Metronome, is it NECESSARY?

Bothrops · Post by **Bothrops** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 5:34 pm

How many of you practice or have practiced with a metronome?
I don't have serious problems of timing, but I'm a noob, and in some tunes it's normal that I make some mistakes and lose the rhythm.
On the other hand, many times I practice along with recordings, and I can follow the tune perfectly, even in the faster ones.

What do you say? It's necessary or not? I think it may be possible to improve the skill of playing with a perfect pulse just with practice, but then again, I'm a beginner...

Steamwalker · Post by **Steamwalker** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 5:35 pm

I tried to play with a metronome but I kind of found that clicking sound rather distracting.

eskin · Post by **eskin** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:20 pm

Yes, metronomes can be your friend, but get a good one, every one I've owned keeps speeding up and slowing down while I'm playing.

sbfluter · Post by **sbfluter** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:57 pm

I don't use one. I've been told I keep good time. I am not perfect, but I'm good enough.

I did give it a try early on, but I feel it's not really as helpful as just trying to get the rhythm right which is different than perfect.

walrii · Post by **walrii** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:16 pm

I do not have good rhythm and I know a metronome will help and the clicks are just like the beat of a good drummer and I ought to be able to keep up with it when its going at my speed......but dammitall, I HATE that Satanic little mechanical demon! Every once in great while I pull it out and torture myself with it for a practice or two then I scream loudly and toss it back in the drawer.

Sorry to all the other noobs whose minds I've poisoned against the sainlty little timekeeper who leads us down the path to steady rhythm. Watch for the fangs when you pat its cherubic little head.

Carey · Post by **Carey** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:05 pm

The metronome is not necessary, but keeping good time is. Having an electronic tuner is not necessary, but being in tune is. Some people have perfect pitch, some people have perfect time. Some people are perfect - full stop.

Since I have people to play with who keep good time, I just play with them. I know when I'm getting out of time because the fiddler's foot stomping gets louder and louder until I fix it. Better than any metronome I've ever used.

irish69 · Post by **irish69** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:07 pm

Nessesary, no. Useful, yes. A drum machine is even nicer if you have one.

emtor · Post by **emtor** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:11 pm

I HATE that Satanic little mechanical demon

Inside every metronome sits not only one but TWO little demons.
Their joy is slowing down and speeding up veeeery slowly so that you won't become aware of their presence. Their goal is to advance up to working inside pacemakers.
My advice is: Starve them to death by not using them before they get that far. But if you insist on using a metronome, have it your way,-but remember, they giggle and laugh at you while you play.

Guinness · Post by **Guinness** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:25 pm

walrii wrote:...Satanic little mechanical demon!

And all this time I thought it was supposed to be my conscience.

free-feet · Post by **free-feet** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 3:17 am

I've met many people who proclaim that there's nothing wrong with their timing and yet their timing totally sucks. They speed up and slow down whenever it suits them and then deny they do it. I've pulled out my pocket metronome on some of these people to prove my point and they refuse to play with it because they know the metronome doesn't lie.

I've heard "foot tappers" speeding up and slowing down their foot tapping to suit their musical discrepancies and they deny doing that.

Keeping a steady perfect beat throughout a piece of music is very important and yet a lot of players seem to just neglect this aspect of their playing.

To my mind, perfect rhythm is built on a perfect beat, and perfect feel/groove/lift is built on a perfect rhythm. Neglect the beat and you can forget the rest. This is what makes the great players, they know where the perfect beat is and flow around, weave through and play with it giving the feel/groove/lift that makes the music beautiful.

But this is not all a metronome is used for. A metronomes greatest help is in improving your playing speed and confidence. You keep turning the speed of the metronome "down" until you can play the whole piece comfortably without stress and without mistakes. This is the fastest you can play the piece of music at. Then every time you come to practice the piece of music you know the fastest speed you can play it at without mistakes and that is what you practice at - with the metronome. When you can play the tune 3 or 4 times through without mistakes in a nice relaxed way then turn the metronome up one beat and begin again until you can play the tune in a nice relaxed way again - repeat process until you can play the tune at the speed you want in a nice relaxed way, keeping a perfect beat and without any mistakes. Your confidence will build through the process as well.

There have been threads on this forum with people complaining about pain in their fingers and thumbs. If you're going to fast then you will have too much tension in your fingers. Turn the metronome down until your fingers are relaxed and the pain will disappear.

I was introduced to metronomes playing classical music for all the above reasons by my teacher. He was correct and proved to me the value of being a "bitch to the click". I've used one ever since (apart from African percussion), even after i gave up classical music 25 years ago.

For African percussion i use a sequencer and program it to play the bell and shekere patterns (and sometimes supporting drum rhythms) to the piece i'm playing. I then crank that through my hi-fi and play along to that adjusting the speed as necessary.

For those interested, the Korg MA-30 is a fantastic piece of kit.

pancelticpiper · Post by **pancelticpiper** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:10 am

I work at a place that employs a number of very good jazz musicians.
One drummer- a fantastic player, who has played with some of the biggest names, and probably has a better sense of timing than almost anybody- does one thing over and over during his breaks.
He listens to a metronome, and taps a single stick to the beat: tap tap tap tap tap...
For his entire 30 minute break in some cases.
That's a big lesson for me. I try to always practice with a metronome. I have one in my car! Because playing out of time is not playing music.
Many people are blessed with a flawless internal metronome and they seem to keep perfect time without ever using a mechanical one. But few are so blessed. I'm sure not!

And it's frustrating to try to play along with people- often harpists and pianists- who do most of their playing solo, and whose timing is constantly fluctuating.

pojp58 · Post by **pojp58** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:01 am

I have one and like it. Sometimes I use it and sometimes I dont.

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:24 am

It's the musician's cod liver oil.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:30 am

eskin wrote:Yes, metronomes can be your friend, but get a good one, every one I've owned keeps speeding up and slowing down while I'm playing.

Good one.

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 12:42 pm

pancelticpiper wrote:And it's frustrating to try to play along with people- often harpists and pianists- who do most of their playing solo, and whose timing is constantly fluctuating.

The truth.