[Tekker]

Relating the Metronome to "Real Music"

When first starting to use a metronome, it can be a little difficult to figure out how the song/riff you are playing relates to the clicks on the metronome.

Typically, the metronome counts each of the down beats of the song, so in 4/4 time you count: "one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four..." throughout the song and this is what the metronome clicks represent.

The easiest way to relate the metronome clicks to real music is to think of a very basic rock drum beat, where the kick drum is played on the "one" and "three" counts and the snare is played on the "two" and "four" counts. The metronome makes a click each time the kick drum OR the snare drum would play. When tapping your foot along to music, this is also the beat that your foot would likely follow.

An example of the metronome played along with a basic kick drum and snare drum beat would look like the following:

1   2   3   4   1   2   3   4   =  Beats
x   x   x   x   x   x   x   x   =  Metronome
x       x       x       x       =  Kick
    x       x       x       x   =  Snare

If you can think of the click track along the same lines as playing along with a drummer who is playing this beat, then it will probably become a lot easier to play with a metronome. In fact, if you use one of the metronome programs mentioned above (I recommend Guitools) you can use different MIDI sounds to actually create a drum beat, so you don't have to play to a solid "click" sound. Which is very handy when first trying to get used to playing with a metronome.