The other night at our song circle a fellow from out in the country dropped in to play with us. He gets here about twice a year. He plays a loud, but good sounding Gibson ala Earl Scruggs (He's even got Scruggs' autograph on the head!), but the poor guy just cannot play in time. He's so far out that most of the guitarists and other rhythm instruments just grind to a stop. And he trys a lot of neat tunes, which he obviously knows how to finger, just not play.

One interesting thing I noticed is that he started a tune (Old Joe Clark) with bare fingers in what he called "clawhammer" style (it was more like Pete Seeger's up picking) and he held time real well. Then, as the tune was passed around the circle, he put his fingerpicks back on and as soon as he started up he was totally off.

We all kind of politely implied that his rhythm needed work. But I got to wondering -- how, exactly, do you teach someone to play on the downbeat? It's one thing to know you're off, but another to take corrective action. I don't think a metronome is going to do it for him. He says his wife plays guitar with him, but since she wasn't there, we don't know if she can hold a beat or not.   

I don't want to give up on this guy because he's really trying, but how do those of you who've taught sit someone down and teach them timing ??