back with you
today we're going to talk about how to
tap your foot. Yeah you heard right, we're
gonna learn about how to tap your foot and
why actually and we're gonna start with
that so I'm sure you've seen people tappin
their foot along with their playing guitar
and you might have wondered why they're
doing it, t's giving yourself an external
pulse, something to help you keep time.
The only thing in our body that gives us a
regular time is our heartbeat, we don't
really want to follow that because that
should be a relatively consistent beat and
we might be playing faster or slower or
whatever, so we need this external thing
to help us keeping the groove, ok we're
gonna learn how about playing with the
metronome which is that little tick-tock
thing a little bit later on but the first
step really is about tapping your foot.
and you would normally tap your foot
on the beat. Now in most music most of
the time you're gonna have 4 beats to the
bar so 4 pulses these count one two three
four and you would normally tap your beat
just on the 1 2 3 and the4, not the rhythm
of the song if the rhythm is going
ding-ding-ding ding-ding-ding whatever you
would just keeping your foot playing
on the one two three and the four so what
I want you to do this week is start to get
in the habit of tapping your foot along to
the music whenever it's on. Give yourself
some time to do it. Go and listen to some
music where you can feel the beat and
start to practice tapping your foot along
Ideally you want your foot to tap along
subconsciuously s it becomes this little
automatic part of your brain so as soon as
there's music going on your foot just
starts tap in time with the music.
Let's talk about how we tap our foot now.
Assuming you are a right-handed guitar
player you wanna tap your left foot, not
your right foot.If you tap your right foot
your guitar is gonna jump up and down
that's gonna make changing chords and
strumming and picking out notes really
difficult, ok...so if you're gonna tap
your foot make sure it's your...no if you'
re going to tap your foot, you are going
to tap your foot. If you're right-handed
you're gonna tap your left foot and if you
are left handed you're going to tap your
right foot, ok, get into the right habit
from the beginning.So here's my left foot
Now the question is where do I tap and
how do I tap. So most people I guess
instinctevely would assume that you tap
your toes and there's nothing really wrong
with that to be honest, I don'think it's
the best thing because if you're tapping
like that for five minutes you will find
that the muscles in the front of your shin
will kind of get pretty sore. Probably
after a few weeks of practicing it won't
matter so much and you'll be used to it
but I think it's better to tap the heel go
for a heel tap that you're kind of using
your whole leg to feel that beat there
And definitely if I'm standing up I find
tapping my toes feels a bit weird
I'm much more inclined to tap my heel
I mean actually truth'd be told if I'm
standing up I generally kind of step side
to side so I'm not really tapping my foot
but,whether you use your toes or your heel
it doesn't matter to much if you're new to
it like I said I think my reccomendation
would be the heel but if you wanna use
your toes that's gonna be fine,I guess you
got to try both of them see what feels
good. Some people like using other parts
of their body like I said I tend to step
side to side if I'm standing up I would
definetely tap my foot if I'm sitting down
Other people I've known kind of use their
neck like that, it looks a bit weird I
think but if that's what's working for you
that's ok you know,you gotta be feeling it
you know and feeling that pulse and gettin
used to feeling the music and feel where
the beat is a really important part of the
beginner journey. It might not seem that
important in the initial stages but
there's a lot more to it you know it's not
just about the mechanics of tapping your
although that's important as well. It's
learning to feel the pulse. So it's your
kind of homework, what I'd like you to do
is to be tapping your foot every time
there's music on except when you're in the
car that could get kind of dangerous right
so, maybe not in the car but everywhere
else when there's music on just try to tap
your foot along trying to listen to it
feel where the beat is and then start
tapping your foot ok either your toes or
your heels if you're out in public you may
be feel a bit conscious self conscious
doing that then maybe tap your toes inside
your shoe now I'm gonna make a big motion
there so you can see my toe moving but
more likely it could just be you know
just a little movement, it doesn't have to
be a public display that you're feeling
the groove ok you just want something to
develop the relationship between you and
the music ok for most beginners the first
couple of weeks is a really painful
experience for the fingers then it moves
into oh I can't change chords fast enough
to play the songs and after that comes oh
my rhythm's not really working very well
I don't feel like I'm in time or I'm
struggling to keep the rhythm consistent
developing the skill of tappin your foot
and learning to communicate with the music
some way physically will really help and
the best way to do it is just all the time
try to connect with music when there's
music on. ok, it' really it might seem a
little far-fetched but it will make a
much more difference than you probably
realize that it will.