The Great Metronome Debate

[IamGroot]

There's a parallel to your point in flying (I'm also a pilot). Some people have a thousand hours of experience while others have one hour of experience a thousand times. The latter are your horn players.

800 hrs PIC. Instrument rated .Last time in 1995. Flying is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Music is a distant 2nd.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Here is what you get if musicians don't practice with the metronome. drool
Johnny Cash's I Walk the Line (Instrumental) by The Bad Plus

P.S. It's a joke only. Please be advised.

 

[gln1955]

Here is what you get if musicians don't practice with the metronome. drool
Johnny Cash's I Walk the Line (Instrumental) by The Bad Plus

P.S. It's a joke only. Please be advised.

LOL! I've played in that band before.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

LOL! I've played in that band before.

It’s a great band with excellent musicians!
You have a nice resume.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Here is what you get if musicians don't practice with the metronome. drool
Johnny Cash's I Walk the Line (Instrumental) by The Bad Plus

P.S. It's a joke only. Please be advised.

That's great! I would guess though that the players in that band have practiced very much with a metronome. I believe it helps your timing and listening skills to enable you to do that.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

That's great! I would guess though that the players in that band have practiced very much with a metronome. I believe it helps your timing and listening skills to enable you to do that.

Yes.
In order to play that kind of track, every musician must be very good at timing.

 

[IamGroot]

Here is what you get if musicians don't practice with the metronome. drool
Johnny Cash's I Walk the Line (Instrumental) by The Bad Plus

P.S. It's a joke only. Please be advised.

Wicked. You got to really talented to play that bad.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Wicked. You got to really talented to play that bad.

That is why the band is called Bad plus (!).

 

[Badwater]

All depends on the metronome. Can it swing a groove?

 

[BMGecko]

It's a good tool, but it doesn't imprint robotic time on your soul, if it did, I'd recommend buying an electronic tablaunit and using that as a metronome.

Metronomes can help with feeling subdivisions, learning pieces "at speed" and playing with time (i.e. "cover the beat", playing in front of/behind the beat. What a metronome won't do is reset a faulty internal clock.

First off, this thread is not about bashing any bass players.

I am just trying to understand a reasoning why metronomes dont help players learn good time. I have read the arguments.and watched the videos against metronomes, but I don't get it. If someone can summarize that argument convincingly, I would like to hear it.

Btw, I use the metronome pretty much daily, especially when learning tricky pieces. I am a big believer in the gnome.

 

[Bassbeater]

Playing with a metronome with improve your groove and has no harmful side effects. Buy two and give one to a friend.

 

[violinoscar]

Here is where the metronome helped me many years ago: I used to speed up in the exciting parts of a tune. I did not have a steady internal clock. Today I do and I owe it in a large part to metronome practice.

 

[Jeff Bonny]

Practicing forty years with the metronome didn't stop me speeding up or slowing down but now I can hear when it's happening.

 

[foal30]

I have found a metronome useful for:

- a time signature I can't 'feel'
- a rhythmic figure I can feel but can't read or notate

Otherwise I haven't and do not use one.

 

[Lefty McGee]

The drummer in my band has a click track feeding into one of his IEM's at all rehearsals & gigs. The drummer is our metronome.

 

[Bassbeater]

To really be effective, the metronome needs to be bluetooth paired to a shock-collar.

 

[Spin Doctor]

Practicing forty years with the metronome didn't stop me speeding up or slowing down but now I can hear when it's happening.

Well, mission accomplished, I'd say. The problems happen when people can't tell...