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The Rhythm Code
There is a hidden system behind successful songs
Rhythm is the most overlooked topic in songwriting, even though it's one of the most important aspects of it. You can make a huge impact on your listener if you create a better rhythm with your melodies, chord progressions, or bass lines. A good song just makes you move. That is the power of a good rhythm.
But what makes a good rhythm? Nobody knew it until the Rhythm Code™.
What’s the Rhythm Code?
The Rhythm Code is a hidden system behind many successful songs. It is used by all successful songwriters, even though they are probably not aware of it. The Rhythm Code is used in ALL genres: pop, rock, jazz, EDM, country, funk, R&B, Latin.
What do you mean by “hidden”?
The Rhythm Code is a hidden system the same way a musical key is a hidden system. For example, in a song, there are melodies, chords, intervals, and they all give us CLUES that they are in a common system: we call this tonality or “key”. For example “the key of C major”.
A typical song doesn’t necessarily contain all the notes of the C major key, yet we know that it’s in the key of C major. Because we know the theory of the hidden system behind it. But even if the song does contain all the notes of the key, you don't hear all the notes at once... but if you collect all the notes of the song, you can see that there is a system in it. A system that we call the "key".
The same applies to the rhythm. After analyzing hundreds of songs, I realized that there is a very similar hidden system in musical rhythm.
We have had a theory for tonality for a very long time now, but this is the first time we have a similar theory for rhythm.
Why is it important?
The Rhythm Code is the most popular rhythmic system on the planet. It is used by ALL top producers and songwriters. People like Max Martin, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Adele, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, and so on. Even though they are probably not aware of it.
It’s an extremely useful hack for songwriters and producers because, with the help of the Rhythm Code, we can create better grooves, better melodies, better drumbeats, better bass lines, better horn arrangements. It is literally everywhere in the song arrangements in highly successful songs.
Remember, rhythm is not only drums and percussions. Melodies have a rhythm, bass lines have a rhythm, in fact, every single note in your music is placed on a timeline, which we call rhythm.
This is how I found a hack for musical rhythm
In 2010, I got the idea of writing my own songs in the style of Cuban Salsa. (Which is kind of weird, since I’m not Cuban.) The problem was, even though I played some Cuban songs before, I didn’t know anything about how to create those complex rhythms to arrange my own songs.
So I started to transcribe many of those songs and analyzed their rhythm to understand them. What the horn section is playing, what the piano, the bass, the drums are playing. Unconsciously, I came up with the idea of creating a visual “map”, kind of like a guide that helped me create salsa arrangements. And it worked!
My first Salsa song became relatively famous amongst salsa dancers around the world. They sent me many videos from 50 countries where they dance to my song. On top of that, a hotel in Havanna, Cuba used this song in their promotional video. (This was kind of a big deal for me, a Cuban hotel promoting Cuba with my song.) And many people are still surprised when they found out that this song is not made by a Cuban band, but by a songwriter from Europe.
It was only later that I realized that this “map” of rhythm is not only in Cuban music. It’s literally everywhere. One of my biggest surprises was when I realized that the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams is using the Rhythm Code.
Since then, I analyzed more than 2000 songs in popular genres. It turns out, the Rhythm Code is everywhere. Do you want to know the biggest secret of Max Martin? It’s not melodic math. It’s the Rhythm Code.
Rhythm is the most overlooked topic in songwriting, even though it's one of the most important aspects of it. You can make a huge impact on your listener if you create a better rhythm with your melodies, chord progressions, or bass lines. A good song just makes you move. That is the power of a good rhythm.
But what makes a good rhythm? Nobody knew it until the Rhythm Code™.
What’s the Rhythm Code?
The Rhythm Code is a hidden system behind many successful songs. It is used by all successful songwriters, even though they are probably not aware of it. The Rhythm Code is used in ALL genres: pop, rock, jazz, EDM, country, funk, R&B, Latin.
What do you mean by “hidden”?
The Rhythm Code is a hidden system the same way a musical key is a hidden system. For example, in a song, there are melodies, chords, intervals, and they all give us CLUES that they are in a common system: we call this tonality or “key”. For example “the key of C major”.
A typical song doesn’t necessarily contain all the notes of the C major key, yet we know that it’s in the key of C major. Because we know the theory of the hidden system behind it. But even if the song does contain all the notes of the key, you don't hear all the notes at once... but if you collect all the notes of the song, you can see that there is a system in it. A system that we call the "key".
The same applies to the rhythm. After analyzing hundreds of songs, I realized that there is a very similar hidden system in musical rhythm.
We have had a theory for tonality for a very long time now, but this is the first time we have a similar theory for rhythm.
Why is it important?
The Rhythm Code is the most popular rhythmic system on the planet. It is used by ALL top producers and songwriters. People like Max Martin, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Adele, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, and so on. Even though they are probably not aware of it.
It’s an extremely useful hack for songwriters and producers because, with the help of the Rhythm Code, we can create better grooves, better melodies, better drumbeats, better bass lines, better horn arrangements. It is literally everywhere in the song arrangements in highly successful songs.
Remember, rhythm is not only drums and percussions. Melodies have a rhythm, bass lines have a rhythm, in fact, every single note in your music is placed on a timeline, which we call rhythm.
This is how I found a hack for musical rhythm
In 2010, I got the idea of writing my own songs in the style of Cuban Salsa. (Which is kind of weird, since I’m not Cuban.) The problem was, even though I played some Cuban songs before, I didn’t know anything about how to create those complex rhythms to arrange my own songs.
So I started to transcribe many of those songs and analyzed their rhythm to understand them. What the horn section is playing, what the piano, the bass, the drums are playing. Unconsciously, I came up with the idea of creating a visual “map”, kind of like a guide that helped me create salsa arrangements. And it worked!
My first Salsa song became relatively famous amongst salsa dancers around the world. They sent me many videos from 50 countries where they dance to my song. On top of that, a hotel in Havanna, Cuba used this song in their promotional video. (This was kind of a big deal for me, a Cuban hotel promoting Cuba with my song.) And many people are still surprised when they found out that this song is not made by a Cuban band, but by a songwriter from Europe.
It was only later that I realized that this “map” of rhythm is not only in Cuban music. It’s literally everywhere. One of my biggest surprises was when I realized that the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams is using the Rhythm Code.
Since then, I analyzed more than 2000 songs in popular genres. It turns out, the Rhythm Code is everywhere. Do you want to know the biggest secret of Max Martin? It’s not melodic math. It’s the Rhythm Code.
- GenresMusic
128 pages, ebook
Published January 1, 2022
33 people are currently reading
830 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 24, 2022
It's a great analysis and revelation of the rhythmical system that is used by the most successful songwriters. Something I was completely unaware of, yet it's so obvious in hindsight. This theory gave a new dimension for how I think about music. If you are a songwriter or producer, this book is a must read!
May 17, 2022
I'm reading this book for the third time. Not because it's hard to understand, but because it's so important, and I have learned a lot of interesting things about music and rhythm. I'm studying music for almost thirty years now but none of my music teachers or books ever approached music the way the author does. Honestly, this is a groundbraking idea in music theory.
September 6, 2023
Perhaps new to many but given that I'm studying jazz, just about all the information was also present a century ago. At least the books I read from the 1950s and 1960s already speak of rhythms much as this book is rediscovering. Does this make the book irrelevant? I guess not since the older books are focused on other areas (jazz, a combination of African rhythms and Western harmony). Still, those infatuated with this book should continue searching for older books about rhythm and learn so much...
December 7, 2023
This book completely changed how I think about music and rhythm, it's a real eye opener.
Read
March 11, 2023This sounds like the sort of book that can improve your songwriting, particularly for dance music where you need to stick to repetitive patterns. We often focus too much on words and melody but forget the underlying rhythmic structure. I would love to read this book!
May 2, 2025
I've read a number of books about music theory. They are all about harmony and harmonic progressions. This book is different. It is all about rhythm. I have always believed that it is rhythm that makes a song distinctive. This book shows why.
The author, Bodzsar Tamas, has analyzed the rhythm behind hundreds (thousands?) of Latin songs. He shows that most of these songs use a certain rhythm, called a son clave, or a slight variation. This book explains the rhythm, and then shows dozens of examples of popular songs that follow this rhythm, with small variations. Usually it is the percussion instruments that use the rhythm, but other instruments -- especially bass -- and vocals do, too.
And it's not just Latin songs. Tamas has shows that songs in a wide variety of styles and genres also follow his rhythm code. He shows a statistical analysis of the rhythms of thousands of songs; percussion beats are classified as occurring rarely, occasionally, and often.
I remember shopping at a keyboard store many years ago. A salesman told me that keyboard players (like me) are rhythmically illiterate. How right he was! The Rhythm Code might be second nature to a percussionist. But to me, it was a revelation. Now I see how to listen to understand rhythms. It might even help me in my composing!
The author, Bodzsar Tamas, has analyzed the rhythm behind hundreds (thousands?) of Latin songs. He shows that most of these songs use a certain rhythm, called a son clave, or a slight variation. This book explains the rhythm, and then shows dozens of examples of popular songs that follow this rhythm, with small variations. Usually it is the percussion instruments that use the rhythm, but other instruments -- especially bass -- and vocals do, too.
And it's not just Latin songs. Tamas has shows that songs in a wide variety of styles and genres also follow his rhythm code. He shows a statistical analysis of the rhythms of thousands of songs; percussion beats are classified as occurring rarely, occasionally, and often.
I remember shopping at a keyboard store many years ago. A salesman told me that keyboard players (like me) are rhythmically illiterate. How right he was! The Rhythm Code might be second nature to a percussionist. But to me, it was a revelation. Now I see how to listen to understand rhythms. It might even help me in my composing!
May 27, 2025
Il libro descrive brevemente un "sistema" (chiamato Rythm code dall'autore) per creare la parte di ritmo di una canzone.
Il sistema è sviluppato su 2 misure da 8 beat:
M M H L H M M H M M L H M M H M
dove L, M e H sono beat con rispettivamente basse, medie e alte probabilità di trovare uno stop, cioè una nota senza note nel beat seguente.
La pecca è che il sistema è troppo generale. Cosa significa probaliltà bassa? o alta?
Inoltre il sistema può comprendere uno o più strumenti assieme (e/o più piatti della batteria).
E' così generale che lo si potrebbe vedere applicato ad ogni canzone.
Il capitolo che dovrebbe essere il più importante, "Come usare il sistema per creare canzoni" è solo di due paginette. Il contenuto consiste in note che rafforzano il fatto che il sistema è generale:
- "Non tutti gli strumenti devono seguire il sistema"
- "Non vede necessariamente essere applicato a due misure"
- "Non tutte le barre devono seguire il sistema"
Il sistema è sviluppato su 2 misure da 8 beat:
M M H L H M M H M M L H M M H M
dove L, M e H sono beat con rispettivamente basse, medie e alte probabilità di trovare uno stop, cioè una nota senza note nel beat seguente.
La pecca è che il sistema è troppo generale. Cosa significa probaliltà bassa? o alta?
Inoltre il sistema può comprendere uno o più strumenti assieme (e/o più piatti della batteria).
E' così generale che lo si potrebbe vedere applicato ad ogni canzone.
Il capitolo che dovrebbe essere il più importante, "Come usare il sistema per creare canzoni" è solo di due paginette. Il contenuto consiste in note che rafforzano il fatto che il sistema è generale:
- "Non tutti gli strumenti devono seguire il sistema"
- "Non vede necessariamente essere applicato a due misure"
- "Non tutte le barre devono seguire il sistema"
June 7, 2023
If you could sum up this book on one word it is this :Clave
Learning about clave rhythm. I would give this book two stars but because I couldn’t really read through the whole thing I more or less zoomed through it I’m giving him the benefit of doubt. The book is inundated with multiple examples of clave and use of his template called the rhythm which I think or feels like is basically built of the concept rhythm clave. Again I raced skimmed through this hoping to find some tips on building different kind rhythms but it seems like it’s just mostly about clave rhythm .
Learning about clave rhythm. I would give this book two stars but because I couldn’t really read through the whole thing I more or less zoomed through it I’m giving him the benefit of doubt. The book is inundated with multiple examples of clave and use of his template called the rhythm which I think or feels like is basically built of the concept rhythm clave. Again I raced skimmed through this hoping to find some tips on building different kind rhythms but it seems like it’s just mostly about clave rhythm .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2023
I'm pretty sure that anyone who gave less than 5 stars for this book didn't understand it, or haven't even read it. (One of the reviewers even admitted he didn't even read it through.) The Rhythm Code is truly a groundbraking theory that you won't find in any other music theory books. It's a very useful tool for music creators.
December 14, 2023
This book will make you an expert in rhythm.. I'm a session musician for more than 20 years now and worked with hundreds of musicians so far. I'm keep asking my friends if anyone every heard about these concepts but so far, NOBODY. This book made me realize we were literally BLIND about rhythm before this book! How is this not a standard in all the freaking music schools???
May 11, 2022
It is an excellent book. It's not just a music theory book, but it actually gives us a very practical method that we can apply when we write music. My songs definitely sound better because of this method.
November 13, 2022
I LOVE this book! Already read it in one day (128 pages!) and trying to utilize the things I learned in it. I feel like this was a missing link in my music. This is one of those rare books that really teaches you something useful.
Want to read
July 10, 2022Superb
October 25, 2022
This is a truly brilliant method! I'm surprised it's not more popular.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews