No! The metronome

[factory presets]

No point in chasing perfection when humans are imperfect. I'd rather be in a groove, locked in with a drummer who may or may not speed up/slow down, than chasing some elusive click. For me it's just a feel thing and I've played with some extremely talented drummers over the past 45 years, some where we've developed an almost intuitive bond regarding time. Did we always keep perfect time? Who cares? We were locked in together.

I just use a metronome for something to lock on to for practicing locking on. No drums, I'll follow any instrument the singer plays.or whatever they seem to be following. Gotta assume they know what they want.
Ive never noticed a difference between playing with a drummer with a click and one without. Might be that a click drummer let's me move around the beat more. But I've played with drummers who are fine with that and don't use a metronome.

 

[klokker]

I find that once in a while taking out the metronome and working a few exercises is really helpful. Sounds like you try too hard to concentrate and then get tired and "lose it". Just a simple quarter note to eight note to 16th note pattern can give you a reset.

I suppose you can overdo it, and people are different, but IMO you gotta have a metronome laying around. Drum machines or just playing along to a recording works too, but I find that simple click can help in a unique way.

 

[joeLowB]

Less metronome...more cowbell!

You beat me to it, @M-Mittlesteadt !

 

[factory presets]

I've also played with singer songwriters who will drag, or speed up depending on their emotions, the moon, mercury in retrograde, or misaligned chakras. It infuriates me.

Played with a singer songwriter told me in advance that he would do that as he felt the song demanded . Fine by me. I followed his guitar. Try to find an appropriate pocket and he was chuffed. Honestly couldn't tell you how steady his time was. I had something to play to.

 

[coyote1]

I have a low-key restaurant gig where I play with a guy that plays acoustic guitar. My timing has been pretty good until recently. It has gone to crap. Either I over-think or my mind wanders. The guitar player has a steady beat So it’s back to the metronome for me.. Any suggestions to make it easier?

Try to change your goal relative to the metronome. Most folks approach it as if they need to follow the click. The real goal is to co-create the time WITH the metronome. So when you’re practicing, your goal is to not hear it at all. And the way forward is slow tempos. Can you set it to 30bpm, and play 60bpm over that? Such that you never hear it? Can you play 30bpm over it and never hear it?

Challenge yourself. Don’t dread it, embrace it.

 

[Low Main]

I actually enjoy using a metronome. And I'm living proof that time needs practice like anything else.

If I don't use a metronome for a few days, when I go back to it, my time is all over the place.

At that point, I do 20 minute segments of metronome practice, maybe 2 or 3 per day. Forcing it with a long metronome session doesn't work for me.

It takes me about a day and a half to get all the way back in the groove with the click. To where the click sounds like it's swinging and having fun.

I'm fussy about the actual sound the click makes. I won't use a metronome that makes a sound that annoys me. Find one you don't mind listening to.

I sometimes set the click to as slow a tempo as I can, whatever the device is capable of. Below 30 if possible. I use that slow click as the 1 of a 4 beat bar. Then the 2, the 3, etc. This is pretty common practice.

To reward yourself for spending time with the click, play along with old tunes that were recorded before studios had click tracks. Good session drummers, organic timekeeping.

My favorite time test comes from Gordon Edwards. He'd be driving with other cats with a song on the radio. When they saw a tunnel coming up, they'd start keeping time to the tune. The radio would go dead in the tunnel and they'd keep the beat going. When they came out the other end, the radio would come back on, and their time needed to be on the money when the tune resumed.

 

[P. Aaron]

Is it really a timing issue then?
If you are over thinking or mentally wandering then you are not paying attention and listening.

You're at the gig. Do the gig. There's always a dangling participle of life to nag you. Relax, don't think about it too much, & just play the music. That Yoda line about the "force flows through you..." stuff. Really, it's both meditative and performative exercise once on stage.

Ain't no mechanics gonna correct jitters from any other allowed distractions.

 

[Shenron]

I have a low-key restaurant gig where I play with a guy that plays acoustic guitar. My timing has been pretty good until recently. It has gone to crap. Either I over-think or my mind wanders. The guitar player has a steady beat So it’s back to the metronome for me.. Any suggestions to make it easier?

Sorry I am not getting the question right... to make it easier to use the metronome, or to make it easier  not to use the metronome? Or do you just mean to make practicing with a metronome less unpleasant?

I usually say that usage of the metronome in practicing is overrated, but when someone feels not able enough to follow the song's timing then this IS pretty much when practicing against a metronome really helps.

A small thing that might cheer you up a bit when practicing with the metronome could be to sing the rhythm at the same time. And practicing the actual songs you need to play, not exercises.

 

[FullumMusic]

One of the best ways to keep time and tempo is body movement. Tapping a foot is nice, but really involving the rest of your body in some way is better. Head nods, shoulder nods, head bops, hip sways. It really depends on the tempo as to what you can move and how much. Long flowing legato stuff could mean full body swaying. Mid tempo stuff could feel best with shoulders back and forth. Uptempo could only feel right with quick head-bobs. You can feel subdivisions too. Shoulders and hips on the quarter notes; head bops on the 8th notes.

Just get used to moving your body in a natural way to tempos. Do it when you practice songs. Do it when you practice with a metronome. Feel the pulse of the tempo through body movement.

I'd even say, run the metronome at different tempos and move your body to it like it's a beat that makes you wanna get down.

Once you can feel the tempo with movement, you'll feel when the speed is wrong. You won't be able to move correctly to it. The movements will either be cut short in an unnatural way, or your playing will be falling behind the movements.

 

[KenSmithFan]

Any suggestions to make it easier?

Yes, don’t try to make it easier. The best players do the things mediocre players won’t do. Improving your time is a grind, but worth it. There are no secrets, shortcuts or magic bullets, just hard work.

 

[jutty17]

Don’t try to play in time with the metronome, allow yourself to “find” it. And that means being out until you’re not. “Trying” is the enemy of all musical performance.

Be the ball, Danny!

 

[Brandon Shea]

Turn off beats 1 and 3, make it groove!

 

[AK Bass Guy]

If you are having an issue locking into tempo, tap your toe or your foot.
You don’t have to stomp your foot even just a little wiggle of your toes will have the same effect.

If practicing with a metronome gets tedious use a simple drum machine app to practice to.
That’s what I do for practice, does the same job as a metronome but less boring.

 

[darwin-bass]

Being able to play in time is as important as being able to sing on pitch.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

I echo others' sentiments, wondering if it really is a timing issue? If you know the song well and can groove with no timing issues, it could be unfamiliarity or distractions causing you to lose your place/time. I've been there. If I don't know a song well or am unsure about what to play, I've had that cause hiccups in my playing which affected the time. I try to simplify and play less in those situations and just concentrate on the groove. Also... volume. If it's too loud or too quiet it can change your touch/attack and cause you to dig in or be hesitant. All kinds of factors to consider.

I know the songs well,
But my timing has been wandering around !

 

[bigdaddybass12]

If you are having an issue locking into tempo, tap your toe or your foot.
You don’t have to stomp your foot even just a little wiggle of your toes will have the same effect.

If practicing with a metronome gets tedious use a simple drum machine app to practice to.
That’s what I do for practice, does the same job as a metronome but less boring.

Yeah, my band director taught us to tap our foot since I was 12!

 

[Lefty Joe]

In the Dept Of Wacky Suggestions Nobody Could Possibly Take Seriously:

• eliminate all sugar and alcohol from your diet for two weeks

No way, you might say; that has nothing to do with it.
Good joke, you might say. Those fad-diet people are nuts.
I could never, you might say; I gotta have it.

I understand. Go on as you were. I just thought someone should say it, so now it's said.

Note/disclosure: I've rarely done this myself. Day 2-5 is the hardest. But Day 6 begins the improved mental clarity.

You don't hear about this because there's no money to be made in it.

 

[Oddly]

I've played with quite a few guitarists over the years, and not one of them has kept 'perfect' time...especially the singer/songwriter solo ones.
Think Willie Nelson.

I think you're probably overthinking this and having noticed the occasional lapse, are now obsessing to the extent any minor slip is magnified in your mind, causing a domino effect.
Not sure how to achieve it, (I mean, I know how Willie Nelson's band do it) but chilling out is what you need to do here.

 

[rickdog]

Try to change your goal relative to the metronome. Most folks approach it as if they need to follow the click. The real goal is to co-create the time WITH the metronome. So when you’re practicing, your goal is to not hear it at all. And the way forward is slow tempos. Can you set it to 30bpm, and play 60bpm over that? Such that you never hear it? Can you play 30bpm over it and never hear it?

Challenge yourself. Don’t dread it, embrace it.

I think Mickey Hart referred to this as entrainment in his book Drumming at the Edge of Magic. Being able to do this with a metronome helps develop the skill of doing it with other musicians. The goal of practicing this way is not to develop mechanical, lifeless, "perfect" time, it's to be able to lock in to whatever time the group as a whole is creating.

I like to practice with a metronome set to half time, and play so it's on the backbeat (usually; depends on the feel of the song I'm practicing). One of my bands (the one with the really good, purposeful, focused rehearsals ) will sometimes do this as an ensemble. It's surprising how much it can help.

 

[JazznFunk]

In the Dept Of Wacky Suggestions Nobody Could Possibly Take Seriously:

• eliminate all sugar and alcohol from your diet for two weeks

No way, you might say; that has nothing to do with it.
Good joke, you might say. Those fad-diet people are nuts.
I could never, you might say; I gotta have it.

I understand. Go on as you were. I just thought someone should say it, so now it's said.

Note/disclosure: I've rarely done this myself. Day 2-5 is the hardest. But Day 6 begins the improved mental clarity.

You don't hear about this because there's no money to be made in it.

I quit drinking on gigs over a decade ago, and quit drinking period almost 4 years ago. It does make a difference. Not to derail the thread, but I've never played better while consuming alcohol. Recordings prove it. Same for my bandmates.