How to properly count and use a metronome?

[sniperfrommars1]

Im getting tired of the slop, i like my playing but i want to be able to count like a son of a bitch, i practice my ass off, but i dont know how to count or use a metronome properly. Good drummers say man you can play in crazy time signatures. ****ty drummers freak out. lol. Im getting tired of it i dont even know what 4/4 time is, so i want to get my timing flawlessly impeccable.

I need basic direction on how to start. How do i set my metronome properly, how do I figure out what time signature im in etc. etc. etc.

[MattyCakes]

i have a hard time believing you can play in any signature amazingly because thats difficult for even some jazz students. most metronomes will have a button where you can change the time signature to divide the notes. i know mine does. if you want to count 16th notes you divide each beat by 4, just making sure

[Wild_Child]

You know what 4/4 time is, you just don't know you do.

The top number means how many beats are in a bar, and the bottom number denotes the value of the note in each beat. So 4/4 means 4 beats in a bar, and each beat is worth 1 quarter note i.e. 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4 etc...

The hard part is when you start to divide up the individual beats to something other than the note the lower number indicates. For example, if you were to play 8th notes in 4/4, you'll be playing two notes for every one beat, as an 8th is worth half as much as a quarter i.e. 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and-1 etc.. This is probably all stuff you already know so I won't even bother explaining the procedure for half or 16th notes.

From there, you can work on note groupings such as triplets, in which you play 3 of the note in question in the time it would take to play two. For example if you were to play triplet 8ths in 4/4, you'll be playing three notes per beat. Just try listening to the metronome and saying tri-per-let for each beat.

Hope that helps.

[Ki swordsman]

learn to have total independence of the foot you beat with, it's good to practice with funk strum patterns while keeping the beat solid. with more independence later down the track you'll then be able to solo in and out of regular timings while keeping a 4/4 beat solid... i think it's an important skill personally..

to use a metronome for practice, you can almost ignore the timing completely and focus on the solid beat.. it's more important to be able to play any exercise locked into the beat than to know what the time signature is...

try this- take a lead lick, something fairly straightforward first, ie. something with no gaps, total note after note stuff, and set your metronome beating at any speed where you can comfortably play each note on each beat, then try halving the bpm and playing at the same speed, you'll now be trying to lock the first of every 2 notes you hit to a beat..
then halve it again, you'll then be locking the first of every 4 notes to the beat..
halve that and you'll lock the first of each group of 8 and so on..

being comfortable with those basic fractions is most of what goes into playing with a metronome, you can slow or speed up any of them and if you ever reach the highest speed on your met', you simply halve it and play the appropriate fraction and you'll have plenty of room to speed up from there

be aware you may need to ignore the accentuation given to every 1st beat of say 4/4 (if your metronome does that) if a lick isn't in the same timing

then take a melodic piece, with gaps, different note length values etc, and try to apply it to the beat, learn to slow it down and speed it up keeping the whole thing cleanly relative to itself too... so the whole piece is accurately slowed/sped up and you don't have accidental unchanged rests or rhythms etc if you know what i mean..

i hope that made sense for you,
i'm a bit vague this satday morning!

[Dee]

I will suggest learning to play drums, if you have a chance, rather than just understanding how to count with a metronome.

Here's a guy playing a 4/4 beat to a metronome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idNca-91LyY

[IbanezFreak777]

More importantly get someone to actually give you a physical lesson in timing. No use getting instructions off the net. Go to a guitar teacher and pay for 1 lesson in timing. No better way to learning the basics then getting a live person to actually show you.

[sniperfrommars1]

I think ill chalk up the dough and pay for some guitar lessons on timing. Its rather funny that ive been paid to teach people in the past! I just cant count .

[Ki swordsman]

learning never ends, there's always more to learn from someone somewhere, even for the greatest guitarists in the world..