Playing in Time: Metronomes

I a previous post in this thread i gave a couple of exercises to work with your metronome. It has been several days and if you have those exercises down I will now mix things up a bit (if you are still working on the first exercises and aren't ready yet just keep at it)
We will now mix up those 1/4 notes and 1/8 notes.
Still playing scales (if playing scales while kepping beat confuses you too much just play an open string and work on tempo)
Play two 1/8 notes, one 1/4 note, two 1/8 notes, one 1/4 note (that is a full bar in 4/4 time, repeat that over and over as you climb and descend the scales)
Count it 1,and, 2,3,and,4/1, and,2,3,and,4 ect... (remember the metronome clicks on the number or beat and the "and" is played between clicks.
Next exercise:
play one 1/8 note, one 1/4 note, one 1/8 note,one 1/4 note,two 1/8 notes.
Count it 1,and,and,3,4,and/1,and, and,3,4,and (it may help to count the 2 silently)
Notice the second note is held through the second beat so a note is not played on the second click of the metronome.

The one song, actually both songs I am working on switch between 1/8th notes and 1/16 notes with the odd 1/32nd note in there. How do I count those?

With two feet.

I'm lost...

1/16 notes in 4/4 time is counted 1,ah,and,ah,2,ah,and,ah,3,ah,and,ah,4,ah.and,ah
(ah,and,ah all fall between metronome clicks)Soit is (click1)ah, and ah (click2) ah,and,ah ect...
If I remember 1/32 notes (not something I play a whole lot of) are counted 1,e,ah,e,and,e,ah,e (not sure about that though)

Metronomes Are Cool, But Ive Always Preferred Practicing To The Drums. I Use A MIDI Player, Put The Song On, Turn Off All The Instruments But The Drums, And Practice.. And Count. Counting Is The Way To Get Rythym Even When There Are No Drums Or Metro. It Seems Awkward At First To Play And Count, But Regular Practice And Counting Will Make It Much Easier. After MUCH Practice And Counting, You Will Begin To Realize That The Counting Is Subconscious. It Takes Time though.

I agree Jay. I always recommend the metronome to people in order to help build rhythm/timing but I don't use it much any more. I use the metronome for specific kinds of practice and when I feel my timing is way off. Mostly I use the metronome to solidify or smooth out my counting bith mental and feet.

In the temp of 6/8 how are 8th and 16th notes counted? Is it simply 1,2,3,4 for 8th and 1 and 2, and 3, and 4 for 16th notes? And are you supposed to count faster?

Yes you are mostly correct.
in 6/8 time, eighth notes are 1 beat and the count would go 1,2,3,4,5,6,1,2,3,4,5,6
1/16 notes in 6/8 time is 1,and,2,and,3,and,4,and,5,and,6,and
Don't forget that there are 6 beats per bar.
Counting speed is dependent on the music.
If the music you are reading designates 1/4 notes at a specific speed then yes count twice as fast.
If is says 1/8 notes at a specific speed count at that speed.
If it just gives a generic overall speed (or no speed at all) then no count at the same speed (hard call without seeing the music)

Metronomes Are Cool, But Ive Always Preferred Practicing To The Drums.

The difference kicks in anything smaller than quarter notes. The drum machine can play 8ths or 16ths, you would typically set the metronome to the beat (ie quarter notes in 4/4 time).

I don't know which is better. On one hand, having the smaller divisions help you play in synchronized correctly, but on the other hand they can become a crutch, so you don't learn to keep time yourself.

Right now, I work mostly with the metronome, try to get my feet tapping synced to it and count out the 16ths. I would like to get to the point where the rhythm is all internal ... have ways to go yet.