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I'm finding that my timing is atrocious and that I definitely need to work with a metronome on a regular basis (right now I rarely use one). That got me to wondering how many of you use a metronome on a regular basis when you practice. And when you do use one, how's your timing?

When I use a metronome I find that it constantly changes its tempo!

Sometimes for feeling the real tempo and then I think ,,oh it ain't that fast...I get a kind of mad when using it..

but I know it is very useful..


Willem

ps You don't have a use sometimes and keep trying button...

Willem you're right I should have included a "sometimes" option. Do you know of a way to add a new poll option after the fact? I don't see a way to edit the poll.

willem wrote:

Sometimes for feeling the real tempo and then I think ,,oh it ain't that fast...I get a kind of mad when using it..

but I know it is very useful..


Willem

ps You don't have a use sometimes and keep trying button...

Why do you "get kind of mad" when you use a metronome?

When I use a metronome I find that it constantly changes its tempo!

I thought this was one of the laws of physics... its certainly true in my world!
I never fail to be impressed with how difficult it is to play along with an original recording although I'm sure the rhythm and timing are very clear to me... apparently, I'm not able to click into a click track without losing my way after a few bars! As evidenced by my attempts to play along with Boston's More than a Feeling right now.... they are all over the place! Most of the stuff I play sounds pretty much in time... until it gets tested by a 'nome or the original recording. Ooops.

PS: I clicked on "never". I know, I must be Neil's worst student!

daryl wrote:

willem wrote:

Sometimes for feeling the real tempo and then I think ,,oh it ain't that fast...I get a kind of mad when using it..

but I know it is very useful..


Willem

ps You don't have a use sometimes and keep trying button...

Why do you "get kind of mad" when you use a metronome?

Its the concentrade on tik tak tik tak tik tak tik tak tik tak,,,,maybe my brain can not work it out..

Hey Daryl,

So glad you included "Other" as a choice. These days, I pull out the metronome just to check out the tempo of other's songs so that I know what speed to play them. Otherwise, I use a drum track to keep time when I play. A drum track is much more interesting and tends to be a better guide for adding dynamics; a metronome puts me to sleep.

More detail:

I actually use a metronome about once a week to check tempos. When I'm blocking out a song, I don't use a guide for tempo. Just play it. Generally, a drum track is used during a full rehearsal. When I find it necessary to create a new drum track, I am constantly playing against it to make sure everything is in the right place during construction. This gives me lots of practice time with it. If you consider the drum track as a form of metronome, then I would have to say that I use it often.

Hydroman52

Hydroman52 wrote:

Hey Daryl,

So glad you included "Other" as a choice. These days, I pull out the metronome just to check out the tempo of other's songs so that I know what speed to play them. Otherwise, I use a drum track to keep time when I play. A drum track is much more interesting and tends to be a better guide for adding dynamics; a metronome puts me to sleep.

More detail:

I actually use a metronome about once a week to check tempos. When I'm blocking out a song, I don't use a guide for tempo. Just play it. Generally, a drum track is used during a full rehearsal. When I find it necessary to create a new drum track, I am constantly playing against it to make sure everything is in the right place during construction. This gives me lots of practice time with it. If you consider the drum track as a form of metronome, then I would have to say that I use it often.

Hydroman52

You're right about metronomes being BORING. Maybe I should use some sort of drum track to keep it more interesting. But there's no two ways about it, I need to work on my timing!

I don't use my metronome enough. Mostly I use it when trying to work out a complicated picking pattern, so it's usually only a few bars.

I don't usually use it for playing full songs, but I should. Whenever I do, I find that my playing is not as even as I would like.

Yeah not very often and when I try I suck. Essentially I think a backing track is a metronome and I struggle big time to keep time with it. No secret, just more work.