Metronome help

[Helldogg]

Hello all,

I was wonder how exactly do you use a metronome??

I know play on the click, but what I was wondering is how do you play riffs and chords with the click?:

If I'm not clear sorry but it would be easier to show than tell. http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

[StoneDragon]

To play "riffs and chords" with the metronome, you have to know where the beat is. The metronome keeps the beat.... The metronome is the drummer.

Click here (http://www.zentao.com/guitar/musicfiles/met1.mid) and listen to a MIDI file of bass and drums playing together. Tap your foot with the beat.

Now, Click here (http://www.zentao.com/guitar/musicfiles/met2.mid) and listen to the same bass line played to the metronome. Notice that the metronome is just keeping the same beat that you were tapping your foot to with the first file.

Let me know if that helps.

[Helldogg]

Stone thanks for the help, but I'm still having problems.

What is a good way to get the basic idea of practicing with a metronome?

Maybe I should start from the beginning...

What kind of beginning exercises would you recommend?

Thanks in advance..

[MrSamson]

Within my lessons I mentiona book with nothing but single note exercises...and I cut my metronome teeth there.

Now I use metronome mostly for melodic interval scale practicing...

anyway...that is what I did....

[Helldogg]

Thanks Mr. Samson I'll check it out.

[StoneDragon]

The metronome is all about timing... learning how the beat can be divided and multiplied. So the first step is to gain an understanding of this.

The click of the metronome represents the beat. Rhythm is usually some combination of multiples and subdivisions of the beat.

Go forth and multiply:

You multiply the beat by playing a note or chord and holding it out for more than one beat. Lets say you are playing an A note and you have four beats. You can play the note each time the metronome clicks. That's the beat. You can also play the note on the first click and hold that note through the second click, then play on the third and fourth clicks. That's what I am calling "multiplying". A note can be held for any number of clicks.

This is important practice, but most people don't find it very exciting just holding notes out. So most people tend to concentrate on...

Divide and conquer:

Subdividing the beat is simple in theory, but can take some work in actual practice.

Any beat can be divided into smaller parts. You can divide the beat in half (play two evenly spaced notes for each click).... 3rds (three evenly spaced notes per click or triplets)... 4ths (four notes per click) etc. The easiest way to practice this is to play a scale up and back one note per click. Then try playing the same scale, but playing two notes per click... you can either play each note twice or play the scale twice as fast. Then try the scale at three notes per click... four notes per click. It helps if you start at a fairly slow tempo.

Just getting a feel for this should keep you busy for a while. Especially if you try the exercise at all different tempo rangers... slow, medium and fast.

[Helldogg]

Thank you as always Stone... I'll let you know how it goes.