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Tuesday, August 16, 2011
How To Effectively Use A Metronome
If you are hoping to be a solid guitar player with great timing, using a metronome to practice with is a necessity. A metronome may not be the most exciting subject to read about, but I assure you it's an important one if you plan on playing guitar. Plus, you may be surprised to see some of the artists I found endorsing the use of a metronome. I imagine every professional guitarist in the industry would advise the use of a metronome. I found effective practice tips with a metronome, professional musician endorsements, and even suggestions on which ones to purchase.
There are many fine metronomes on the market these days. Modern electronic metronomes with quartz timing mechanisms are exceptionally accurate, and with normal use will run for a year or more with a single battery. They almost look like toys, however, a decent metronome, when used properly, can be one of the most practical, and dependable tools a musician could have. This article will give a basic explanation of how to effectively use one of these marvelous little devices.
Although the wind-up, pendulum type metronome can be an excellent choice, I will be describing and detailing the approach of metronome use from the standpoint of an electronic quartz device. The concepts, and basic nomenclature are the similar for both types, so there should not be a problem when interpreting the steps.
The method for using a metronome is relatively simple, and I follow a five step process when using it as a practicing tool. To begin with, it is important to know that the numbers on a metronome stand for "beats per minute" - i.e. 104 = one hundred and four beats per minute. Now, let's assume that a person is working on an etude, since this type of music is quite suitable for metronome use. For your information, Wikipedia describes an etude as "an instrumental musical composition, most commonly of moderate difficulty, usually designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular technical skill". Once the individual has worked on the piece a bit, and is at the stage of working up to performance level, the application of the metronome would follow these five fundamental steps:
Chose a short, but specific phrase, or melodic unit, with which you are having problems playing accurately.
Play through the chosen phrase at a reduced speed at which there are no errors. It is important that you can play it repeatedly with no error, so reduce the speed until you have reached a tempo where you do play with no error. Mark the speed at which you have the metronome set that matches this speed.
Practice the chosen phrase until you are confident that you know the phrase very well.
Test yourself for perfection at this speed. The test is simple and it goes like this. You must be able to play the phrase at the chosen speed 10 times in a row without any error. I emphasized "any" to make sure that you are critical of your playing, and that you not accept any error, or the method will not work.
Two things can happen at this point
First, if you pass the test, then increase the speed on the metronome one notch to the next number. Then repeat steps 3 & 4 (Practice until you are confident that you can play the phrase perfectly at the increased tempo, and then test yourself again).
Secondly, if you failed the test, and made an error before reaching 10 repetitions, then you haven't really perfected the phrase at your chosen speed, and you need to practice the phrase some more. Once again, when you feel that you have practiced the phrase sufficiently, then you repeat step 4 and you test yourself again.
Continue step #5 until you have reached the tempo at which you intend to perform at, whether it be for your teacher, or in front of an audience. When you increase the metronome by only one notch, you hardly notice the difference. For instance, the difference between 100 and 104 is not really perceptible. You will sense the slight increase in tempo as you play, but the progression will be negligible. Do not try to increase the tempo too much during one practice session.
It is very important that you be extremely critical and accept no error from yourself. If you do, then you are defeating the purpose of the drill. Repeat this five step process on a regular basis and you will discover that you are improving your proficiency in a consistent, steady manner.
Why use a metronome? Well, I can think of many good reasons to why you would want to use a metronome when you practice. People are born with perfect pitch, but have you ever heard of someone being born with perfect time? I haven't. Time, as most people would agree, is something everyone needs to develop. This is where the metronome comes in handy.
If you want your musical ideas to be cohesive, things have to be played "in time." You can play the hippest notes you want, but if it's phrased poorly and out of time, frankly, it'll sound terrible to not only musicians, but to your average listener as well. That goes for any style of music. The human ear likes to be able to understand organized logic. Playing music in time is a big part of that organized logic.
Using a metronome for some is a bit put-offing because it can expose your weaknesses, and this is a blow to your ego. You might think you have good time until you play with someone that does, then you just might feel inadequate in that department. Well, break out your metronome and get to work!
You can use a metronome for many things in your practice. When doing finger exercises, picking exercises, anything you do to build technique, scales (of course) or sight reading (more on this coming up), you can use the tempo markings as a way to gauge how much better we are getting. The faster we can cleanly execute something the better we are getting, right? It can be very rewarding to see yourself beat your previous record on playing a certain passage, or exercise you routinely practice: you see your improvement, literally! When first starting out it might be a good idea to mark down what you accomplished today, so you have something to beat tomorrow. This all can help motivate you when it's often hard to see improvement in your abilities. You now at least you have something tangible to gauge your progress.
Here are some great tips to utilize a metronome:
1. Really nailing time values. Eighth notes, sixteenth notes, eight note triplets, quarter note triplets, etc. You get the picture. This could be just the picking hand, adding in the left hand as well, or just playing slurs (hammer-ons and pull-offs) in time with just the left hand. The trick here is to go for precision. Come up with your own exercises.
2. Playing really slow. Try it. You'll see that playing really slow is harder than playing fast in many ways. Play a passage or a whole song at 40 beats per minute (BPM) and see if you can pull it off convincingly, with passion, all without speeding up. Many people you admire who play with excellent time I bet have learned to "feel" time at extremely slow tempos as well as ripping tempos.
3. I often get my students to use a metronome to help with their sight reading. Breaking all the elements down, note recognition, fretboard and finger placement, note values, etc., while having the metronome mark out quarter notes, I have them do the following:
1) Name aloud each note in succession treating each note as if it was a quarter note. You must time each note you pronounce exactly with the metronome. When there is a repeated note, or notes, disregard them and quickly scan with your eyes to the next new pitch. (This will help to get you noticing groupings of notes taking in larger chunks of information at a quick glance and teach you to always be scanning ahead of where you are playing)
2) Then play the actual notes on the guitar, again treating each note as a quarter note disregarding time values not playing repeated notes in the same fashion as step 1.
3) Then clap the rhythms while counting, breaking down the time value sin your counting. (8th note: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +; 16th notes 1 e + a, 2 e + a, 3 e + a, etc.)
4) Next play the rhythms on the correct string (open or muted not implementing the fretting hand) that you would play each note.
5) Then isolate the fretting hand and try to play the notes and rhythms without using your picking hand. This helps with fretting hand accuracy in finger placement and timing!
6) Then finally, put it all together and play the song as it is supposed to be played.
The faster BPM that you can do each step the better you are improving at putting all the elements to sight reading together. It also helps a person realize what area that is causing difficulty by eliminating the other elements and boiling it down to just one at a time.
4. Naming notes on your fretboard. You'd be surprised how much better you get at knowing your fretboard layout by naming notes up and down (yes down) on each individual string. The faster the tempo, the faster you can recall the note, the better you are getting. Again, you get feedback, witnessing yourself improve. And yet further, you are exposing weak spots. Are you sensing a theme here? Almost everyone has a zone they avoid because they aren't comfortable. Do the uncomfortable so you can get comfortable.
5. This next one combines elements of steps 3 & 4. Write out random notes onto staff paper. (Tossing small pieces of paper with note names written on each,then pick up the pieces of paper and write then in the random order you happen to choose works well) Do this 6 different times, writing out one or two lines of staff per string. Be careful you are writing out notes that only fall in the range of each given string. Now using the metronome play the random notes you have prepared. This is such a great exercise to not only help your sight reading, but to learn the fretboard and the range limits of each of your strings.
6. Instead of putting the "click" on each beat when learning a song, try halving your intended tempo marking and count yourself in hearing the clicks on beats 2 & 4. This is really good for making you have to "hear", or feel where beat one is. This in my opinion helps you develop better time than having the metronome tell you where each beat is. Plus this concept and the following suggestions help you create a more elastic time feel, something not so rigid but still "in time."
7. If it's a fast tune you're working on, try dividing the tempo one fourth and hear the click on beat only on beat 1, or just 2, or just 3, or just 4. Now you are getting somewhere developing good time.
8. It 3/4 time hear the click on just beat 2 or 3, only. Or have it click every second beat so that it click on beats 1 & 3 for the first measure, then beat 2 in the second measure. You'll notice how every two measure you cycle back to beat 1 again.
9. For a more advanced move, you jazzers could hear the metronome click on the "ands" (or up beats) of a swing feel, or the "ands" of 2 & 4, etc. You get the picture. Try to stay in time only hearing the up beats.
10. And of course, use a metronome when you are practicing the new approach to scales. Treat playing scales as an Etude, a short practice piece, where you can measure your improvement by building up your speed.
For Trapt’s fourth studio record No Apologies, the quartet has taken a noticeable turn toward a more aggressive, raw sound – a creative move due in large part to the addition of new guitarist Robb Torres.
With Simon Ormandy opting to leave the California-based band back in 2008, Torres stepped in to take over touring duties and the obvious musical chemistry lead to the guitarist becoming a full-fledged member not long afterward. No Apologies’ first single “Sound Off” is indicative of the band’s new musical transition, and you can find full tablature for that track on Ultimate-Guitar.com provided by Torres himself.
While there is certainly a grittier aspect to No Apologies, Torres has always taken his inspiration from a wide array of musical genres. Having a background heavily rooted in jazz guitar and receiving in-depth training for musical theory, Torres could easily tackle any genre or style that might appeal to him in the future. For now, however, Torres’ passion is his work with Trapt, which will continue to tour extensively in support of No Apologies throughout the rest of the year. Torres recently chatted with Ultimate-Guitar.com to discuss the new album, Trapt’s current studio setup, and his continued work as a guitar instructor.
UG: You joined Trapt fairly recently back in 2008 after guitarist Simon Ormandy left the band. How did that event come about?
Robb: I had known the drummer Monty many years before he was in Trapt. We were in Miami and South Florida, and we had been in various bands. So we ended up playing in a band and we moved to LA. That whole thing kind of fell apart after eight months. He went on to join Trapt and I went on to some other endeavors. We managed to stay in touch and stuff like that. One day I guess their guitar player quit and they had a show booked, and he asked if I wanted to do it. He suggested that I would be good for the band. I did the one show, it went well, and I think they wanted to continue.
I know that you weren’t involved in songwriting for the last record Only Through The Pain, but at what point did you join the collaborative process for No Apologies?
We all wrote it together. I came into the band after Only Through The Pain was released. I didn’t play on Only Through The Pain, but I toured that record. While we were on the road we would start to jam and gather ideas and stuff like that. When we were done touring, we would get together and all jam and present ideas that we had. There’s a lot of jamming going on!
Is it safe to assume that the songs primarily come about through jamming? Have there been instances where you write the bulk of the song and bring it in?
It’s actually a combination. Me, Pete (Charell, bass), and Aaron (Montgomery, drums) spend a lot of time just jamming. We’ll go to Pete’s house and just jam for hours. We might come up with a song form and record it, and then we’ll send it over to Chris (Taylor Brown, vocals) to work on. That was one way we did things. Another way would be that I would have an idea that I worked on, I’d bring in that riff, and then we’d develop the song structure. We’d record that and give it to Chris. The other way was Chris would come in with a somewhat finished idea with lyrics or riffs, and then we’d develop that. We did spend three weeks together in a room and we jammed the ideas we had.
How was it working with producer Johnny K?
It was great. He knows how to get good sounds. He’s very straightforward. He knows what to do to make the song good. Luckily we weren’t really that far off, so it was an easy process. I think after so many years of writing songs, working with different producers and stuff, you just start to know what a good, solid track should be like as far as arrangements and things like that.
I’d like to talk about the general studio setup. Are there a few certain guitars in particular that you always look to for recording?
Lately I’ve been working on a Mac Book in Logic. That’s just for demoing things, of course. Before that I was using Pro Tools. My go-to guitars for this band are Les Pauls. We’ve been using a lot of baritone guitars. PRS has been awesome with supplying us with a couple baritone guitars. That’s pretty much it.
How about your amplification and effects?
I just recently did a deal with Framus Amps. So I’m using Dragon Tops. They sound really good. I just got them after the studio, so I really didn’t get a chance to play with them in the studio. We did have them for a few overdubs. There were a variety of amps in the studio, and Johnny K had a bunch of amps lined up in the studio as well. There were Bogners, Marshalls, Mesas. We have a bunch of stuff at our house, too. Right now it’s all about Framus. I’m rocking that vibe and it’s sounding really good. I’m happy with them.
Are there any pieces of equipment that you might consider a best-kept secret?
Wow, that’s a good question. I’m still trying to find that! I’ve tried different pedalboard setups that felt really good. I like a two-amp setup live. There’s this company called Loop-Masters. They make these loop switchers and you can custom build loops and channels that you want. I can switch between one amp that’s set on dirty and to another amp that’s set on clean. At the same time, I have a loop switch that’s right next to the A/B button. It allows me with one stomp to go from my clean amp with all my effects, then stomp the two switches at once and it’ll shut the loop off and the dirty channel will come on. It’s kind of like a poor man’s MIDI switching system. I’ve been playing around with the Line 6 M9 multi-effects unit. It’s more convenient than a lot of others.
Talk a bit about your influences. Were there certain players that helped shape your style? And how would you describe your style?
There were a lot of different influences from the early years like Angus Young and the Back in Black record. I would even consider Elton John an influence somehow even though I ended up playing guitar. His songs and stuff helped me get into music. Maybe it was just because it was around all the time with my older brother. Once I did start getting into playing guitar, it was all about Van Halen, AC/DC, and Def Leppard. Those were definitely the starting point. Led Zeppelin came later for me, but definitely Van Halen.
Judas Priest was a big influence. I actually went to the University of Miami and studied jazz. That’s how I met Aaron. He was going to FIU. He had a friend and our first jams were jamming to one song with extremely long solos. With my jazz background I’m into guitar players like Joe Pass. Charlie Parker and Miles Davis weren’t guitar players, but they influenced me a lot as well.
Do you ever notice your jazz background creeping into elements of Trapt?
Not too much. There is one part of the set that we try to open up and we actually go into a jam where I’m soloing. We stretch this one song. I guess it comes in there. I think it’s more of the improv background where it starts to come in. We just kind of improvise. I think that’s really the only jazz background that would come in. When you’re learning jazz, you’re learning advanced theory and scales. You’re being exposed to all these harmonies and theories. I think in that process you train your ear to hear different intervals and melodies and chords. What might sound dissident and ugly to an untrained ear actually sounds really nice to me. I think that allows me to hear different notes that an untrained person wouldn’t hear.
I read that you are a guitar instructor as well.
Yes, I am.
How long have you been doing that?
About 15 years. It’s something I’ve always done to provide. I’ve been getting a little more choosy with who I teach. I love to teach and I love to relate to people. I think it’s kind of my job to carry on that torch. I want to find the ones that really want to do that. Then it pushes me as an instructor.
Does that ever interfere with your touring schedule?
Even when we’re on tour I try to teach. I teach a lot online, but there are not always a lot of Internet connections.
You obviously have a wide spectrum of musical knowledge under your belt. What few pieces of advice would you like to pass on to other guitarists?
I would definitely tell them to make sure you have a metronome. You can be a great player and you can know all your scales and stuff, but if you can’t play in time no one is going to want to play with you. If you know one scale or a couple of chords and you’re timing is really good, people are going to want to play with you. When you play with people, it’s not about how fast or how many scales or what advanced stuff you know. If your rhythm or timing is good, then you can make music. The little Korg metronomes are like $20 or $25, and basically you should sleep with it. Sleep with it while it’s on! The other thing I would really say is just play every day. I try to get my practice every day. If you practice five hours one day but then go four days without playing at all, you’ve just wasted your time. If you can get a half-hour in, then you’re building a practice schedule.
Will you be touring for the rest of the year? Are you going overseas at all?
I don’t know about other countries yet. We’ll head out again after Thanksgiving.
Hopefully next year we’ll go back out again.
The new material sounds fantastic and you can certainly tell there’s a turn toward a heavier sound.
Yeah. I was definitely bringing in the rock stuff. What I really wanted to do was add more rock into there. I actually contributed a tab for “Sound Off” on Ultimate-Guitar. It’s like a lot of work! The thing that I notice about the tabs posted there are that most of them do a good job, but a lot of them aren’t right. I thought it would be a good idea to get in there and say, “This is how it’s really done.” I think it’s “Sound Off” Version 2. I left a little note there so they should know it’s me!
Guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani demonstrates some fairly simple warm-up exercises to be used in conjunction with a metronome. This might not be exciting stuff, but it is nonetheless some good material to add to your daily practice regimen.
To close out this post, I found some interesting feedback about the use of a metronome for guitar players. It should give you some insight into playing and practicing the guitar effectively. Find the information here at http://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/fix-common-guitar-practice-problems/.
Using a metronome during guitar practice is very helpful but it’s also important to know when not to use it. Tom Hess explores the reasons both for using a metronome and not using a metronome when trying to improve your guitar playing.
Do you think it is important to use a metronome when you practice guitar?
On this issue, guitar players tend to fall into one of the following groups:
Some guitarists almost never use a metronome in their guitar practice routines.
Others always (or almost always) practice guitar with a metronome.
When the guitarists in the first group are asked about why they practice guitar without a metronome, often say that they want to avoid having to stick to a rigid tempo while playing guitar. They claim that not practicing guitar with a metronome helps their guitar playing to be more expressive and musical. Others in this group simply just don’t think much about the metronome.
The guitarists in the second group (those who practice guitar with a metronome almost all the time) will usually tell you that the metronome is key to getting big results from practicing guitar. Therefore, these guitarists believe it is essential to practice everything to a metronome to develop tight rhythm guitar playing skills, increase guitar speed and track musical progress.
Which Group Of Guitar Players Are You In?
Fact is both of the above belief systems are incomplete and misleading ways to approach guitar practicing. Here is why:
You need to alternate between practicing guitar both with and without the metronome, but to be effective you need to do so in a strategic way, not a random one. You must have a diverse set of targeted guitar practice techniques and you must know when and how to apply the use (or non-use) of the metronome to each one to successfully overcome every guitar playing challenge you face. When it comes to practicing guitar with a metronome, there are times when using it is necessary and there are other times when the metronome will distract you from improving in the areas you need to master.
There are multiple ways of using a metronome in your guitar practice routines.
Consciously choosing “not” to use a metronome “sometimes” is one type of such strategy. It is not enough to simply decide to practice guitar with a metronome a certain percentage of your practice time, such as 50% with and 50% without. To get the most benefit from using a metronome, you need to know when, how and why to use it (or not use it) depending on what goals you are trying to achieve in a given practice session.
Although the complete list of strategies for using a metronome in your guitar practice sessions is beyond the scope of this article, I want to share with you several of the most important roles that the metronome should play in your guitar practicing, and also explain when and why to avoid using it. These ideas will help you to get much faster results in your guitar playing.
How To Use A Metronome To “Test” Your Guitar Playing
Contrary to popular belief, practicing guitar with a metronome does not help you to “improve” your guitar technique or “increase” your guitar speed. As I discuss in this free mini course on how to increase guitar speed, there are specific elements that go into guitar speed that must be trained and refined, often at super slow speeds without the metronome.
The metronome is then used mainly as a test to establish how well you have mastered these elements. The speed at which you can play will indicate whether or not you need to do additional practicing (without using the metronome) to overcome the technical flaws preventing you from playing guitar as fast as you want.
So, before you start using a metronome to “measure your improvement” in speed, you need to spend a substantial amount of time refining the fundamental technical components that make guitar speed possible (without using the metronome). This goes totally against the conventional wisdom of practicing everything to a metronome in order to improve your guitar technique, but is a much more effective way of developing this skill (check out the aforementioned free mini course to fully understand why this is true and how you should practice to build guitar speed).In fact, it is this belief that more work with the metronome is the key to overcoming one’s guitar speed or technique plateau that keeps many guitarists frustrated with their lack of guitar playing progress.
How To Use A Metronome To Improve Your Rhythm Guitar Playing
The guitar players who never (or very rarely) practice guitar using a metronome say that they want to have the freedom of not having to stick to a rigid tempo in order to be more expressive with the music they are playing. Although this style of guitar playing has its place in music (and we’ll discuss this more a little later), most people who only practice guitar without the metronome typically struggle whenever they do have to play in strict time. It is important to be able to play by varying the tempo, dynamics and other musical elements for expressive reasons, but it is equally as important to be able to lock perfectly in time with a particular tempo. If you have always stayed away from practicing playing guitar to a metronome for the reasons mentioned above, chances are that your timing needs improvement.
Unlike the concept of guitar speed, practicing guitar with a metronome is a very critical part of what actually “develops” your ability to play guitar tight in time. As you play, you can tell easily if your guitar playing is in time if you can make the sound of the metronome click “disappear” on most (or all) of the strong beats of the music. If you are playing in perfect time, the notes you are playing will line up precisely on top of the metronome click, creating an illusion that the click has become silent or has disappeared. If you can achieve this goal, you are making excellent progress.
How (And Why) To Practice Guitar Without A Metronome To Improve Your Guitar Phrasing
One problem that guitarists who use a metronome often run into, is a tendency to come up with melodies and lead guitar phrases mostly in “straight” divisions of the beat, such as long streams of sixteenth notes, triplets and quarter notes. Even though the playing may sound good and be in time, the phrasing can begin to sound somewhat robotic and predictable, even if you use different scales. One solution to this problem is to practice a guitar phrasing technique known as “rubato”. This soloing technique refers to intentionally playing lead guitar melodies without a clear rhythm by expanding and suddenly contracting the duration of pitches.
Metronome and guitar
Please note that there is a big and easily noticeable difference between playing in the style of rubato and the playing “not being in time.” One is a cool guitar phrasing technique and the other is a result of poor rhythmic control. When you play using rubato, it is obvious that the notes of the phrase “intentionally” do not stick to any predetermined rhythm and the phrasing sounds very cool and expressive as a result. In contrast, if you attempt to play notes that are or should be played in a strict rhythmic pattern but are not able to play in time, the music then has no sense of rubato and simply sounds “out of time”.
To learn more about rubato technique and hear exactly how you should practice it, watch this free guitar phrasing and soloing lesson.
As you can see, always practicing guitar ‘with’ a metronome or always practicing ‘without’ a metronome will limit your ability to reach your full potential as a guitar player.
You now know that there are specific times when you should be using it and other specific times when you shouldn’t.
Ultimately, the metronome is only one of many guitar practice tools that should be used “when necessary” to overcome specific guitar playing problems. The way each tool is to be used depends on the musical goals you are trying to reach and the specific problems you are trying to overcome. If you lack experience in knowing which guitar practice strategies and tools to use, work with a proven guitar teacher who can guide you towards making your guitar practicing more effective.
Overall, a metronome is a tool every guitar player should have and know how to use. I hope the information you found here helps you practice effectively. Be sure to check back with Mike's Guitar Talk for more tips and tricks for guitar. And please feel free to leave feedback if you wish; it is all appreciated.
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