I suck with a metronome

  • Thread starter Thread starter phillybhatesme
  • Start date Start date
We don’t play on every beat in music, why would we on a metronome? Weaving is music. Space has to exist or it’s just machinery.

Very much agreed.

Petrucci’s Rock Discipline turned my teen years into a love affair with the metronome where I’d practice chromatics for fucking hours trying to get faster, alas, I never play straight chromatics in any solo I’ve ever written or played. In that regard, Vai’s 10-hour workout exercises that teach you how to start on different notes within a 4-note chromatic can be great practice with one because it makes you mix your starting fingers up so everything isn’t 1-2-3-4, but 3-1-2-4 or 1-2-4-3, etc.

The best practice I got with it was ‘dancing’ on the click, basically improv jamming to it with the intent of burying the shit out of it.
 
Whatever you're practicing with a metronome, break down the elements separately then put them together....if you're practicing some alternate picking runs and not keeping up time...play the left hand part to the lick first to the beat, then the picking part...then put them together....sometimes your hands are just out of sync but your picking is just fine....another OBVIOUS thing is be sure to come in directly on the click...sometimes you're coming in a bit late or early and you just feel forced because you didn't come in to the click on time.

Another thing is just the way you think about it...use the metronome to guide you but let the beat in your head/internal clock take precedent....just use the metronome to keep you in tempo/time....that can ease things up and not feel so stiff. Just keep doing it.
 
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