playing with a metronome is difficult

[Bassisgood4U]

Im having trouble playing anything besides 1/4 notes with a metronone. My trouble stems from me playing on beat, then I can't hear the metronome so I focus on hearing it, lose focus on my playing, make a mistake, stop and listen to the beat again and try to start over. Rinse and repeat.

This happens at every tempo. And even with the viabrating ones.
I have no problem keeping time with a recorded song and when I record myself playing solo and rewatch it, I find tempo consistent. So are metronone skills as crucial as everyone says? I find they make me focus and pull me out of the zone and I just can not do it.

Any tips from anyone who had these same problems would be awesome
Thanks in advance!
Richard Boatwright.

Maybe you don't need the metronome. For those that do, make sure you can play in time without it, too.

 

[Jeff Bonny]

Remember to put the metronome on beats 2 & 4 only when practicing ur swing feel and/or walking bass lines...

That's lousy advice for someone having trouble finding the downbeat.

I just don't think there are many rules to using a metronome but rather it helps solve specific problems and then gets turned off.

I'm not quite sure what exactly I was thinking saying the above when I fundamentally agree with David's statement.....for the vast majority of bass players 1 and 3 are the money beats. I s'pose I just take exception to most "rules" for using the metronome....your imagination and honest self evaluation are more useful than any rules. The only general statement I'd make is that in this era of recording and using tracks on live gigs playing comfortably to click is an essential skill for a working bassist.

 

[mambo4]

Drum machines give you the rhythm. Metronomes force you to figure it out on your own.

Very succinctly put.

Metronomes are bourgeois!
In Soviet Russia , rhythm plays you.

 

[Jack Butler]

Playing with a metronome is definitely part of the overall package. Actually with bass I tend to play more with a drum machine, but guitar I hit the metronome pretty hard.

 

[Gaolee]

Metronome work has been pretty important for me in one band, and unfortunately less important in the other. Oddly enough, it is the band that needs it less that uses it more. That's telling. I'm 100% sure drummerbabe has put in the metronome time, because it is very easy to lock in with her. I use the metronome for practice off and on to check what I'm doing, too. The other drummer wanders a bit, and so does the rhythm guitarist. So, that means I get to lock down the groove whether I want to or not. Trying to mediate between those guys is a challenge. Good thing we all have day jobs! It would be far easier to play and lock in if they practiced with metronomes, but they don't.