Metronome, or not metronome, that be the ?

[rastachild]

Originally Posted by LethalAe86TypeR

The hard thing with a metronome is doing the divisions when the BPMs go higher, but i guess if one practices with it frequently it will come naturally. I can do 8th,16th,etc. But man its hard when it goes faster.

Am I using it right, because sometimes i hear people just playing on the beat instead of playing it as 16th notes, anyone help me?

it just depends on what you are trying to work on and what value you are giving to each click. if you are trying to work on 16th note phrasing and you have the metronome set at 160 and you are counting each click as a quarter note, then you need to squeeze 4 equal notes in for each click.

of course you could half that metronome value to 80bpm and just squeeze 8 notes in since the click will now be a half note. the tempo is essentially the same, you are just changing the note value of the click. it's good to practice both ways. the first way really helps drill correct time into your head. once you get good at that, then practice on half time, as this forces you to have good internal time since the click won't be there as often to keep you on track.

[waylay00]

A metronome sis essential.

[HeavyMetal4Ever]

Playing to anything- drum machine, metronome, playing along with a CD, playing with other people -is always worth it if you can. Not only is it alot of fun, it can help to improve your playing in many ways.

Particularly, playing difficult licks with a slow metronome or drum machine, then speeding the time up as you get better will make it much easier to play cleanly and clearly.

If you think that playing with a metronome has any chance at all of improving your playing, you'd be mad not to give it a go

Rock on!

[Holy Katana]

I just got a metronome, and although I'm having a bit of trouble playing in time with it, it's been helpful.

[shogun]

Originally Posted by guitar_chick

I want know what you guys/gals think of metronomes. I know Steve Vai swears by it, and how he spent 10 hours a day using it. The problem is this: I hate them. I want to be in a band, and my guitar teacher tells me I could do this now, if I wanted too. I am a free-spirit, and metronomes cramp my playing style, but I do take the guitar seriously. Can I progress, and fall right into line with a band, without the tedious metronome drills?

if you cant put enough effort in to work on your timing, pawn all of your gear and buy Guitar-Hero2.

(couldnt resist saying that)

[waylay00]

Try doing some Shawn Lane alternating patters of sixteenth note triplets and quintuplets (groups of 5's and 6's)...It will drive you crazy!

[courtney2018]

Metronomes are a must. I either use that or a drum machine to practice to.

[TheJazzTerminator]

Let's put it this way: John Petrucci swears by using a metronome -- and, no one could argue that his riffs aren't creative and 'in weird time signatures.' If anything, practicing with a metronome will make you MORE creative because you'll have a better sense of time and therefore be able to understand what you're doing when you come up with something original.

[crevis]

If you don't like metronomes then buy yourself a copy of gambale's chop builder, it's not boring because you're playing along with a backing track.

Don't forget to practice triplets as well, very important.

[Drew]

You don't HAVE to play with a metronome to be in a sucessful band - not all music requires technical precision. I just saw the White Stripes last night - not my thing at all, but they play well together and they put on a hell of a show, even if they're not exactly technical by any stretch of the imagination (though, watching him play, I'm beginning to believe Jack White is actually a damned good blues player who does an equally damned good job of hiding it ).

However, if technical precision and speed is important to you, then yes, spending some time doing drills against a metronome will pay off heavily. Dee may have become a tight player without one, but he's the minority.

What I do is when I'm practicing down in the living room, I just use the metronome on my Peterson tuner, but when I'm practicing in my bedroom I program a 16th note click in Fruity Loops (a sequencer with a freeware demo - www.fruityloops.com), with a kick and snare to give it a little more interest.

Sometimes I'll jam along to either a backing track I've recorded, or a backing I've sequenced in Fruity loops (which is cool, since you can speed it up or slow it down on the fly), but really that's a diifferent sort of practice - it's more about improvising while holding a groove, rather than nailing the mechanics of physically executing notes on the neck as cleanly and as accurately as possible.