Metronome Practicing - Makes me feel bad

I must be weird.
I dont use Tabs.
I never used a metronome.

I have great rythm and timing.
I can read sheet music.

I learn songs by playing along on with CD of music I want to learn.

I think you are close when you mention something about beats per measure.
that is the secret.
if you can keep time with your foot you should be able to hit a note veery third beat.
perhaps your metronome exercise is too mush out of context.
context is what I am talking about here.

I suck with a metronome, but put me with another musician and I can keep the rhythm fine. There's just something robotic about metronome practice which seems to have no relvance to playing actual music. In other words, don't worry about sucking now. You will improve naturally and once you are good with rhythm you will be able to tell metronome salesmen where to stick it.

I never used a metronome.

I have great rythm and timing.

You are lucky :-) To those of us not so lucky to be born with good timing, a metronome helps a lot (once you get used to it..)

I never used a metronome.

I have great rythm and timing.

You are lucky :-) To those of us not so lucky to be born with good timing, a metronome helps a lot (once you get used to it..)

Actualluy, I think it's more that Dogbite has good enough ears to play along with the CD. When one is stuck with standard notation and a bit of tab, the metronome helps. :)

I never considered myself lucky nor gifted.
I am a struggling scruff like anyone else.

I never had a metronome when learning to play.

Like the other poster wrote, playing live music with another really helps.
I guess I WAS lucky in that I always had the opportunity to play wioth others.

anyway. keep at it. time and pracice will give you the skills you are seeking.
best to you.

Well, the first time my instructor (my very first instructor) put a metronome in front of me I remember looking at it, being very confused. Worse yet he left the room in frustration because I didn't have a clue what I was supposed to do. I also never thought to get one back then because I thought I wouldn't need it anyways.

Don't worry about it now, everything will click. Meteronome or not. Everybody has a different way of finding their rhythm. I'm not very cordinated with tapping my feet and playing to keep rhythm. :roll:

First a little story to get the ridiculous notion of "feeling like a failure" out of your head. I have been working on the G scale for about 4 lessons now. Everytime I think i have got it (correct form and speed) and drive 200 miles one way to see my teacher, I am told that my index finger collapses a bit when I move from string B to E or my picking is weak or I am not sitting straight while playing it. Is it frustrating? hell ya, it is frustrating but I don't see it as a failure. I see it as a small hurdle on my way towards my goal. I knew from the begining that learning the guitar wouldn't be easy BUT I also knew from the start that if I practice everyday with focus and didnt give up, I would be good in due time.

Alright, as far as the metronome is concerned. A few basic tid bits. The time elapsed between two clicks is called a beat. Lets say you have it set at 40 and you play a note everytime the metronome clicks, you are playing a "quarter note" at 40 BPM. The count is One, Two, Three, Four. After Four it goes back to One and repeats. So at quarter note, the click and play of the note happens at the same time. You can have 1/8th, 1/16, 1/32 etc notes.

If you are having difficulty in playing on time, try counting out the note. When the metronome clicks, say One, next click, say two .... if you are having trouble at 40 BPM, set it lower. But I am confident, you can count out the notes at 40.

Once you have the hang of counting, try tapping your foot. Everytime the metronome clicks, tap your foot, raise it up and tap again at the next click.

Now try doing both, at the click, tap your foot and say one at the same time.

Finally, try to play the note at every click.

If you come across any other problems, post it here and dont forget, you are a musicians in the making dude, the world needs you ... :)

Cheers
Vic

P.S

Click Click
Quarter note = |--------------------------|
Play Play

So, in eighth notes, you play three time between a beat or two clicks. The count is One & Two (One and two). The end of the 2nd click of the first beat starts the second beat.

I must be weird.
I dont use Tabs.
I never used a metronome.

I have great rythm and timing.
I can read sheet music.

I learn songs by playing along on with CD of music I want to learn.

I think you are close when you mention something about beats per measure.
that is the secret.
if you can keep time with your foot you should be able to hit a note veery third beat.
perhaps your metronome exercise is too mush out of context.
context is what I am talking about here.

Well, I can puzzle out tabs right now but one thing I'm not close to being able to do is to translate that 4/4 or 3/4 into sense that I can use without actually hearing the song. And everytime I do get the beat of a song, I do have to listen to it. I'm at the beginning of this process and sometimes the elements of the process are beyond me. Thanks for the perspective. :-)

I suck with a metronome, but put me with another musician and I can keep the rhythm fine. There's just something robotic about metronome practice which seems to have no relvance to playing actual music. In other words, don't worry about sucking now. You will improve naturally and once you are good with rhythm you will be able to tell metronome salesmen where to stick it.

I love those guys in the music store, even the guy who sells the metronomes. :-) I did buy one with a 'chromatic tuner' in it and confused myself so badly with the tuner part of it (my other tuner is a korg GA-30) that I busted the high e string. Ah, good times. Anyways, it's funny. When my teacher gives me something like this I'm not getting it dampens my enthusiasm. Like that first song with the F chord and a bass thump. Too much at once and I had to back off of it. Now I'm working a song with the F chord again and I'm getting it now. I do amaze myself right now with what I can do and what I've learned in the short time I've been at it. Just needed to hear from you guys, my 12 step group, to get me moving again. Thanks much. :-)

Well, the first time my instructor (my very first instructor) put a metronome in front of me I remember looking at it, being very confused. Worse yet he left the room in frustration because I didn't have a clue what I was supposed to do. I also never thought to get one back then because I thought I wouldn't need it anyways.

Don't worry about it now, everything will click. Meteronome or not. Everybody has a different way of finding their rhythm. I'm not very cordinated with tapping my feet and playing to keep rhythm. :roll:

I know that look. My instructor gave it to me as well. When my dude saw that blank look in my face he changed tactics a bit and went with the play along example activity. Thank goodness or I'd be completely clueless. I know that I'm not making a connection in my wiring on that level where I 'know' what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. But I'm starting to do it, hopefully it's one of those things that will come to me as I puzzle through it. I think I will need to know it, just not completely sure why. Thanks for the imput. Much appreciated.

First a little story to get the ridiculous notion of "feeling like a failure" out of your head. I have been working on the G scale for about 4 lessons now. Everytime I think i have got it (correct form and speed) and drive 200 miles one way to see my teacher, I am told that my index finger collapses a bit when I move from string B to E or my picking is weak or I am not sitting straight while playing it. Is it frustrating? hell ya, it is frustrating but I don't see it as a failure. I see it as a small hurdle on my way towards my goal. I knew from the begining that learning the guitar wouldn't be easy BUT I also knew from the start that if I practice everyday with focus and didnt give up, I would be good in due time.

Alright, as far as the metronome is concerned. A few basic tid bits. The time elapsed between two clicks is called a beat. Lets say you have it set at 40 and you play a note everytime the metronome clicks, you are playing a "quarter note" at 40 BPM. The count is One, Two, Three, Four. After Four it goes back to One and repeats. So at quarter note, the click and play of the note happens at the same time. You can have 1/8th, 1/16, 1/32 etc notes.

If you are having difficulty in playing on time, try counting out the note. When the metronome clicks, say One, next click, say two .... if you are having trouble at 40 BPM, set it lower. But I am confident, you can count out the notes at 40.

Once you have the hang of counting, try tapping your foot. Everytime the metronome clicks, tap your foot, raise it up and tap again at the next click.

Now try doing both, at the click, tap your foot and say one at the same time.

Finally, try to play the note at every click.

If you come across any other problems, post it here and dont forget, you are a musicians in the making dude, the world needs you ... :)

Cheers
Vic

P.S

Click Click
Quarter note = |--------------------------|
Play Play

So, in eighth notes, you play three time between a beat or two clicks. The count is One & Two (One and two). The end of the 2nd click of the first beat starts the second beat.

Thanks kindly. I will do definitely try it like this now. That failure feeling is sort of a frustration thing. I don't want to get too metaphysically 'Carlos Santa' on you but it's sort of like the energy goes out of me as the frustration level rises and I'll find a reason to not pick up the Blueridge or the Highway for a while. Which of course is an error in judgment but the energy goes out of me, the sky looks darker, life is more depressing and I feel more tired. The boundless possibilities seem far away. But then Sandman by America comes on the Sirius radio, I know it's Am for eight strums, a G strum on the' and' then that (getting better all the time) F chord for four, then four strums of Em, a G strum on the 'and' and I'm suddenly channeling my inner Gordon Lightfoot for a minute. Then I try not to think of that metronome thing for a while. But, I know it's there and I have to get through it and understand it. Thank you again.

Hi

I've never used a metronome but this does not mean that I learned to play a steady rhythm overnight. I received great help by playing the excercises of a guitar book (check http://www.mega-muse.com for details). Listening to the excercises included on the cd and playing along with them I developed both a good knowledge of some of the most common patterns for pop/rock/bluse and the ability to play with a steady timing.

one of the first exercise was to play i.e. a C/G/D/Am progression with d/du/u/du pattern at say 76 bpm, of course going ahead with the excercises the speed of the excercises increased (i.e. to 108 or 115 bpm). Of course you could play the excercise alongside the rhythm guitar (left speaker) or with the lead (rihght speaker). At the beginning you play alongside the rhythm guitar, when you've mastered the excercise you can play alongside the lead (it is more difficult because you have to pay attention to the drums only not to the guitar)

To me playing the excercises alongiside a cd is better than to play with a clik of a mteronome, because if you miss some notes you can immediately correct yourself just by listening to the recording

then I was ready to play alongside the cd as dogboy has mentioned. Now If i wish to learn a song I listened to the cd and try to play along with it and 9 times out of ten it works. ok if the song has many difficult chords or strange and fast changes it may take several time sto develop an accetable version but at least I can fix the rhythym form the beginning.

So my small advice is: fist learn to play a few of the most common patterns if it is possible palying them form an instructional cd, then when you feel you can play them with good confidence, search some songs that you like with similar patterns and play along to the recordings. In the choiche of the song remember that what really means is that the pattern has to be similar not precisely the same (i.e. if you can play a d/du/u/du pattern you could play with it all the song based on eight notes resolution even if their pattern is a bit differnt...)

Matteo

I suck with a metronome, but put me with another musician and I can keep the rhythm fine. There's just something robotic about metronome practice which seems to have no relvance to playing actual music. In other words, don't worry about sucking now. You will improve naturally and once you are good with rhythm you will be able to tell metronome salesmen where to stick it.
Oh, come on. If so many people, including many great players, rave about practicing with a metronome, then isn't it just barely possible that they're onto something and you're the misguided one? It just seems robotic because you're thinking about how you must play on each click and you must make each note absolutely, mathematically correct. That's not unmusical, that's how music is played. When you work with a metronome you're pushing through that feeling to make playing in the pocket natural and unmechanical, but still precise. The correct thing to focus on is the groove. When you're naturally in perfect time with the metronome you're not mechanical anymore: you're in the pocket, as bassists would say. Metronomes aren't something to follow, but something to play with. Because without a metronome's steady click, how can you know whether you're off or on? You (in the general sense) might be good enough to stay with other musicians, but if you can't play with a metronome then you're probably not as good as you thought. Metronomes are so valuable because they, unlike other musicians or a drum machine, leave you no room at all to hide. Without one you can learn to play okay, but if you want your rhythm to be right on, there's only one tool for the job.

Well, I can puzzle out tabs right now but one thing I'm not close to being able to do is to translate that 4/4 or 3/4 into sense that I can use without actually hearing the song. And everytime I do get the beat of a song, I do have to listen to it. I'm at the beginning of this process and sometimes the elements of the process are beyond me. Thanks for the perspective. :-)

Tabs don't give you any timing info- so you are always going to need to hear the song or have standard notation as well. Standard notation tells you everything you really need to know (but not the fingering).