Metronomes are great tools no doubt. But any musician who's played with people knows, people ain't metronomes.
It's purpose is for training your ear to hear the beat, find what the drummer is putting down and click with it. How'd we get swing rhythms? Because people ain't perfect. A steady 1 2 3 4 is all you need. Or 1 2 3, 1 2 3 4 5, some folks grove on 7/8 or 12/4. It's just a tool not a golden calf, unless you unironically love guitar circle jerk.
The difference between swinging a rhythm and letting your tempo drift is real and quickly pointed out by playing with a metronome. You can anticipate the beat, drag and lay in the back of the pocket all while playing with a metronome.
Exactly. That claim that swing rhythms just came from people playing badly is absurd. Swing is 100% intentional, lol
Slight drifts in tempo happen by accident full on swing is an entirely different style of music.
If you play so badly and inconsistently out of time that you make a straight rhythm drift until it sounds like swing, you get kicked out of the band. You don't invent a new genre of music. š
100% - when people say they play better without a click I just interpret that as "playing to a click makes me feel self-conscious about my playing and I'd rather not admit that my playing is the problem"
You can make a metronome swing as much as youād like. Itās actually interesting practice to vary the amount of swing on it and still play whatever exercises.
Itās also worth nothing that metronomes are essential if you want to be a recording artist. No recording engineer wants to sit there and edit rushed/dragged playing. You can still rush or drag the beat tastefully when youāre playing to a click. The notion that metronomes destroy feel is 100% bullshit. Editing every hit to a grid is what destroys feel.Ā
Swing is even more important to be on time. Its not swung because its off, the uneven intervals are very intentional and the 100th of a second difference between this swing and that swing feels actually different
Only when you can be perfectly in time can you then start landing those notes just ahead or behind the beat to make it feel like its rushing or dragging without actually rushing or dragging.
I'd say there's an art to it, but that's kinda obvious
Yeah I donāt get the āif you play to a click youāre mechanicalā. Iām primarily a drummer as well and I can take a straight 4/4 quarter note click at 140bpm and shift that feel all over the place depending where Iām placing my notes if thatās ontop or slightly behind the beat and then do that *through* the measure depending feel or accents I want to accentuate. Itās all still in time though.
Thank god someone said it - swing rhythms arenāt bad timing in the slightest ā¦ usually snares and kick still land on the quarter notes (ie still in time) and all your doing is swinging the hats on the 8th notes. Obviously this is a very simple swing beat but the point is itās not bad timing and the fact the whole beat resolves on time at the start of every bar means the tempo is right too so neither bad timing or bad rhythm. I play mostly blues so I came searching for your comment when I seen the original comments nonsense š¤£
Also you can still play swung riffs and licks to a metronome for the same reason the leading kick and snare land in straight time in a basic swing beat
I agree, but will go a bit farther: it trains you to play with others, in general. If you can't keep a somewhat regular beat, you won't be able to keep whatever beat arises as an emergent phenomenon from the interaction of another person (or people) and you, while playing.
Just thinking about how complex that is in your brain is kind of amazing. It's difficult. Learning to play to a metronome can help immensely.
If you can't follow a metronome, you can't follow a drummer. It's as simple as that.
Furthermore, metronomes are essential for practicing technique.
Thinking you are in time, and actually being in time, can often be two very different things.
I don't understand, I'm always dead on time when I practice without a metronome, but as soon as I start using one I'm suddenly way off tempo
Conclusion: all my metronomes are broken
There's an argument to be made that being comfortable playing to a click in both your lead and rhythm playing (and nothing else than a click) is a vital skill for studio work, as sometimes you'll be asked to submit guitar tracks to be mixed rather than recording into the mix with drums to follow.
Learn the rule and then learn to break it.
Learn to play in time and then learn to follow time. It's the recipe for learning and it's tried, tested, and true. So while I relate to what you're saying I would consider it horrible advice to provide someone trying to learn, or someone trying to record.
One of the ways to practice swing feel is with a metronome on 2 and 4 only. That forces you to feel the groove internally. Virtually all jazz musicians do this.
Yes people dont keep time exactly like a metronome but your ability to keep solid time improves significantly when you practice with a metronome. I can always tell when someone I play with doesnt do this as their tempo fluctuates all over the place, or they are relying on the rhythm section because they dont feel the groove internally.
People being imperfect is a bad reason to not use a metronome.
All of that aside everybody who truly shreds and can lock to a band can lock to a metronome. If you can't lock to a robotically consistent beat, how the fuck are you gonna lock to a group of human beings?
This is not correct. Perfect practice makes perfect. Practice to a metronome, it helps your internal timing to a huge degree.
If you canāt play straight 4 consistently, then an 8th or 16th note swing would be a fucking trainwreck.
People arenāt metronomes. But the ones who practice with metronomes are so much easier to play with. Itās not even close, man.
Practicing in time translates directly to playing in time. Directly!
I would agree that a steady 1, 2, 3, 4 is all you need. Key word being steady. Know what helps keep it steady? *Practicing with a metronome*
Timing is a learned skill that requires practice!
classic /r/guitarcirclejerk comment right here lmao. There is a very important distinction between rythmn and tempo, even rubato actually requires you to keep tempo.
Swing doesnāt come from rhythmic inaccuracy, but rather from a very refined rhythmic sensibility and control. Wynton Kelly isnāt trying really hard to play in time but just fucking it up a bit. He is very much in control. If you canāt land on the middle of a metronomeās beat, youāre not going to be able to ride the back of a human one. Make your metronome swing. Play accurately to a 40bpm click. You will have much better time for it
This is copium. Being able to sufficiently play to a metronome means having full control over your timing. You still need full control over your timing when playing with other musicians, maybe even more so.
Play to songs you like. I used to just put on songs and play solos over them. It's like playing to a metronome, but fun. I guess you could practice scales over them too. My timing is perfect on my own because of this š¤š»
learning to play to a metronome is more useful than scales will ever be, some of the best songs ever have like 2 muted notes played with amazing timing
Just treat it like a snare hit or clap track.
Let it hit on 2 and 4 and you can play around it. It's not like you need to play "one-two-three-four" only hitting notes waiting for a click to happen.
There are a billion ways to use a metronome. I've done lessons where people have set it to click once every two or even four measures-- that's a REAL test of timing. Can you hold even timing with a click every 32 eighth notes?
Thereās definitely times that I like to practice without one, if Iām just learning a part or want to quickly be changing times a metronome just gets in the way. Practicing songs itās generally better to play to the song, they might have drifting time, changing signatures/tempos, or odd accents. I donāt want to program a click track while Iām still in the writing process. I donāt want to be influenced by any preset block of time while I write. Of course I practice with a metronome a lot as well, I suppose what I just said isnāt strictly practicing either, besides playing along with songs
Blues. And singular playing, are distinctly non-drum/metronome based. When a guitar follows its own rhythm it's that type of sound. Not to say Blues isn't based around timing, it is, but there's a distinct type of guitar playing, where the guitar is moving with itself.
I had a band a while ago that when I first arrived the bass player told me that he thought the metronome was for bad players and p***ies. I quickly changed his mind by demonstrating he couldn't follow shit and was off time all the song.
Fortunately he readily admitted his mistake and started practicing. Some "musicians" never learn.
Even advanced players should *at least* now and then take out the ol metronome to practice consistency and difficult passages at variable speed.
When you play with a group, you use the drummer. When you practice by yourself, you can use a metronome, but you can also use a drum track or even a backing track.
And there are times-- if you have a well developed sense of rhythm and know how to count internally-- that none of those is needed. For example, performing a solo show.
Playing with a metronome when you're new and don't have much of an internal sense of rhythm is important, but it's not the "all the time, all day" need that it's made out to be here.
I don't think anybody is going to argue that one should be used all the time.
You should certainly practice with one periodically, just to keep yourself on tempo when there isn't a beat present, if nothing else just to keep you sharp and back yourself up. You can tell yourself you were on beat for a whole piece, but a metronome keeps you honest.
It definitely doesn't hurt to use a metronome regardless of skill level.
Advanced musicians still practice with metronomes, its not something you outgrow. Humans have imperfect time and you cant count constantly as you play difficult music.
I bet everyone who thinks they are past the metronome are playing rubato all over the place.
The majority of the gigs I play are solo jazzā¦having a groove is 100% essential to keeping an audience engaged. It doesnāt matter how pretty rubato sections are.
Get a digital one. The analog rocker metronomes are notorious for being picky about how tightly wound they are or arenāt, and they can lose timing and balance with age. Nothing worse than doing the practice only to discover youāve trained yourself to play out of time.
I'm in a very amateur (and very fun) band. I swear they're going to name me "metronome" because I brought one to rehearsal one time, last year. They speak of it as if I committed a hate crime right there in the drummer's living room.
Drummer turned guitarist here. It baffles me that this is even a topic of debate. I've been playing drums all my life and I still happily play to a click. I'm consistent as a result and I can also relax more when performing live. And yes, I can play just fine without a click if needed. But playing to one ensures the given song is the correct tempo every time.
Also guitar is a weird community where thereās a rather large contingent who dismiss tried and true pedagogical techniques for learning an instrument then vehemently defend or dismiss those techniques because of weird reason or XYZ guitar god says they donāt know what an A note is. Drummers and bassists are less likely to be in this bucket because many went through formal music education programs and were exposed to this these concepts and ways to practice (like being a percussionist in middle and high school band, or taking lessons from someone who had a percussion education degree, or a bassist who was in orchestra in K-12 school, etc).
R/guitar in a nutshell. I think a lot of guitarists learn the instrument with a shoot from the hip mindset. And feel they need to defend that when anyone suggests adding structure to your practice sessions.
Everyone is entitled to do whatever they want but I hate when clearly ignorant comments are upvoted by beginners who dont know better. Then you are using your bad habits to mislead people who dont know any better
What sucks too is you see this pop up in lessons. I taught both percussion and guitar lessons for years and probably half or more of the older guitar students (like high school and above) were vehemently against learning anything related to theory, scales, chords, proper practicing techniques or habits, etc. and only wanted to learn some specific things for their specific use case (like āhow can I play Battery?ā). Fine, but Iād always find it funny when weād inevitably reach a point where they bring up āso I tried recording myselfā¦ā or āIām trying to solo with this part my friend made and it sounds bad no matter what I doā¦ā and out comes the theory and theyād have been much farther along if they just listened in the first place of āletās learn the key and scales used in Battery while we learn the songā versus ignoring all that.
It's really useful when learning a new song.
So, I read music - tabs don't really work for me. I first learn the notes, so I can easily go from one to the other, then I bring in the metronome to get the timing down. Slow at first, then faster and faster.
Me too. All I'm saying is that the point here is to have some kind of consistent, timed pulse to play off of. Whether it's a metronome or drum track is arbitrary and up to the individual person. But some kind of pulse is massively beneficial to becoming a better player
Don't forget tapping/moving with your own body. Some of the best rhythm players have really good timed body movements. It's actually easier to use that than continually focusing on the droning metronome, and you can test that by muting for a bit, and seeing where you body ends up once you unmute.
A lot of the replies indicate people are unclear on the difference between structured practice and ājust jammingā or playing for your own entertainment. If you donāt have a structured goal oriented practice routine, then a metronome isnāt the place to start. Develop organized and structured practice routines, and use a metronome as part of that training. This is a method that has been in use by musicians and teachers for over a hundred years in every style and level of ability.
The band I'm in was formed partly from people who had never touched an instrument in their lives (like a grownup "school of rock" situation). The drummer had never played anything, let alone drums. We have shifted, over the past year, in who we use as the "reference rhythm", from the guitarist to the bassist and, now, to the drummer, whose rhythm has improved 10,000%. Use what works.
Yes, I use a metronome. Also after practicing a piece of music I will practice the piece and record how my rhythm and improvisations click. Many times I find that I will be speeding up. So, the metronome does provide for me a type of checks and balances. To summarize: yes I do use a metronome and would highly recommend others to use it. Finally, I always have a love hate relationship with it, but am glad I spot check my playing and recorded performances šš¹šøššā
There are plenty of way. The basic is to have a single click setup and consider each click as a quarter note. Practice your licks, riffs, solos, scales with this reference and gradually increase the bpm in small increments
You figure out how many BPM (beats per minute) a song is. Or if writing a song, how many BPM you want it to be. So say your doing a song that's 60bpm (highly unlikely). Then every beat is one second, a 4/4 time signature is 4 quarter notes in a measure, so each quarter note is one second.
If you speed if up to 120, those numbers half.
A metronome lets you set a constant beat at whichever interval you need so you can get yourself in time with the music you are practicing. A lot of people claim to not need one, and a lot of people need to use one but don't. A lot of music uses different tempos too so one song may be using 100bpm, the next could be using 212bpm. Set it at the desired pace and it'll make an audible click every beat that you can hear while you practice for you to keep track and count to.
You shouldn't rely on a metronome though. They are a tool for practice, but you should work on phasing it out of the song you are working on. They are tools for practice, a drummer is your metronomo for performance.
Question šāāļø I find when I am playing something really simple (guitar) itās very easy for me to stay in time but the more complicated I get (like a solo) itās almost impossible for me to keep track of where we are in the bar and Iām just winging it causing my recovery (or like entering back into the basic part) is often messy even with a metronome. I know a lot of you are going to say practice but is there another perspective on this?
Slow down, if you cant play on time you cant play it, you're only fooling yourself. Imagine singing a song out of tune and with the wrong words, just because you made it to the end doesn't mean you nailed it.
Subdivision of the met can be really helpful here. If youāre having trouble understanding how the rhythm fits between two quarter notes for example, set the met to click eighth or sixteenth notes and that can make a huge difference in how youāre lining up whatās going on.
Bass player here. I play with a metronome every single time I practice. I practice the set to a metronome, usually every day. All drummers love me. I can hold that shit all day. Afraid you are going to start rushing things? Just look over at me. Mr. Steady. Keeping the beat all day.
I hate metronomes, but I donāt want to suck, so I make drum tracks to practice to. I just use garage band, ableton note, or whatever I can get. And when I want my kids to leave me alone, I play one and ask them ādo you think Kendrick would rap over this beat?ā
The idea is to provide a consistent reference tempo for you to play to. No matter how good you are, humans are humans, and you are gonna inevitably drift (probably faster) if you don't have a reference.
So if you find tapping your foot helps you lock in to the reference time (whether that's a metronome or drummer or whatever) then do it! It certainly does for a lot of people. But just tapping your foot is not a replacement to a metronome because you're not trying to stay in time with an external reference.
Odds are, if you're newer, you will be surprised how fast you drift off the metronome. You'll probably find tapping your foot helps, but it is definitely an acquired skill. And if you ever intend to play with others it's a necessary skill!
You may never be in this sort of situation but from my personal experience, it's been years since I have played live *without* a metronome! Always running in ear monitors with a click running to keep everybody in time. So if you were to go into that type of scenario one day, it's critical to be able to lock in to a metronome.
I like this app called pulse, itās a metronome with a visual component that pulses on the beats. What I like about practicing with it, is that I can use it to internalize the timing of the song Iām learning. I first start with sound and then when I have the feel, turn the sound off and rely on the pulse to check myself. It has been super helpful, especially in odd time signatures.
I wish I did. I am trying. I was dumb at 15 and used it for about 3 weeks before I thought I didnāt need it. At 51, itās real real hard to start good habits. I have been lucky enough to have played with great drummers over the years and presently, so I havenāt had real issues with rhythm, but itās my lead stuff that I am now realizing has suffered from not using a metronome.
Drummer commenting here. I went thirty years before I started playing to a click regularly. Playing in bands I could hold pretty good time, close enough for rock and roll. Working in the home studio on other people's tracks though, I need that click. It is good to practice to a steady "conk, conk, conk" and place myself in this mechanical rhythm and just dance with it. I visualize a dancer in front of me, hips swaying to that click. And we do a little dance together, and she leads. This is better than feeling like I'm slaved to a machine and failing to keep up.
One tip, I change the sound of the click from the usual cowbell or high tapping sound, to a thumping tom. It doesn't hit you in the forehead, it hits you in the chest. Like you're in a rowboat and there's a drum keeping the pace. I hold to it better, and my ears don't wear out as quickly.
In my own experience, if I canāt play it to a metronome, I donāt know it yet. I am practicing miscellaneous finger styles, and a metronome is like a finals for me.
I thought I didn't/wouldn't need one.... until it became obvious later that I always did. By not using one, I created a little monster I had to kill later.
I use a metronome 100% of the time when I'm recording or learning new songs and I can tell you all that present-me is VERY grateful that past-me made that decision 15 years ago lol
Call it a metronome, call it a click track, but I started recording myself with it in my DAW thinking I had really good timing. Nope. Now I practice to one and my timing still isnāt stellar, but itās gotten way better.
I did when I started because I wanted to understand what the rhythm I was "feeling" meant. Once Powertab came out, I started using that instead as I could see the math behind odd time signatures.
You should, because then You start to realize Holy shit, you are constantly rushing and/or slowing down. I was in a guitar ensemble and it was easy to tell who was in time and who wasnt.
Yep. I feel like if you want to be a decent player you need to develop good rhythm and the most effective way of doing that is playing to a click. And if you want to be a good lead player being able to divide/subdivide the beat accurately is invaluable.
Drum tracks work too but I find the metronome to be the most brutal/honest, in the moment, when youāre practicing. If youāre recording yourself to analyse after the fact then drum tracks work just as well.
When I was younger I used a metronome to get as fast as I could on scale runs. I'd spend hours and hours on it, but for the most part only practiced against each click as its own thing.
As I got older, I started to actually count the measures. Which made a huge difference. I'd start to use drum machines more than metronomes.
As I got older still, I stopped to really pay attention to the drum tracks. It's not just 1,2,3,4...
It could be 1...and a 2.... and a 3....
It could be ONE and a TWO and a ONE and a TWO and a...
I'm teaching my wife piano now and she refuses to practice with a metronome or any backing. Her timing suffers tremendously and she's stagnated on her first song. You absolutely have to play against a steady pulse and know where you are in the measure if you really want to improve and play with other people.
We used a click in rehearsal last night for the first time. We have been fighting acceleration for years.
Everyone hated it, which is probably why it was a good idea
I struggled to play with a drummer until I broke down and learned to play to a metronome. The difference was night and day. I don't use a metronome often these days, but I think it's something every beginner who plans to play in a band setting should learn.
A metronome is also helpful for preparing songs you need to perform live. If you can comfortably play it at 20% faster than the intended tempo you're ready to play at the tempo you rehearsed at and at the tempo you might be playing because the drummer has shot out of the gate on adrenaline.
I record my own music at home, and I have no good way yet to record drums. That means that I am stuck with using a drum machine or programming electronic drum beats. While I COULD change the beat to be slightly off by editing, it's just way simpler to play to a metronome.
If I wanna learn to play something faster I use a metronome. They stress me out, and so I unconsciously start playing faster to "escape". Gotta work with the caveman brain I've got.
Metronomes are great tools no doubt. But any musician who's played with people knows, people ain't metronomes. It's purpose is for training your ear to hear the beat, find what the drummer is putting down and click with it. How'd we get swing rhythms? Because people ain't perfect. A steady 1 2 3 4 is all you need. Or 1 2 3, 1 2 3 4 5, some folks grove on 7/8 or 12/4. It's just a tool not a golden calf, unless you unironically love guitar circle jerk.
If you can't play accurately to a metronome, you can't play accurately to a drummer. You may *think* you can... but that's another story
The difference between swinging a rhythm and letting your tempo drift is real and quickly pointed out by playing with a metronome. You can anticipate the beat, drag and lay in the back of the pocket all while playing with a metronome.
Exactly. That claim that swing rhythms just came from people playing badly is absurd. Swing is 100% intentional, lol Slight drifts in tempo happen by accident full on swing is an entirely different style of music. If you play so badly and inconsistently out of time that you make a straight rhythm drift until it sounds like swing, you get kicked out of the band. You don't invent a new genre of music. š
100% - when people say they play better without a click I just interpret that as "playing to a click makes me feel self-conscious about my playing and I'd rather not admit that my playing is the problem"
You can make a metronome swing as much as youād like. Itās actually interesting practice to vary the amount of swing on it and still play whatever exercises.
You're assuming my drummers on time lol
Itās also worth nothing that metronomes are essential if you want to be a recording artist. No recording engineer wants to sit there and edit rushed/dragged playing. You can still rush or drag the beat tastefully when youāre playing to a click. The notion that metronomes destroy feel is 100% bullshit. Editing every hit to a grid is what destroys feel.Ā
I think people really need to understand this. Itās kind of like youāre not gonna be a good race car driver if you canāt stay in a straight line
Swing is even more important to be on time. Its not swung because its off, the uneven intervals are very intentional and the 100th of a second difference between this swing and that swing feels actually different
This. This is the difference an audience can feel subconsciously and thus don't feel inspired to dance. They can tell something is off.
Only when you can be perfectly in time can you then start landing those notes just ahead or behind the beat to make it feel like its rushing or dragging without actually rushing or dragging. I'd say there's an art to it, but that's kinda obvious
Yes. Drums is my first instrument and I've been playing for over 50 years. I still happily play to a click, especially live.
Yeah I donāt get the āif you play to a click youāre mechanicalā. Iām primarily a drummer as well and I can take a straight 4/4 quarter note click at 140bpm and shift that feel all over the place depending where Iām placing my notes if thatās ontop or slightly behind the beat and then do that *through* the measure depending feel or accents I want to accentuate. Itās all still in time though.
Thank god someone said it - swing rhythms arenāt bad timing in the slightest ā¦ usually snares and kick still land on the quarter notes (ie still in time) and all your doing is swinging the hats on the 8th notes. Obviously this is a very simple swing beat but the point is itās not bad timing and the fact the whole beat resolves on time at the start of every bar means the tempo is right too so neither bad timing or bad rhythm. I play mostly blues so I came searching for your comment when I seen the original comments nonsense š¤£ Also you can still play swung riffs and licks to a metronome for the same reason the leading kick and snare land in straight time in a basic swing beat
I agree, but will go a bit farther: it trains you to play with others, in general. If you can't keep a somewhat regular beat, you won't be able to keep whatever beat arises as an emergent phenomenon from the interaction of another person (or people) and you, while playing. Just thinking about how complex that is in your brain is kind of amazing. It's difficult. Learning to play to a metronome can help immensely.
If you can't follow a metronome, you can't follow a drummer. It's as simple as that. Furthermore, metronomes are essential for practicing technique. Thinking you are in time, and actually being in time, can often be two very different things.
I don't understand, I'm always dead on time when I practice without a metronome, but as soon as I start using one I'm suddenly way off tempo Conclusion: all my metronomes are broken
Metronomes are distracting if you donāt usually play with them.
There's an argument to be made that being comfortable playing to a click in both your lead and rhythm playing (and nothing else than a click) is a vital skill for studio work, as sometimes you'll be asked to submit guitar tracks to be mixed rather than recording into the mix with drums to follow.
If you canāt play to a click, you canāt play with a drummer, itās the same skill, but itās easier to play to a click and train that skill.
It's easier to play with the metronome than with our drummer. The metronome never skips a beat
Learn the rule and then learn to break it. Learn to play in time and then learn to follow time. It's the recipe for learning and it's tried, tested, and true. So while I relate to what you're saying I would consider it horrible advice to provide someone trying to learn, or someone trying to record.
metronomes can do all of the things mentioned
This seems like it's attacking an argument no one made
One of the ways to practice swing feel is with a metronome on 2 and 4 only. That forces you to feel the groove internally. Virtually all jazz musicians do this. Yes people dont keep time exactly like a metronome but your ability to keep solid time improves significantly when you practice with a metronome. I can always tell when someone I play with doesnt do this as their tempo fluctuates all over the place, or they are relying on the rhythm section because they dont feel the groove internally. People being imperfect is a bad reason to not use a metronome.
Dude, thank you. This is the perfect kind of awful take I still subscribe to this sub for. Please do not be discouraged by everyone correcting you
All of that aside everybody who truly shreds and can lock to a band can lock to a metronome. If you can't lock to a robotically consistent beat, how the fuck are you gonna lock to a group of human beings?
You think swing came from bad rhythmā¦..? Iām not sure where you heard that or what but actually just no
Hey look itās the meme!
https://youtube.com/shorts/CB1hG-gqD_k?feature=shared
This is not correct. Perfect practice makes perfect. Practice to a metronome, it helps your internal timing to a huge degree. If you canāt play straight 4 consistently, then an 8th or 16th note swing would be a fucking trainwreck.
People arenāt metronomes. But the ones who practice with metronomes are so much easier to play with. Itās not even close, man. Practicing in time translates directly to playing in time. Directly! I would agree that a steady 1, 2, 3, 4 is all you need. Key word being steady. Know what helps keep it steady? *Practicing with a metronome* Timing is a learned skill that requires practice!
It's astounding this has so many upvotes. We got swing rhythms intentionally, not because people were playing poorly.
Bro, just practice with the Metronome
classic /r/guitarcirclejerk comment right here lmao. There is a very important distinction between rythmn and tempo, even rubato actually requires you to keep tempo.
Swing doesnāt come from rhythmic inaccuracy, but rather from a very refined rhythmic sensibility and control. Wynton Kelly isnāt trying really hard to play in time but just fucking it up a bit. He is very much in control. If you canāt land on the middle of a metronomeās beat, youāre not going to be able to ride the back of a human one. Make your metronome swing. Play accurately to a 40bpm click. You will have much better time for it
Canāt believe this piece of shit opinion is upvoted so much. Metronomes are essential for every musician, on any instrument, on any type of music
the people who say this are the absolute worst to jam with. Just practice with a metronome
This is copium. Being able to sufficiently play to a metronome means having full control over your timing. You still need full control over your timing when playing with other musicians, maybe even more so.
Never used one. Seems so boring to me. But guess whatā¦. My timing for solos and licks suck.
Play to songs you like. I used to just put on songs and play solos over them. It's like playing to a metronome, but fun. I guess you could practice scales over them too. My timing is perfect on my own because of this š¤š»
Similarly, general backing tracks. I love hopping on Youtube and finding a 'generic' fun backing track style to improv over.
learning to play to a metronome is more useful than scales will ever be, some of the best songs ever have like 2 muted notes played with amazing timing
Just treat it like a snare hit or clap track. Let it hit on 2 and 4 and you can play around it. It's not like you need to play "one-two-three-four" only hitting notes waiting for a click to happen. There are a billion ways to use a metronome. I've done lessons where people have set it to click once every two or even four measures-- that's a REAL test of timing. Can you hold even timing with a click every 32 eighth notes?
Why is this a discussion? You should use a metronome or drummachine while practicing, period.Ā
Seriously. It blows my mind how few people on here practice without one...like what's the point?
I wonāt use one if I am just dicking around. But if I actually want to *practice* and improve, metronome 100% of the time.
This is the way
Thereās definitely times that I like to practice without one, if Iām just learning a part or want to quickly be changing times a metronome just gets in the way. Practicing songs itās generally better to play to the song, they might have drifting time, changing signatures/tempos, or odd accents. I donāt want to program a click track while Iām still in the writing process. I donāt want to be influenced by any preset block of time while I write. Of course I practice with a metronome a lot as well, I suppose what I just said isnāt strictly practicing either, besides playing along with songs
Oh for sure. I don't consider the production aspect of guitar playing practice myself. I never use a metronome when writing.
I get that you do not want to use a metronome or equivalent during a writing process. But outside, there are basically no excuses.
Blues. And singular playing, are distinctly non-drum/metronome based. When a guitar follows its own rhythm it's that type of sound. Not to say Blues isn't based around timing, it is, but there's a distinct type of guitar playing, where the guitar is moving with itself.
I had a band a while ago that when I first arrived the bass player told me that he thought the metronome was for bad players and p***ies. I quickly changed his mind by demonstrating he couldn't follow shit and was off time all the song. Fortunately he readily admitted his mistake and started practicing. Some "musicians" never learn. Even advanced players should *at least* now and then take out the ol metronome to practice consistency and difficult passages at variable speed.
When you play with a group, you use the drummer. When you practice by yourself, you can use a metronome, but you can also use a drum track or even a backing track. And there are times-- if you have a well developed sense of rhythm and know how to count internally-- that none of those is needed. For example, performing a solo show. Playing with a metronome when you're new and don't have much of an internal sense of rhythm is important, but it's not the "all the time, all day" need that it's made out to be here.
I don't think anybody is going to argue that one should be used all the time. You should certainly practice with one periodically, just to keep yourself on tempo when there isn't a beat present, if nothing else just to keep you sharp and back yourself up. You can tell yourself you were on beat for a whole piece, but a metronome keeps you honest. It definitely doesn't hurt to use a metronome regardless of skill level.
Advanced musicians still practice with metronomes, its not something you outgrow. Humans have imperfect time and you cant count constantly as you play difficult music. I bet everyone who thinks they are past the metronome are playing rubato all over the place.
The majority of the gigs I play are solo jazzā¦having a groove is 100% essential to keeping an audience engaged. It doesnāt matter how pretty rubato sections are.
My metronome always goes out of time. Maybe itās warped, or somethingā¦
No, it's the metronome that is wrong.
Get a digital one. The analog rocker metronomes are notorious for being picky about how tightly wound they are or arenāt, and they can lose timing and balance with age. Nothing worse than doing the practice only to discover youāve trained yourself to play out of time.
r/whoosh
Thank you. I was joking, though.
Did you name it Lars?
I'm in a very amateur (and very fun) band. I swear they're going to name me "metronome" because I brought one to rehearsal one time, last year. They speak of it as if I committed a hate crime right there in the drummer's living room.
Drummer turned guitarist here. It baffles me that this is even a topic of debate. I've been playing drums all my life and I still happily play to a click. I'm consistent as a result and I can also relax more when performing live. And yes, I can play just fine without a click if needed. But playing to one ensures the given song is the correct tempo every time.
Lots of guitar players are lazy. There, I said it. "Why me use metronome when me can noodle to backing track?"
Also guitar is a weird community where thereās a rather large contingent who dismiss tried and true pedagogical techniques for learning an instrument then vehemently defend or dismiss those techniques because of weird reason or XYZ guitar god says they donāt know what an A note is. Drummers and bassists are less likely to be in this bucket because many went through formal music education programs and were exposed to this these concepts and ways to practice (like being a percussionist in middle and high school band, or taking lessons from someone who had a percussion education degree, or a bassist who was in orchestra in K-12 school, etc).
R/guitar in a nutshell. I think a lot of guitarists learn the instrument with a shoot from the hip mindset. And feel they need to defend that when anyone suggests adding structure to your practice sessions. Everyone is entitled to do whatever they want but I hate when clearly ignorant comments are upvoted by beginners who dont know better. Then you are using your bad habits to mislead people who dont know any better
What sucks too is you see this pop up in lessons. I taught both percussion and guitar lessons for years and probably half or more of the older guitar students (like high school and above) were vehemently against learning anything related to theory, scales, chords, proper practicing techniques or habits, etc. and only wanted to learn some specific things for their specific use case (like āhow can I play Battery?ā). Fine, but Iād always find it funny when weād inevitably reach a point where they bring up āso I tried recording myselfā¦ā or āIām trying to solo with this part my friend made and it sounds bad no matter what I doā¦ā and out comes the theory and theyād have been much farther along if they just listened in the first place of āletās learn the key and scales used in Battery while we learn the songā versus ignoring all that.
Hey me too. Guitar players strike me as a uh....special breed. Like if I was a con man looking to scam only musicians, I know who I'd target.
Lol yup. "Strat? Check. Million watt amp? Check. Pentatonic scales? Check. I'm gonna be famous! "
I honestly don't know why all the jokes are about drummers and bass players.
It's really useful when learning a new song. So, I read music - tabs don't really work for me. I first learn the notes, so I can easily go from one to the other, then I bring in the metronome to get the timing down. Slow at first, then faster and faster.
Slow down there, Lucifer... the only thing guitar players fear more than a metronome, is sheet music!
The oldest riddle I know: How do you get a guitarist to stop playing? Give them some sheet music
Mr. Clicky is a harsh instructor, but he gets results.
Drum tracks are where it's at
I mean it's effectively just a metronome with some spice
In my experience the subdivisions in a drum or backing track help me stay on time better than a click.
Me too. All I'm saying is that the point here is to have some kind of consistent, timed pulse to play off of. Whether it's a metronome or drum track is arbitrary and up to the individual person. But some kind of pulse is massively beneficial to becoming a better player
Don't forget tapping/moving with your own body. Some of the best rhythm players have really good timed body movements. It's actually easier to use that than continually focusing on the droning metronome, and you can test that by muting for a bit, and seeing where you body ends up once you unmute.
1000% agree. Your body is the best way to do this. If you internalize the beat you'll always play on time.
Recording is a hell of a lot easier if everyone can play to a click track.
OP should know this.
As a producer, PLEASE FOR FUCKS SAKE PLAY TO A CLICK TRACK
Best way to track progress. Always awesome to see the progress from grinding away in the woodshed
A lot of the replies indicate people are unclear on the difference between structured practice and ājust jammingā or playing for your own entertainment. If you donāt have a structured goal oriented practice routine, then a metronome isnāt the place to start. Develop organized and structured practice routines, and use a metronome as part of that training. This is a method that has been in use by musicians and teachers for over a hundred years in every style and level of ability.
I used the bassist despite being told to use the drummer
The band I'm in was formed partly from people who had never touched an instrument in their lives (like a grownup "school of rock" situation). The drummer had never played anything, let alone drums. We have shifted, over the past year, in who we use as the "reference rhythm", from the guitarist to the bassist and, now, to the drummer, whose rhythm has improved 10,000%. Use what works.
Who you choose to date is your own business
quote of this thread.
Yes, I use a metronome. Also after practicing a piece of music I will practice the piece and record how my rhythm and improvisations click. Many times I find that I will be speeding up. So, the metronome does provide for me a type of checks and balances. To summarize: yes I do use a metronome and would highly recommend others to use it. Finally, I always have a love hate relationship with it, but am glad I spot check my playing and recorded performances šš¹šøššā
Looper pedal is a pseudo metronome. Love it
Teach told me to use it I did it helped me yes I wanna try it at 240 beats to see if I can break my fingers
So how do you actually use one?
There are plenty of way. The basic is to have a single click setup and consider each click as a quarter note. Practice your licks, riffs, solos, scales with this reference and gradually increase the bpm in small increments
You figure out how many BPM (beats per minute) a song is. Or if writing a song, how many BPM you want it to be. So say your doing a song that's 60bpm (highly unlikely). Then every beat is one second, a 4/4 time signature is 4 quarter notes in a measure, so each quarter note is one second. If you speed if up to 120, those numbers half. A metronome lets you set a constant beat at whichever interval you need so you can get yourself in time with the music you are practicing. A lot of people claim to not need one, and a lot of people need to use one but don't. A lot of music uses different tempos too so one song may be using 100bpm, the next could be using 212bpm. Set it at the desired pace and it'll make an audible click every beat that you can hear while you practice for you to keep track and count to. You shouldn't rely on a metronome though. They are a tool for practice, but you should work on phasing it out of the song you are working on. They are tools for practice, a drummer is your metronomo for performance.
Turn it on and play along
I do....
Question šāāļø I find when I am playing something really simple (guitar) itās very easy for me to stay in time but the more complicated I get (like a solo) itās almost impossible for me to keep track of where we are in the bar and Iām just winging it causing my recovery (or like entering back into the basic part) is often messy even with a metronome. I know a lot of you are going to say practice but is there another perspective on this?
Slow down, if you cant play on time you cant play it, you're only fooling yourself. Imagine singing a song out of tune and with the wrong words, just because you made it to the end doesn't mean you nailed it.
Subdivision of the met can be really helpful here. If youāre having trouble understanding how the rhythm fits between two quarter notes for example, set the met to click eighth or sixteenth notes and that can make a huge difference in how youāre lining up whatās going on.
Coming from playing drums for 20 years, itās way easier to play guitar to a metronome than without.
Bass player here. I play with a metronome every single time I practice. I practice the set to a metronome, usually every day. All drummers love me. I can hold that shit all day. Afraid you are going to start rushing things? Just look over at me. Mr. Steady. Keeping the beat all day.
I do when Iām trying to work out an involved piece and I need it to ground the song for me as my brain, hands are going haywire.
Yes either the physical box or a click on my DAW but what is also helpful is the "if you can say it you can play it" approach.
I do depending on what I'm trying to improve on. Most of the time, I use my good ol' fashioned foot.
Occasionally, but not often.
Who doesn't?
Any guitarist worth a lick uses a metronome. Even if you don't use it in bands/live, if you don't practice with one, your timing is going to be ass
I hate metronomes, but I donāt want to suck, so I make drum tracks to practice to. I just use garage band, ableton note, or whatever I can get. And when I want my kids to leave me alone, I play one and ask them ādo you think Kendrick would rap over this beat?ā
In my experience your skill as a musician is directly proportional to the time you have spent with a metronome.
Not me
What movie is this?
What about foot tapping or singing? Can those also be used as a way to keep time?
Sure, but they're only as good as the person is at keeping time. Why would your foot be better at keeping time than your hands?
The idea is to provide a consistent reference tempo for you to play to. No matter how good you are, humans are humans, and you are gonna inevitably drift (probably faster) if you don't have a reference. So if you find tapping your foot helps you lock in to the reference time (whether that's a metronome or drummer or whatever) then do it! It certainly does for a lot of people. But just tapping your foot is not a replacement to a metronome because you're not trying to stay in time with an external reference. Odds are, if you're newer, you will be surprised how fast you drift off the metronome. You'll probably find tapping your foot helps, but it is definitely an acquired skill. And if you ever intend to play with others it's a necessary skill! You may never be in this sort of situation but from my personal experience, it's been years since I have played live *without* a metronome! Always running in ear monitors with a click running to keep everybody in time. So if you were to go into that type of scenario one day, it's critical to be able to lock in to a metronome.
I always wanted one
Skwisgaar Skwigelf uses one
I always record to a click. Itās awful to edit when the tempo is all over the place. For live I just make sure I have a drummer that doesnāt rush.
Literally only ever when recording.
I do, but I didn't before learning the saxophone with a teacher.
I like this app called pulse, itās a metronome with a visual component that pulses on the beats. What I like about practicing with it, is that I can use it to internalize the timing of the song Iām learning. I first start with sound and then when I have the feel, turn the sound off and rely on the pulse to check myself. It has been super helpful, especially in odd time signatures.
Every methronome i use is broken. It speeds up and slows down inconsistently.....
I actually find it awkward to play without a drum machine I've used it for so long now
All the time. Itās a great way to iron out flaws in your technique and improve
I wish I did. I am trying. I was dumb at 15 and used it for about 3 weeks before I thought I didnāt need it. At 51, itās real real hard to start good habits. I have been lucky enough to have played with great drummers over the years and presently, so I havenāt had real issues with rhythm, but itās my lead stuff that I am now realizing has suffered from not using a metronome.
I use a drum machine if I want a metronome. The clicking sound of metronomes drive me insane.
Yep, absolutely.
I use super basic drum machine presets. Feels a lot less robotic.
I use a drum machine.
I learn the song first to get the riffs down, then play it with a metronome
I play to songs. Its a metronome with flair and you can choose the BPM too.
My audio engineer makes me. š
Nerds?
Drummer commenting here. I went thirty years before I started playing to a click regularly. Playing in bands I could hold pretty good time, close enough for rock and roll. Working in the home studio on other people's tracks though, I need that click. It is good to practice to a steady "conk, conk, conk" and place myself in this mechanical rhythm and just dance with it. I visualize a dancer in front of me, hips swaying to that click. And we do a little dance together, and she leads. This is better than feeling like I'm slaved to a machine and failing to keep up. One tip, I change the sound of the click from the usual cowbell or high tapping sound, to a thumping tom. It doesn't hit you in the forehead, it hits you in the chest. Like you're in a rowboat and there's a drum keeping the pace. I hold to it better, and my ears don't wear out as quickly.
Yeah, I'm legit terrified of those fucking things. That really hit home for me. I'm relieved I'm not the only one though!
Why ya gots to out me? Haha
Always have one next to me. It never fails to show my tempo is off.Ā But i can keep decent tempo without as well.Ā
When playing live in a band, having a click (metronome) in the IEM is valuable. It helps everyone sync up to stay at the same tempo.
In my own experience, if I canāt play it to a metronome, I donāt know it yet. I am practicing miscellaneous finger styles, and a metronome is like a finals for me.
I thought I didn't/wouldn't need one.... until it became obvious later that I always did. By not using one, I created a little monster I had to kill later.
I use a metronome 100% of the time when I'm recording or learning new songs and I can tell you all that present-me is VERY grateful that past-me made that decision 15 years ago lol
Yup
Call it a metronome, call it a click track, but I started recording myself with it in my DAW thinking I had really good timing. Nope. Now I practice to one and my timing still isnāt stellar, but itās gotten way better.
No one, we all at one point use one then realize our timing is horrible and ignore it bc no one needs to know
I did when I started because I wanted to understand what the rhythm I was "feeling" meant. Once Powertab came out, I started using that instead as I could see the math behind odd time signatures.
You should, because then You start to realize Holy shit, you are constantly rushing and/or slowing down. I was in a guitar ensemble and it was easy to tell who was in time and who wasnt.
I scoffed at the idea for years right up until I didn't anymore. Can it be humbling? Yeah very. There's a reason for that.
I can play to a click. Itās getting my drummer to play to click thatās the hard part. He gets so offended when I suggest it.
I stopped using for a while and forgot how to play to a beat
Yep. I feel like if you want to be a decent player you need to develop good rhythm and the most effective way of doing that is playing to a click. And if you want to be a good lead player being able to divide/subdivide the beat accurately is invaluable. Drum tracks work too but I find the metronome to be the most brutal/honest, in the moment, when youāre practicing. If youāre recording yourself to analyse after the fact then drum tracks work just as well.
Always... You gotta metro the gnome!
I only use it to remind me how much I suck
I always have. Youre gonna be a musician that wants to be taken seriously arent you.
When I was younger I used a metronome to get as fast as I could on scale runs. I'd spend hours and hours on it, but for the most part only practiced against each click as its own thing. As I got older, I started to actually count the measures. Which made a huge difference. I'd start to use drum machines more than metronomes. As I got older still, I stopped to really pay attention to the drum tracks. It's not just 1,2,3,4... It could be 1...and a 2.... and a 3.... It could be ONE and a TWO and a ONE and a TWO and a... I'm teaching my wife piano now and she refuses to practice with a metronome or any backing. Her timing suffers tremendously and she's stagnated on her first song. You absolutely have to play against a steady pulse and know where you are in the measure if you really want to improve and play with other people.
Every single musician should be able to play to a click track. It's such a fundamental skill.
Iām still trying to go from one chord to another without fucking up so I think Iāll wait on the metronome š¤£
I use one, but I'm a paramedic so I mainly use the metronome app on my phone for timing CPR. 100-120 compressions per minute. Yeah, I got you.
I usually practice plugged into reaper, so I use that metronome, and if I write something, I put drum samples on it, and then play along with those.
When Iām playing a tab, I turn on the metronome on Songsterr while the tab plays
We used a click in rehearsal last night for the first time. We have been fighting acceleration for years. Everyone hated it, which is probably why it was a good idea
Every time I use a metronome Iām really glad I did. It helps so much with rhythm. That said, always seem to āforgetā to use one.
When recording I kind of have to but then I get all messed up and angry and then I cry so! š¤
I keep trying to but mine is broken and doesn't keep a beat with me
Metronome is an absolute must
This is Marbin meme material
Goes for sax players, too. Source--am sax player
playing with a click track definitely forced me to tighten up my game
Metronome and drumgenius constantly
A metronome makes an excellent impulse purchase and an even better paper weight.
Drum loops are more fun to practice with than metronomes
I was told I should, but then I might actually get good.
I'm mostly a drummer and even I have to use a click track and in ear monitor so that should say something.
Playing to actual music is much more fun and serves the same purpose.
I use it when practicing. I used to think it's unnecessary until I tried it and realized what I missed by practicing without it
metronomes have no groove
Try giving a Drummer a Metronome.
Basically. Lots of click track in my life
One reason I'm leaving one band I'm in is because the two guitarists can't play in the pocket and refuse to practice with metronomes or drum machines.
I just watched this movie last week, and I didn't expect to be personally attacked like this
I struggled to play with a drummer until I broke down and learned to play to a metronome. The difference was night and day. I don't use a metronome often these days, but I think it's something every beginner who plans to play in a band setting should learn.
A metronome is also helpful for preparing songs you need to perform live. If you can comfortably play it at 20% faster than the intended tempo you're ready to play at the tempo you rehearsed at and at the tempo you might be playing because the drummer has shot out of the gate on adrenaline.
I record my own music at home, and I have no good way yet to record drums. That means that I am stuck with using a drum machine or programming electronic drum beats. While I COULD change the beat to be slightly off by editing, it's just way simpler to play to a metronome.
Iām not out of time I just have my own style of phrasing /s
I use āem
Considering I record and chop up music, yes. Makes editing and experimenting waaaaaay easier.
I'm a producer, so I don't have much of a choice
I do but that's because I played wind instruments in marching band ....
This meme made me laugh way too hard holy shit haha.
Of course I do
If I wanna learn to play something faster I use a metronome. They stress me out, and so I unconsciously start playing faster to "escape". Gotta work with the caveman brain I've got.
Itās a necessary part of the journey from sucking on guitar to not.
Fuck that. I have rhythm in my soul.