Rythmic exercises

[Tommythebass95]

Hey everyone, I hope someone is able to help me find the right exercises for this situation. Basically i've been playing for five years and right now i play in two bands. I think my level is quite decent for the amount of time i've been playing. I have quite a few recordings with the bands, both live and studio and i never thought that i had issues with keeping the beat (i listen to every recording like a thousand times just to make sure); but now i got an audio software and i started to record myself without a drummer it seems that im unable to keep the tempo. Its not like a huge thing, but as a bassist i believe that i should be able (or at least try) to keep a solid beat without having any tempo fluctuations and not have to rely on a drummer.
So my question is, can someone give me some advice on what to do? As i said its not that my playing is bad overall so i dont really wanna go back to playing quarter notes on a 4/4 with a metronome, but maybe some specific exercises or something like that could help me?

 

[MalcolmAmos]

Ditto. Look forward to the answers the guys/gals come up with. Beyond a metronome or some kind of click track or drum track I do not have anything to add. FWIW I hate it when the drummer does not show up, I have used the drummer as my metronome for so long that I'm not comfortable when I am the beat master.

 

[Baird6869]

Metronome.

I thought my timing was close to perfect.... until I started using a metronome during practice. Vary the tempo, only have the click on the 1 at a slow tempo, try coming in on the 2, 3 or 4, etc.

It will absolutely help (IME).

 

[jasmangan]

You can also try putting the click on 2,3,4 as well.
Sight reading will help too

 

[Clef_de_fa]

Reading and singing rythm with a classic metronome that all the beat sound exacly the same helped me a lot. Of coursewhen you have a sheet music you know where each note should be so I find it easier to be sure you do actually land at the right place.

 

[Flatwoundround]

I got this idea from Victor Wooten and it uses a metronome but is different how most people use one.

Let's say you are playing a song and it is 120 bpm. There is an application called webmetronome.com you can google it (better than most metronomes because unlike most metronomes this will go all the down to something like 5 bpm - whereas most metros only go to about 30 or 40 - keep reading to see why this is so important.

Now set the metronome to 30 bpm and play the song that is 120 and the click is your downbeat (assuming 4/4 time signature). So you are basically responsible for the timing you just have a realty check on the downbeat with the click. First time I did this drill about 2 years ago I was shocked at how much I was rushing. But since then I have been told on several occassions that I have good solid time. There is a slow blues tune that is only 60 bpm and it is quite syncopated so I try to play that using this method at 15 bpm and it is not easy at all but once you can get that everything else is a piece of cake.

I guarentee you do this drill you will no longer be dependent on drummers for timekeeping.

 

[BrotherMister]

What Flatwoundround said is great. You will benefit most from using the metronome without having a lot of metronome to rely on. Playing 4 quarter notes to a click of 4 on the beat isn't going to do wonders for your time. If you have the metronome clicking on the off beats then suddenly you have to subdivide the bar in order to check you are correct. You will eventually be able to feel when you are rushing and dragging on it as well because it doesn't feel good. You can then move the click to one of semi quaver subdivisions then a triplet and so and so on. There is literally so much you can do with it but I find one of the worst things you can do with the metronome is just have it clicking away on the beats. Unless of course you are trying to work on playing along with a click track, which is a skill worth learning as well!

 

[wyrdawg]

There is a slow blues tune that is only 60 bpm and it is quite syncopated so I try to play that using this method at 15 bpm and it is not easy at all but once you can get that everything else is a piece of cake.

I guarentee you do this drill you will no longer be dependent on drummers for timekeeping.

What Flatwoundround said is great

Right there with you Brother. That's an awesome piece of advice. Thanks so much for this thread!