Practicing old school (I think the drum machine cheated me)

[Rev J]

I had a bit of a hiatus from playing due to long work hours and general exhaustion.

Even when I came back I was using a drum machine and trying to play exercises against different grooves. The other day just for kicks I download a metronome app for my phone, and just started practicing my modes against a chord loop with the click on just 2 and four. Man what an eye opener. I think having the drum machine dictating every beat/subdivision actually hurt me a little.

C/S,
Rev J

 

[PrimitiveMan]

I like doing both, it's nice to have different ways to practice.

Definitely good to push ourselves

I also like putting the metronome at really low tempo (like 20 to 30 bpm) and practicing grooves that way. Definitely improved my internal feel

 

[mambo4]

I think having the drum machine dictating every beat/subdivision actually hurt me a little.

I reached that conclusion a long time ago:
Sloppy bass timing against a drum machine
is more forgiving to your ear / brain
than the same sloppiness against naked click.
If the rest of the music is grooving you tend to hear/feel that
instead of your own mistakes.

If I really want to solidify my understanding of a part I am learning
I practice against nothing but a click
and strive to impute as much groove and feel as I can
It is more difficult than grooving against a drum machine / track / full band
It's frustrating and exposes all kinds of shortcomings in my execution and understanding of the music
Hard work, but once your execution becomes reasonably solid,
you reach a certain level of freedom in your own expression that is rewarding.
Plus your groove is more bulletproof when you take that back to rehearsal.

 

[JRA]

click is cool.

 

[Rev J]

Plus only having the click on 2 and 4 forces you to really know where 1 is.

C/S,
Rev J