I feel stupid for asking this..but....

[l Bad Religion l]

I got a metronome finaly, but I dont know how to use it. Why would it help me on timing?

[73 P Bass]

It will give you a steady tangible beat to play along with. If you use it properly your playing will become more consistent. Without the reference point you can not be sure if your time is on or not.

[l Bad Religion l]

Originally posted by 73 P Bass:

It will give you a steady tangible beat to play along with. If you use it properly your playing will become more consistent. Without the reference point you can not be sure if your time is on or not.

yeah, but how do I use it while I listen to music?

[Pernax]

A quick suggestion before I head out the bar to wash away the exhaustion of recording...

 

You can set the metronome to a certain tempo, lets say 100 beats per minute (bpm), and turn it on. Click click click click, thats what should come out of it. Then you take your bass, and start to play something, for example scales, and try to time every note with the click from the metronome.

 

Like this:

Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Click
Note  Note  Note  Note  Note  Note  Note  Note

Usually it's easier to set the click for the 1/8 note, so that for every note you play you get two clicks, but the bpm setting would be double compared to the setting in the 1st scenario. Like so:

Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Click
Note        Note        Note        Note

Once you seem to nail the notes perfectly with the click, you can adjust the click to a faster tempo, and rinse and repeat. It's important to start slowly enough, and really try to get the timing right and accurately down.

 

Hope this helps.

 

-P

[73 P Bass]

When you listen to music, the kick drum is the metronome (I'm making the assumption that the music has a drummer with a kick drum).

[l Bad Religion l]

Originally posted by At_Odds:

I got a metronome finaly, but I dont know how to use it. Why would it help me on timing?

Would I be playing the same note the whole time?

[Pernax]

You could do that, or you could progress with the notes of a scale with the click. Up and down, down and up. One good practice is the play the scales following the circle of fifths (search for that).

 

And the second figure I made was a bit misleading, it should be more like this: (unless you want to work on staccato notes)

Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Click
Nooooteeeee Nooooteeeee Nooooteeeee Nooooteeeee

I wish I could help you out more, but I got to go...

 

-P

[Scoot]

Originally posted by At_Odds:

Originally posted by At_Odds:

I got a metronome finaly, but I dont know how to use it. Why would it help me on timing?

Would I be playing the same note the whole time?

Play whatever you want, just play it in time w/ the metronome.

 

If you want to work on speed, play something to a slow click then gradually speed it up.

 

If you want to work on your "internal metronome" set the click to 40 but play something at 80 or 160 beats.

 

And for your other comment, you won't use it while listening to music.

 

Metronomes can be boring, but they are very useful for every level of bassist.

[Mr. Phil]

Originally posted by Scoot:

If you want to work on your "internal metronome" set the click to 40 but play something at 80 or 160 beats.

aww now you're gonna confuse him.

[Mike H.]

You can use it to build your hand-hand coordination and stamina. I used to (and should really get back into) be in the habit of playing scales with my metronome. Start out slow playing quarters, then 8ths, triplets, 16th's, for each note and increase the speed from 80bpm to say 160. It REALLY helped my right (finger plucking) hand and left hand coordination, plus I'd play with different plucking fingers - Index/middle, index/ring, middle/ring which greatly increased my hand/forearm strength and stamina.

[Grant - Toupé]

The beat you metronome puts out - you should think of it as you foot tapping along with the music.

 

You play to the beat and your hands will remember the rest. Don't think to much about it. If the single pulse/note from your metronome is putting you off, it might be wise to buy a small drum machine and program loops.

 

When you play along with CD's the music 'should' have been recorded with a metronome so you won't need to use one, then you can just follow the drummer on the music.

 

If there is no drummer, there will be something holding the beat somewhere.

 

Good luck.

[dcr]

You don't play it while listening to music. A metronome helps you to get a basic, steady sense of time together. When playing to music, you keep locked in with the drums (primarily). This is important, as a good drummer's time & feel will often "breathe" a bit, sometimes moving a bit faster, sometimes a bit slower, playing on different parts of the beat (ahead, behind, on top). Once you've got your basic time together, you can work on letting it breathe too. But that's another thread. First, just get your time together. You need to be able to play in time without getting ahead or falling behind, & to sound regular & steady.

 

For the best advice I've seen on getting mileage out of a metronome, go to archive.bassplayer.com, click on "Trenches" at the top, & scroll all the way down to "The Metronome as Guru" at the bottom.

[alexclaber]

Just noticed that dcr has already referred to this - anyway here's the link: The Metronome As Guru

 

Alex

[SmittyG]

Great article. I also have a page on my site ( Smitty\'s Music Page ) that has the exercises I use. Hope that helps.

 

--SmittyG

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

This is gonna be one of those painful threads.

[...]

107 BPM: click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click

 

what was the question?