Need help, any tips for someone who has no rhythm? strumming problems?

I have a friend who's been playing guitar for ten years but he's never gotten lessons and i'd say that he hasn't made much progress in the last 9 years. i started playing drums a year ago and i jam with a few of my friends but jamming with him is tough. he has no sense of time, tempo, rhythm, etc.. he has no instincts, he can't improvise, his strumming is all over the place and its very hard to get him to play even simple, repetitive parts in time with my drums. and no, there's nothing wrong with my playing.

is a person like this hopeless, devoid of natural ability, or are there exercises they can do to help them improve? are these things you have to have in you or can they be learned? you can't teach someone who can't sing how to sing, all you can do is teach someone how to sing better. does the same apply here? i told him to start practicing to a metronome but i honestly don't think he even realizes it when he's not playing in time. i don't know what goes on in his head but it must be fascinating. any tips or exercises or directions to good online lessons would be greatly appreciated,

thanks

ps. just to give you an example, i spent 15 minutes trying to get him to do 8 downstrokes in a row in time with my hi-hat, all i did was sit there hitting 1/8ths on my hi-hat at maybe 100bpm, and it took him 15 minutes before he could do it twice in a row without missing a beat.

Heres a suggestion....get him to play the drums....seriously.! Have you tried him on the drums. Or simply druming to a piece of music. It reminds me of an experience years ago....learning to dance ...ballroom dancing to the beat and rhythm of the music. Some people took a long time to get it too. However they did get it eventually.....as a consulation. Hope its of some help. NZed

beat.

If he's been playing for ten years and can't strum in time I would say he's hopeless.

beat.

I don't know if he's hopeless, but he's going to have to work harder than someone with natural rhythm.

My timing was 'okay' years ago but not great. What I started doing was drumming with my hands or fingers on my knees, tables or whatever other surface was handy. I would do it along with recorded music or when no music was playing and would try to imitate drum parts. This wasn't a conscience effort to improve my timing, I was just fidgety and like banging away to music but I did notice that my timing when playing guitar seemed to improve. Of course, that could also be through regular practice, but I think that it probably helped.

He should also play along with CDs or whatever to get used to playing in an ensemble. One of the tough thing for young musicians to get over is that once the beat has passed, you can't go back to fix a mistake (outside of punching in when recording). Have him learn some songs and play along with them. If he finds it helpful, have him tape himself when playing along to the CDs so he can hear his mistakes.

I think NZed is onto something ... Dancing really helped my playing. So does practice, metronome, hearing tape, tapping along. But at one point

Simple solution.......PRACTICE!

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Tell him to tap his foot.If that doesnt keep him in time then theres something wrong with the poor simple minded fool.

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Youve nailed it. I was going to suggest he pick up the drums for a couple of months, but it doesnt sound like hed be capable of that even.

Three solutions: (i) Get him to do pentatonic BLooZ noodling. With his complete lack of talent or creativity he'll feel right at home with the purveyors of the Great American Cultural Invention. (ii) Get him interested in the hardware (amps, FX, instruments) and he can pretend he is a six string devil player like all those bedroom strat strummers who post to alt.guitar.effects about how to get a 'rig' and sound like Stephen Vai/ Bert Weedon/ The Singing Postman/ Stephen Raymond Vaughan et cetera etcetera but never actually play a note of music (except, of course, for five minutes of over amplified shite at your local BLooZ jam/ open mic night). (iii) Join a swimming club.

i don't know what goes on in his head but it must

As we all (or some of us know) in Rock music there is 4/4 time. All he needs to do is learn to count. 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4. Learning what needs to be done on which count will help out also. Trouble is he is not picking up his guitar until the exact moment he comes over to jam with you. If this is true there is nothing you can do to get him started on the learning process.