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How to Teach Someone to Count Music & Hear the Beat

Hearing the beat in a song is a lot easier than most people would ever imagine. Play a song to someone for the first time and, even if the listener has never heard it before, he will start tapping his toes to the beat. Counting is a little more difficult, but with practice and patience it can be done.

Things You'll Need

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Instructions

    • 1

      Tap your toes up and down while sitting on a chair. Practice this for a while, seeing if you can keep a steady pace.

    • 2

      Count to four out loud while tapping. Each time your toes hit the ground is a new number. In 4/4 time, each count is a quarter note. Most rap and hip/hop music is in 4/4 time. This means you can count to it by saying "1 - 2 - 3 - 4, 2 - 2 - 3 - 4, 3 - 2 - 3 - 4, 4 - 2 - 3 - 4." The first number on each group of four numbers represents the measure.

    • 3

      Play a song and listen to the drums, bass or rhythm guitar and practice counting, tapping along with the beat. It also helps to throw in a little head nod.

    • 4

      Sync the lyrics to your toe tapping. This means you should be able to tell when a line of vocals will finish and get ready for the next one. A line of lyrics will most likely finish when you hit the fourth down beat. This is because most songs follow the rule of measures.

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