JasonShadrick

One of the most common skills I see guitarists lacking is a strong sense of internal time.  Recently at a clinic with Pat Metheny he really spoke in detail about how important this is.  He easily demonstrated this by connecting his iPhone to a DI, turning on a metronome app and playing several choruses of “Autumn Leaves”. A strong time feel will make both your rhythm and lead playing more forward momentum.  In this article I will give you a few ways to make your metronome work for you.

Baby Steps

A common mistake musicians make when they start to work with a metronome is that they start with it set too fast.  Even though you can play sixteenth notes at 120bpm, in order to make progress, you need to start much slower.  A good benchmark is around 60 – 70bpm.  The focus isn’t to increase how fast you can play (although that will come soon enough) but developing an inner time feel that can lock with an outside source.  By doing this, everything you play from lines to chords will groove much harder.

One exercise that I use is by slowing the metronome down to about 40bpm and playing one note per click.  For most people this is very difficult, so to start I set the subdivisions to sixteenth notes, then eighth notes and finally half notes before going back to quarter notes.  This will make you focus on both the attack of the notes and the space between the notes.

Make It Swing

There are two big “schools” of time feel that all musicians need to be familiar with.  The first being playing with a straight time feel and the second is playing with a swing feel.  Playing with a straight time feel is just as it sounds, simply turn on your metronome and play evenly in time with click.

In order to practice you swing feel, you need to change how you interpret the click of the metronome.  Instead of hearing the metronome as quarter notes, you should feel them as half notes on beats 2 and 4.  This could take some practice, but if you count it off like:

One     *click*            Two     *click*     One     *click     Three     *click

It should allow you to begin to feel the pulse on 2 and 4.  Another thing to take into consideration is that since the clicks are half notes, your target bpm should be cut in half.  For example, if you want to practice a tempo of 120bpm, then set your metronome to 60bpm.

Try This At Home

If you are comfortable in playing with the metronome on 2 and 4 then here is a technique that will sure to keep you busy.  First, set the metronome at a moderate tempo like around 60bpm.  Then clap 5 beats in between each click like this:

*click                                                   *click

1          2          3          4          5          1          2          3          4          5

Then you need to think of your claps as the pulse with the click of the metronome as an accent.  The difficult part about this is that the accents will change in each measure. Below is an example in which I underline each beat that lines up with the click.

1 2     3     4     1     2 3     4     1      2     3 4     1     2     3     4

Etc….

Now Get To It

Practicing with a metronome is a great way to improve your technique, time and groove.  However, make sure you get out into the world and play with real musicians.  This is invaluable to your growth.  Even the greatest solo musicians in the world have spent valuable time playing with other people.

Here are some online resources for increasing your metronome skills:

Online Metronome

Tempo (a GREAT iPhone metronome app)

Tips from JazzMando.com