What is a metronome really for?

[Lowner]

i am considering taking bass lessons for the first time since i picked up the bass two years ago. I was in the guitar store and had the opportunity to meet the guy who would be my potential teacher. While I am considering if I will take lessons or not he gave me a few tips. But the one that stuck out the most was.

Do not practice with a metronome. He said metronomes were not invented to keep time in music but to show the otehr musicians how fast to play a song so they do you no good. Use a drum machine instead.

Has anyone else heard this about metronomes? Its the first I have heard of it.

[Nick Ioannucci]

uhhh.... metronomes help you keep the beat, drum tracks can do the same, but metronomes do help musicians and their timing. i would be skeptical after hearing someone say a metronome doesnt do anything.

[fraublugher]

hey there might be a teacher available on this board in your area !

shop around , post a teacher wanted here thread .

[Joe Nerve]

There are countless threads here regarding metronomes. Some people say they hurt you, others swear by them. I for the life of me can't see the harm in using one. I like to try and stay open minded about it though. I played for many years before ever using one, so perhaps I already developed good listening skills - but I'll say emphatically that when I started practicing with a metronome is when I started really become a rock solid player.

If I use a metronome for a few hours straight my body seems to get "timed". If I jump into jamming with a drummer soon after it feels as though I'm on automatic pilot. A metronome has also helped me learn to play licks that were out of my league speed wise. I'd start real slow and increase one number at a time. Important thing I've found doing this is to ALWAYS play at a speed that's comfortable, and then up the speed. If I can't play something dead on cuz I'm pushing too fast, I go lower until I can play the line with ease. That's the only way I increase speed. Trying to play along and catch up with a beat that's a little too fast is only frustrating. The speed comes with patience.

Bla bla blah.... I think a metronome is also almost imperative if you're learning to slap.

All that being said, drum machines work too - metronome seems simpler - and crappy drummers are the greatest thing to play to in order to develop your timing, listening, and ability to play in the "pocket" however you want to define that.

[Pajama_Bottoms]

Metronomes can really be used for either practice or setting tempos, and as far as I know they have always been used that way.

When metronomes are used for practice, however, it is generally to keep you from either slowing down or rushing through parts that are difficult, and to help develop your sense of good timing. While a drum machine can accomplish the same thing, I can see being a little overwhelming/overkill for practice. And I don't see any harm in using a metronome to practice.

Personally I did not use a metronome too often when I first started bass, but I had been using and hearing one for years of piano practice and marching band and had the "beat" fairly well drilled into my brain. I still bust one out occaisionally for fast passages, but not that often. If this is the first instrument you're formally learning, as opposed to self-teaching, I would definitely go for a teacher who will hit the rudimentals hard: notation and chart reading, time signatures, and practice with a metronome.

[jfgsquaredragon]

Hey, Lowner - get a metronome! It's like honing the edge of a knife; the more you use the tool, the better the edge. Also, should your career progress to the point of recording/show gigs, click tracks are almost a staple, and regular training with a metronome will train you in their (click tracks) use. Good luck in the Low Life.

[Poop-Loops]

What I do is play without the metronome first and focus on relaxing and only using the muscle that I have to. Only afterwards do I turn on the metronome.

Trying to play with the metronome "cold" always made me make mistakes (i.e. sticking the left hand pinky out, bad form, too tense, etc).

[Three33]

i wouldnt trust that guy... what if there is no drummer and you are the only timekeeper? then you better have internalized those tempos. how do you internalize tempos? by practicing with a metronome. buy one.

[Bassist4Life]

A drum machine is a metronome on steroids.

A metronome can be used in so many ways that I don't even want to begin to list them because I won't be able to stop.

Do a search. There's a lot of metronome talk here at TB.

Joe

[robnatt]

The only people that don't like metronomes are those who can't play with them.

[Rick Brienzo]

Originally Posted by robnatt

The only people that don't like metronomes are those who can't play with them.

And Jeff Berlin

[Stumpy]

Metronomes are for practice and bands are for rehearsal.

To explain...you practice with the metronome so that you are sure that you are correct, with the timing, before you go off to play with the band.

Rehearsal is where you make micro adjustments in your timing to get the 'groove' right for a performance.

Your drummer should be metronome/clock correct 99% of the time. You should be there at the same level with the drummer...hence the 'lock' that you get when the groove is working.

IMHO

[slybass3000]

Originally Posted by fraublugher

hey there might be a teacher available on this board in your area !

shop around , post a teacher wanted here thread .

+1

SB

[Bruce Lindfield]

I think this is based on a misunderstanding of what some people like Jeff Berlin have said, i.e. :

"A metronome won't give you good time!"

Which is true - good time has to come from within you - but a metronome can help you practice to get that good sense of time drummed into you!

[Sagaris]

I don't see the harm in using one either but I have preferred to perfect my timing without one. If you kept using one forever you could perhaps get too dependant on it; after reaching a certain level, you may aswell not use one anymore (or as often)?

I used to use one alot when I was practicing pieces however more often now, when practicing a piece or an exercise, I record myself playing and judge how good my timing is from the recording.

[Bassist4Life]

Originally Posted by Rick Brienzo

And Jeff Berlin

I imagine Jeff sneaking into a practice room and using a metronome when nobody is looking. Someone walks by the room, hears the clicking and says, "Jeff, what's going on in there?!". He quickly shuts it off, begins tapping his foot and says, "Nothing!".

Joe

[Audiophage]

A metronome is great for working on timing and giving you something more steady to work with while practicting by yourself, but you also don't want to completely depend on them. I think some people that last part I said confused with dismissing the use of metronomes entirely.

[Steve]

Metronomes have been helping musicians to improve for probably a couple of hundred years. They work.

It's not a be all, end all, but they have value. IMO

[bSharp]

Here is the question my teacher used to always ask: if you can't play it slow what makes you think you can play it fast? The metronome gives you a way to work out difficult passages beginning at a slow tempo and gradually increasing the tempo until it is up to what you would want to use in performance. You turn the metronome down until the passage is easy. Play the passage scaled to the slow tempo so that if you are going to play staccatto, or whatever, at full tempo you have to simulate staccatto at the slow tempo. Then you increase the metronome by a few ticks and work until the passage is easy. Repeat until you are at full tempo. Without the metronome there is always the temptation to try to go faster than you should and you never quite master the passage.

[Jim Carr]

Originally Posted by mb1

Gee, why not have a metronome, and drums, and a tuner, and a phrase sampler, and a personal effects processor, AND a superb bass headphone amplifier in a single box that will fit in your pocket or attach to your strap?

I let my teacher use mine for a bit tonight. He was impressed and now wants one himself. His precise words were "That's #^%@$#$@!!!!!"

Just FYI, my instructor has me practice both with and without a metronome (and with and without drums). Sometimes he'll give me a countoff on the metronome, then shut it off, have me play the practice piece then turn the metronome back on at the end to see if I'm rushing the piece. We also use it precisely measure the progress I'm making on my speed exercises (scales, spider crawl, etc.)
...

+1 I love my Korg Pandora PX-4B BASS effects processor. BTW-It has been discontinued and replaced by the PX-4D, which combines both guitar and bass functionality into a single unit.

In any case, this little box makes learning/practicing with my collaborators CDs or emailed mp3s so easy. I still use a metronome with double bass, but the built-in PX metro is fine and useful.

Drum machines are good, but less challenging. They groove for you, to a certain extent. If you nail a groove with a metronome, it is just YOU doing the nailing.