tfaux - Posted - 11/12/2009:  09:44:06

Do you generally tap your foot on the downbeat ("bum") or the offbeat ("dit")?

Tom

Axeman79 - Posted - 11/12/2009:  09:51:29

I always tap on the downbeat, which is usually with the percussionist base drum. But, in everything I've read, it is different for different people. It is fun to watch a band play and not have there feet synchronized

Axeman

If the minimum wasn't good enough...it wouldn't be the minimum.

tomberghan - Posted - 11/12/2009:  09:58:29

You didn't mention what "time signature" you are referring to, but in 4/4 time I always pulse to the "Two and the Four beats."

George Flink - Posted - 11/12/2009:  10:07:20

I don't tap at all. When I try to, I throw my self off. The motion of my hand sets the beat.

george craciun - Posted - 11/12/2009:  10:09:50

I toe tap occasionally, and usually on the downbeat.

Back Porch Picker

farmer bob - Posted - 11/12/2009:  10:15:43

I always toe tap whenever I have a free toe to tap. I never checked whether its on the up or down beat. Each toe has a mind of its own and just starts in wherever its appropriate... Bob.

ZEPP - Posted - 11/12/2009:  10:22:52

I usually tap on the downbeats. When I clap along with things (e.g., at Benjamin's Story Time at the library), I usually clap on the back beats.

Cheers,
ZEPP

tonehead - Posted - 11/12/2009:  10:27:43

I tap both beats. Kinda looks like I should have tried the decaf.


Play it like you mean it.

minstrelmike - Posted - 11/12/2009:  10:28:39

I try to avoid foot-tapping.

When I don't, I go all out and tap right and left on different beats.

Mike Moxcey
http://moxcey.net/mike/minstrel/index.html

LyleK - Posted - 11/12/2009:  10:29:37

We were taught in band class to tap our feet on the downbeats, mostly in anticipation of "taking the field" at halftime (ick, I don't miss those days) when your feet should strike the field on downbeats. In orchestra the conductor would have glued our shoes to the floor if possible. Following band praxis, I tap on downbeats. In homage to orchestra, I occasionally don't tap my foot (every 236th measure or so?).

LyleK
http://lylewk.home.comcast.net

ramjo - Posted - 11/12/2009:  11:21:30

I tap on the down beat. It happens unconsciously, and when I become aware that I'm tapping, I usually get lost. By the way, tapping doesn't help me maintain a steady rhythm; to my great annoyance, I generally speed up as the tune goes on.

Harreec - Posted - 11/12/2009:  11:30:30

buming, dittying and now toe tapping thrown in...how will I ever learn!

Harry

RatLer - Posted - 11/12/2009:  12:00:38

How would I know...I'm just a banjer picker...

RatLer

Chris Dean - Posted - 11/12/2009:  12:08:16

I always tap my foot to the beat. Sometimes I divide and subdivide the beat in my foot. I am always subdividing in my head though. I also also establish my beat and play to the beat, instead of bring the beat to my playing. This will help you play more rhythmically precise, much like using a metronome.

~Chris

Christopher W. Dean

Bill Rogers - Posted - 11/12/2009:  12:17:11

I don't tap.

Bill

KE - Posted - 11/12/2009:  13:04:45

non-tapper.

jojo25 - Posted - 11/12/2009:  13:14:40

depends on various factors

I love to tap on a wooden floor...concrete is very unfriendly in that regard, but even there I sometimes can't help myself, but my old legs soon start to complain about that unforgiving slab!

Mostly I do the downbeat, sometimes both...some tunes just seem to have that infectious something such that ya just gotta move your feet

I concur with the poster who said their clawing hand keeps the time for them...and I usually do suffice with that...but not always

Don't forget to play all of the quasihemidemisemiquavers!!
Drop thumbs, not bombs

Joe

tfaux - Posted - 11/12/2009:  14:29:43

I usually tap my foot on the beat, but I like to clap-along on the offbeat, gospel-style.
I've been trying to train myself to tap my foot on the offbeat and am finding it fairly difficult.

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 11/12/2009:  14:41:20

If I tap one foot it is on the back-beat. If I'm tapping both feet they tend to be on opposite beats.


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PF. - Posted - 11/12/2009:  15:28:02

i ussualy tap my right foot on the down beat and left on the up. Sorta like a walk. I guess that comes from being a drummer for 12 years.

banjoak - Posted - 11/12/2009:  17:36:06

I sometimes do the right left thing, sometimes do the forward and back thing (like heel and toe idea). Just on the down and offbeat at the boom and chuck. Sometimes one is more subtle. Usually just in response to the music, like clapping along. Sometimes to tell others where the beat should be. My view is if you're gonna tell them, tell them in a big way, not some wimpy slight toe tap. Sometimes no tap at all.

I never understood the concept of using feet as a metronome, especially those that do evenly every beat (4 or 8 in the Boom Chuck) Your foot is only gonna be as good as your internal sense of rhythm, which should be manifested in your hand.

Edited by - banjoak on 11/12/2009 17:44:45

stringbeaner - Posted - 11/12/2009:  17:44:09

This thread sort of reminds me of an old tenor picker I used to see on TV back in the 50's. He'd come out with a banjo and draggin' a wooden stool. He'd siddown and start strumming some tune like 'Sweet Georgia Brown'. Pretty soon his foot would start tapping a different rhythm from what he was playing. He'd try to get them working together but just when it seemed like it was about to happen, the banjo would start into a waltz and he'd have to line them up again. In context it was really pretty funny.

I usually tap on 1 and 3 in 4/4 time, 1 - 3 - 5 in 6/8 and 1 in 3/4. I don't hardly tap in 5/4. But sometimes I do.

Stringbeaner

Dock Jekel - Posted - 11/12/2009:  18:58:32

I always tap down with the down beat, kick thigh up, with the up beat.

mandocaster - Posted - 11/13/2009:  23:29:37

I tap (or stomp my heel) on the downbeat. But sometimes I don't.
I even built an electronic stompin' board with a piezo pickup in it to plug in to the p.a. or bass amp - sounds like a kick drum.

When I make music I feel God's pleasure

janolov - Posted - 11/13/2009:  23:51:06

I kick down on the bum and up on the dit

.

Jan-Olov

Gudfala - Posted - 11/14/2009:  05:15:53

I too tap on floor boards on occasion for the percussive effect. Always on the downbeat.

"When you want genuine music -- music that will come right home to you like a bad quarter, suffuse your system like strychnine whisky... just smash your piano, and invoke the glory-beaming banjo!" ~ Mark Twain

rudy - Posted - 11/17/2009:  05:14:45

Offbeat, but it drives TT craaaaaaazy!


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tubaphonethumper - Posted - 11/20/2009:  10:21:53

Hi thumpers,
When I was a kid and playing my fiddle, if I wasn't beating my foot when I was practicing, my dad would come along with hsi # 12 boots and stomp on my delicate little foot so as to remind me to beat my feet. He said if you don't beat a foot, then you have to at least swing your butt, sway your shoulders or do something with some part of your body so that you can feel it physically when you try tom slow down or go faster. Today I use my right foot for the down beat and my left foot for the up beat, and lots of time I am swaying my body also.
i got kicked out of the Mid-Columbia Symphony 34 years ago because I couldn't break myself of the habit of beating my foot. Thank God I was. Now I am actually having fun with music.
Edna Mae[

JSCB - Posted - 11/20/2009:  10:42:25

I don't tap my foot and actually prefer that others I play with don't either or at least keep it soft. It is very interesting to see/hear how different people count differently. Also there is more to playing than counting. I have heard and played a lot of 4/4 that would pound anyone into the ground .So keep it light and tight.