This tutorial will cover some of the basics of using a metronome as well as the importance of using one. Metronomes are pretty simple in theory so this lesson will likely be a short one. However actually playing with a metronome (especially if you have never done it before) can be quite challenging.
Contents:
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Metronome Tutorial
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Metronome Tips
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Free PC Metronome Downloads
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Relating the Metronome to "Real Music"
Metronome Tutorial
As a musician, having good timing is very important and I would even venture to say that having good timing is
THE most important skill any musician can have. You may be the fastest/most melodic/etc. player on earth, but if you can’t stay in time with other musicians then all of that amazing talent is going to waste because no band will want you.
One of the best ways to improve your timing is practicing with a metronome. If you can lock in with the metronome, you should have no problems locking in with a band (unless the rest of the band has poor timing
) You can practice songs, licks, exercises, or even practice your own songs along with a metronome... I strongly recommend practicing the finger exercises mentioned
HERE with a metronome.
The metronome is a very simple device that makes a “clicking” sound at given time intervals. These clicks represent the tempo of the song in
beats per minute (bpm). The number indicated on the metronome is the number of clicks the metronome will make in one minute. So if you set the metronome to 100, then it will produce 100 clicks per minute.
Typically, the metronome clicks are set to count quarter notes, so if you play along with the metronome and play one note on each click then you are playing quarter notes as well. You can then subdivide the clicks and play two notes per click to get 8th notes, four notes per click to get 16th notes, eight notes per click to get 32nd notes, etc... You can also go the other direction and play one note for every two metronome clicks to get half notes and one note every four metronome clicks to get whole notes. For more details on
note durations go
here.
You can also set the metronome to play 8th notes by doubling the tempo when it was playing quarter notes. This can be especially helpful at slower tempos with long gaps between clicks so you don't loose the sense of timing.
If you are just starting out playing with a metronome, I recommend playing exercises using quarter notes so each note is played at the same time as a metronome click. This will make sure that each note you play is perfectly in time. When you start subdividing it becomes harder to tell when the notes that don’t fall on the click are slightly ahead or behind where they should be.
When first learning a particular exercise or song,
start off with the metronome at a slow speed so that you can play it comfortably and smoothly with proper technique. If you try to learn something to fast you are more likely to play it “sloppy”, which will only reinforce bad habits. When you feel ready to move on, speed up the metronome by a small increment and play it again until you feel comfortable to speed up the metronome again. Gradually working a song up to speed in small increments will allow you to play it much better at faster speeds. You won’t be playing something beyond your abilities because you don’t increase the tempo until you are ready for it, therefore you will be less likely to play it sloppy at faster speeds.
The metronome is also a great way to track your progress over time. Let’s say for example that you had problems with a particular exercise playing quarter notes at 100bpm and a week later you can play it comfortably at 130bpm. You can easily see how much you have progressed over the last week by keeping track of the tempos you practice at (a scratch pad or even a computer word document of dates, tempos, and the exercises/songs you were practicing). Because improvements are usually very gradual you may not feel like you are progressing, but using the metronome allows you to look back at where you were at a previous time and see very quickly how far you have come.
Metronome Tips
Tapping Your Foot: Another exercise you can do to instill good timing is to put your guitar down and just simply try tapping your foot along with the metronome. This is a great way to get your "internal metronome" (so to speak) used to staying in sync with an outside source. If you tap your foot while playing guitar, then your foot should tapping be in perfect time with the metronome. If you're off with your foot tapping then it is highly likely that your guitar playing will be off also.
Breaking The Speed Barrier: Sometimes you hit a tempo where everything just falls apart and no amount of practicing seems to help. On these occasions it can be helpful to drastically speed up the metronome (by 20bpm or more) beyond the point you are stuck at and without worrying about technique, try to keep up at that faster speed. Play at this speed for a while and then try going back to your original speed that you were having problems with. It should be a little easier now, and if you need to you can speed the metronome back up again and play at the faster speed for a little while longer. Sometimes just getting your fingers used to moving faster can help break through a speed barrier.
Tempo Multiplying: This involves speeding the tempo up by a factor of 2 or 4. This works great if you are having problems staying on time with the metronome, if you are playing subdivisions notes (such as 8th or 16th) and you want to make sure they are on beat, or if you are having problems hearing the metronome click (this is especially handy for drummers who usually hit a drum on the quarter notes and can’t hear the click very well).
So instead of setting the metronome to play quarter notes, set the tempo to 2x or 4x as fast so that it plays 8th or 16th notes. This of course means you will have to reduce the note durations you were playing in order to stay at the same tempo. For example, if you set the metronome to play twice as fast, then instead of playing 8th notes at 80bpm, you would play quarter notes at 160bpm. This way you will hear the “up beats” and be able to stay in time a lot easier.
To bring this concept home, here is an example to demonstrate how to think about what the metronome is playing at these multiplied speeds. I will use 60 bpm as the original tempo.
Original speed: 60 bpm
Metronome is playing: quarter notes
Count: 1 2 3 4
2x speed: 120bpm
Metronome is playing: 8th notes
Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
4x speed: 240bpm
Metronome is playing: 16th notes
Count: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
Free PC Metronome Downloads
Guitools - This is a lot more than just a metronome. It's got all kinds of stuff like chord and scales diagrams as well as a guitar tuner. Plus the metronome goes up to 16th notes at 400bpm... That's 1600 clicks per minute.
YMetronome - This is a great metronome program that you can set to automatically increment the tempo after a certain time interval. Very handy because you can increase the tempo without having to stop playing to reset the metronome.
Reaper - Another option which IMO is the best, is to download the demo version for the recording software Reaper and use its metronome function. This metronome will go as fast as you want, there does not seem to be a limit on it (at 100,000 bpm it plays a solid tone because its so fast). The demo version will never expire, so you don't have to worry about loosing the metronome after 30 days... However, if you do decide to use Reaper for more than just the metronome (as in for recording), then you should pay for it. $50 is dirt cheap for a great recording program such as Reaper, but I think it's a bit much if all you use is the metronome feature.
NOTE: I have had problems with Guitools and YMetronome on both of the laptops I have tried them on. The metronomes "swing" (or gallop) instead of holding a solid beat, which makes working with the metronome useless if it's not holding a solid beat for you to follow. But I tried Reaper and it works perfectly. So if try one of the others and run into the same problem, then try the Reaper demo and it should work fine.