Re: Importance of Using a Metronome

[Sylvain Robitaille]

On Mon, 11 Jul 2011, Adam Smale wrote:

> Why use a metronome?

In the interest of presenting an alternative idea, I tend to use a drum
machine (or rhythm tracks, but the drum machine has the advantage of
having adjustable tempo) instead of a metronome. The obvious advantage
is that it provides a much more interesting "reference" than the static
dull click of a metronome. On the other hand, it doesn't really offer
some of the advanced ideas that Adam presents for working with a
metronome:

- click on 2 and 4
- click on only beat 1, 2, 3, or 4
- 3/4 alternating bars of click on 1 and 3, and click on 2
- click on upbeats

I have to admit, those last two kind of scare me just to think about
them! ;-)

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Sylvain Robitaille s...@therockgarden.ca
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[Adam Smale]

A drum machine is great, but I don't think you internalize good time by using one. Being really good at following something (or someone) isn't the same thing as having such good time that you "feel" where the time is. Syl, these last things you mention are the things that help you get a solid time feel. Lastly, a drum machine is almost too perfect. By that I mean rigid. When you work with a metronome you develop a very human, elastic, time feel that is not so rigid. It's hard to explain until you go through it yourself. Trust me, I used a drum machine back in the lat 80s & early 90s. It wasn't until I went "bare bones" and used that simple item we all know as the metronome.

[Zaffar Shahzad]

Some drum machine tracks are not made for doing metronome practices, I
have used many drum tracks for practicing but one thing which I have
experienced throughout is that they are not helpful especially if you
are new and struggle to keep your fingers in tempo. Click metronomes
are great choice for developing accuracy and speed. They also instill
neatness in your playing.

On Jul 12, 10:06 am, Sylvain Robitaille <syl+goo...@therockgarden.ca>
wrote:

[Sylvain Robitaille]

On Thu, 8 Sep 2011, Zaffar Shahzad wrote:

> Some drum machine tracks are not made for doing metronome practices,

> ...

Well, as I already pointed out, they don't lend themselves to doing some
of the practice routines that Adam suggested, but ...

> ... they are not helpful especially if you are new and struggle to

> keep your fingers in tempo.

I find they work best especially for stuff like this. When you play
with others, you'll probably not have a metronome going (which is why
working with a metronome is specifically called "practice", of course)
so there's certainly value in having practiced in that state as well.
For simple "playing in time" practice, the drum machine is much more
interesting than "click click click click ..." It's important, of
course, to keep the drum rhythm simple, at least at first, with a strong
"one".

> Click metronomes are great choice for developing accuracy and speed.
> They also instill neatness in your playing.

I don't think that using a drum machine is less effective for these
aspects, though. It just results in a more interesting sound while you're
working on these, and for me that's the point of using the drum machine.

Adam's exercises, however, went beyond that, to developing a strong
*internal* sense of time (thus the exercises involving dropped beats,
clicks on only some beats, alternating 1,3 and 2 in 3/4 time, or clicks on
upbeats only), and for those exercises (and likely others that go beyond
simply playing in time), I concede that using a drum machine wouldn't
work as well (except to perhaps replace the metronome sound with a simple
drum sound, such as a rim-shot, but in that case you might as well just
use a metronome).