# Can't figure out the rhythm of opening 5 seconds



## mozilla2004 (Nov 1, 2020)

Hi Everyone

I'm trying to transcribe something to music score notation. I'm still new to music and i"m struggling to identify the correct pace/rhythm to the first few seconds of Street Fighter 2 End Credits theme.

Here's the original:




I want to transcribe the part from 13 second to 18 second. So I tried this:









Noteflight - Online Music Notation Software


Noteflight is an online music writing application that lets you create, view, print and hear professional quality music notation right in your web browser.




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But something doesn't sound right to me and I can't tell exactly what. I think maybe ibecause there's not enough space/time between the first measure and second measure? I've tried different duration notes, but nothing feels right.

Can someone suggest correction?


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## Grab n Go (May 1, 2013)

Melody at 0:13 comes in on beat 2. That might be throwing you off. Listen for the snare. It's on beats 2 and 4.

You can notate that by adding a quarter note rest for that bar and two bars after.


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## mozilla2004 (Nov 1, 2020)

Grab n Go said:


> Melody at 0:13 comes in on beat 2. That might be throwing you off. Listen for the snare. It's on beats 2 and 4.
> 
> You can notate that by adding a quarter note rest for that bar and two bars after.


Recognizing the drum beats and hearing the rhythm is such a big struggle for me. It could take me hours just to figure stuff liek this out (if ever). Are there more basic exercises I can do to recognize stuff like this better?


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## Grab n Go (May 1, 2013)

mozilla2004 said:


> Recognizing the drum beats and hearing the rhythm is such a big struggle for me. It could take me hours just to figure stuff liek this out (if ever). Are there more basic exercises I can do to recognize stuff like this better?


Just counting along whenever you're listening to music helps. In your head or out loud. Most of what we listen to is in 4/4 or 3/4. Count the main beats first: 1 2 3 4 (or 1 2 3).

For lots of straight ahead rock or pop, the kick is always beat 1 and 3 and snare on 2 and 4.

Once you're comfortable with that, try only verbalizing beats 2 and 4, or 1 and 3. Or only a single one of the four beats. Isolating beats helps you get a feel for them.

Eventually, you can learn to subdivide the beats into smaller values (eighth notes and sixteenth notes) and count them as well. Drummers do this all the time.

The other thing is notation. Pick any sheet music and learn to count the note values out loud. This is the less fun "piano lesson stuff". There are probably tons of YouTube videos on music rhythm exercises.


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## mozilla2004 (Nov 1, 2020)

Grab n Go said:


> Just counting along whenever you're listening to music helps. In your head or out loud. Most of what we listen to is in 4/4 or 3/4. Count the main beats first: 1 2 3 4 (or 1 2 3).
> 
> For lots of straight ahead rock or pop, the kick is always beat 1 and 3 and snare on 2 and 4.
> 
> ...


When it comes to music in general, I feel like I have a mentally difficult time listening to "all the layers as a whole". So for example if I listen to a piece of music and focus on counting the drums, that's the only "layer" of the music that I'm able to pay attention to. I feel like I can't mentally expand my brain to match it up with the melody lines, rhythm guitar, or bass guitar. Is that a typical challenge for peopel just learning music?


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

Have you tried listening to classical music? It is more subtle generally in how the layers are played. See if you can listen to some and pick out the drum/tympani along with the clarinets and flutes. With rock and it's usually faster and more "in your face" and may be overstimulating you while trying to hear more. It'll come, it just takes time if you are new to playing music. That's how I see it myself. What may be easy for one, can be difficult for another. Don't count yourself out (no pun intended) too quickly. Give it time.


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## Grab n Go (May 1, 2013)

mozilla2004 said:


> When it comes to music in general, I feel like I have a mentally difficult time listening to "all the layers as a whole". So for example if I listen to a piece of music and focus on counting the drums, that's the only "layer" of the music that I'm able to pay attention to. I feel like I can't mentally expand my brain to match it up with the melody lines, rhythm guitar, or bass guitar. Is that a typical challenge for peopel just learning music?


Yeah, it takes some practice to hear everything. But you have the right idea. Focus on individual elements first. Then see if you can pair two elements together, maybe bass and kick drum to start, or snare and guitar. It takes some focusing, but it becomes easier with time.

You can tap along or drum your fingers to patterns that you hear in different instruments. Anything you can do physically will also help you internalize what you're hearing. Or dance if no one is watching 😁.


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## mozilla2004 (Nov 1, 2020)

Thank you @Verne @Grab n Go , excellent advice. I will try all of this and give it time. Part of the reason i want to learn music notation is because I want to eventually read classical music. When I just listen to classical music, it's nice and all, but I don't "see what's happening". But when I visually see notes line up on a music notation measure, then my "brain clicks", and I remember it next time when I try to play it.

And a side story...a few months after picking up a guitar (when i was still a teenager), and with no other music knowledge, the first song I tried to play with a group of friends was One by Metallica. I struggled to keep my timing while playing the rhythm guitar. My friends who are all musically trained, kept saying to, "listen to the drums." And listen for that "beat", or that "snare" or something like that. But it was too cognitively intensive for my brain....The best description I can give is that it was like my left and right hands can't work together. If i try to pay attention to the drums, then I mess up on the guitar. If I pay attention to the guitar, I lose track of the drums. And in the One song, the drums just sound "weird" to me, because too many guitar notes don't fall on "a pronounced drum beat"...My solution was to just keep practicing and follow my own "internal clock", and hope my internal clock eventually matches up with the drums. And luckily during the live performance at our school show, my internal clock was mostly in sync with the drums for that day.

It's been a struggle....


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

Practice with a metronome. It will help with outside beat not just your internal. Find a song you like and get the metronome as close to the beat (or half if it's a fast tempo) as you can and then it's just you and the beat of the metronome. It's a fairly inexpensive tool to own.


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## mozilla2004 (Nov 1, 2020)

Verne said:


> Practice with a metronome. It will help with outside beat not just your internal. Find a song you like and get the metronome as close to the beat (or half if it's a fast tempo) as you can and then it's just you and the beat of the metronome. It's a fairly inexpensive tool to own.


YES!!! The metronome has been tremendously helpful. I always leaving it on any time I'm playing guitar or ukulele. Sometimes I leave it on even if I'm just working at my computer...I want to get use to the clicks and think about it all the time.


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