Keeping Time

[That_Guy]

I have an old school yamaha pendulum style clicker metronome that makes a clack noise that always cuts through the noise

[Andy_D]

Thanks! I have been looking at the old school style also. Thanks for the info.

[Fly]

As someone relatively new to the guitar I’ve been practicing with a metronome everyday. At first it made it much harder trying to work out what both hands were doing and also trying to listen and doing it in time and could even be frustrating sometimes but I realised the other day that it’s paid off I seem to just sync with the metronome now without thinking. For me you’ve got to keep asking the questions and exploring but the answers always seem to be patience and persistence. Good luck

[N-lightMike]

Great answer and even better #smallwin @Fly . Congratulations.

MG 😀

[Andy_D]

Hello Fly and Mike Gaurnier,

Yes, when I have tried to include the metronome, it is really fascinating how it seems to throw everything else I learned out the door. However, I know this is another skill that needs to be learned.

Thanks for the great tip.

[jumpinjeff]

<div>@Andy_D , Tony talks about how to use rhymic variations in Time in the Strumming Jumpstart Course. </div>

https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/strumming-jumpstart/

Also our Daily Challenges are all exercises in keeping time. The important thing is to play at a speed that you are able to keep time. Sometimes I have to use the metronome on a slower speed than even the lowest speed setting available on the video. I frequently will use speeds as low as 30 bpm (one beat every two seconds) to learn something new. Tension is my guide for increasing speed. Besides my guitar and a pick, my metronome is my most valuable tool in making music. I use the Matrix MR-600. The volume control is loud enough and soft enough and there is a click variation that allows for counting most time signatures. As I get up to desired speed I turn down the volume so that I only hear the click when I am not synchronized.

[N-lightMike]

Thanks for the advice about turning down the metronome volume so you only here the click when you are out of sequence. Love it.

MG 😀

[Andy_D]

@Jumpinjeff,

Thanks for the reference and the recommendation. I will be looking at the Jumpstart Course. Sounds like it might be a good one to jump into next.

[N-lightMike]

Hey @Andy_D , Tony explains how to use a metronome in an Acoustic Tuesday Show. You can access that by going to Acoustic Tuesday, and clicking on the little magnifying glass icon in the upper right corner of the page (it’s kinda all by itself and easy to miss) and typing in “metronome”. These are the links to the 2 show segments that the search brought up. But this way, you can look up other stuff for yourself.

https://acousticlife.tv/at189/

https://acousticlife.tv/3-steps-to-playing-guitar-with-a-metronome/

MG 😀

[Andy_D]

@MikeGaurnier, Thanks for the excellent links. Even better thanks for pointing out that you can search on Acoustic Tuesday Show content. I had no idea you could do that!

Thanks!

[N-lightMike]

This is what makes this community so great @Andy_D , that we can get the help we need and we can give back by helping others. Thank you for letting me know that you got these links and you appreciate them.

MG 😀

[Daryn]

Great question. I am guilty of not using a metronome at all😳

[Moonhare]

There’s no shame in that! 😉

[tailsawaggin]

I also use Pro Metronome, and I found it got a lot more useful after I paid the $8 or so to unlock all the extra features. In its base configuration it will let you do different time signatures, and it will let you set accents for the beats, but it won’t count beat subdivisions — only the one, two, three, etc — and it has a very limited number of voices available. Once upgraded it will do beat subdivisions so you can get the and, e and a, and triplet counts for example, and it also acquires a number of voices including a drum kit and a person speaking the beat. I really like that last one because it leaves no ambiguity about what beat I should be on for those times I run completely off the rails, and when the computer is saying “one and two and three and four and” in perfect time, I have more brain CPU cycles free for playing. 😁

[Andy_D]

@Talsawaggin, Thanks for the information about Pro Metronome, I have just upgraded and found some of the extra features you have pointed out. I think help a lot. And I agree, I seem to like the voice counting feature. It takes all the ambiguity out of counting. I may not need that in the future, however it feels like the right thing for now.

[Moonhare]

On piano we have this thing called playing Rubato, which is a fancy way of saying you slow down or speed up to emphasise the emotion of the music. While playing songs on guitar or writing music I won’t use a metronome but for excercises it helps to gradually build up speed. Metronomes that have different sounds can help. I have a click on my computer set to the sound of drum sticks being tapped then a hi-hat for the bar start beat because having played in bands that was the way the drummer counted us in. Different sounds can really help if your app supports them and you can find the one that suits you rather than a standard bleep or click.

[Andy_D]

Thanks for the feedback Moonhare, I do agree that while playing I may want to be a little freer with the playing. At this time I’m still learning the basics and I am having a hard time keeping a consistent rhythm. It would be very hard playing with anyone else if I can’t keep a fairly consistent beat.