Metronome Use --- More than just tempo?

[Bob Borzelleri]

I've been wondering about this for a few minutes. It seems to me that most folks who suggest that practicing without a metronome is like passing gas or even some less pleasant task usually are thinking in terms of developing an internal clock for a given tune.

Maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps there is something about using a metronome that helps in other ways. One that comes to mind is helping to develop patterns associated with runs or licks that ingrain muscle memory for the run itself and not only whether you play to an appropriate tempo. Maybe there are other areas where a metronome helps out or maybe I'm passing just gas (I do have a metronome on at the moment, so if I am, at least I'm doing it in the correct tempo).

Any thoughts?

[Bob Borzelleri]

I guess not.

[PhilGE]

Not not (who's there?).

See this thread on metronome techniques (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45692&highlight=metronome).

[John Flynn]

I practice often without a metronome, but I do find metronomes very, very useful. I'm sure there are a lot of ways they help people practice, but what I like is that they help me slooooow down when I'm learning a tune or doing a drill and I might otherwise get tempted to speed up the easy parts on before I get the whole thing down perfectly. Then, when I do get it down, the metronome helps me speed up systematically. I get the tune/drill down perfectly at a certain speed, then speed up a couple of notches until I get that one perfectly and so on. Works for me.

[rekx]

I definitely thin you are on to something with the muscle memory thing.
I enjoy playing with the metronome.

[Bertram Henze]

When I learn a new tune, I use the metronome as a reference for speeding up. E.g. I don't come out with a reel in a session until I can play it at home with a metronome set to 115 - better to be left in the dust by a machine than by fellow musicians.

Tunes heavy with ornamentation are taken to a regular timing recheck with my metronome - just too dangerous to let the odd triplet get too long on me.

Bertram

[swampstomper]

John has hit the nail on the head for me -- sometimes I swear my (electronic) metronome has slowed down to a crawl (must be weak batteries!) or sped up to a gallop (oops, the battery must have found new life) especially on a tune with easy and hard passages. It sounds like the metronome goes from 80 to 110 or so, when all the time it's at 96! I have a tendency, which I also notice in jams, to rush into the easy parts. This is more dangerous to good time than slowing down the hard parts! or flubbing them, as the case may be.

As for other uses, mine and most modern ones allows setting 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4 with one emphasized beat, also doubles and triplets and dotted rhythm. I use these when I practice scales or ffCp or finger busters to vary the rhythm.

[farmerjones]

Rewatched the John Hartford VHS, where he speeds up a tune and slows it down as well. As stated above, better to see if everything fits in practice as to crash at the jam. The slow down part helps me find the "stuff" that i try to fit. No i don't use it all the time. Sometimes i just need to hunt for notes a bit. Other time when i don't use it, i'm just lazy. Other uses? Companionship. But i've never won in an argument with one. But they wrote the book on semper-fidelis. :grin:

[Bob DeVellis]

I've never found them helpful for gaining speed but they're great for detecting inconsistencies, as others have said. Sometimes I find I'll slow down on parts that aren't even hard but just cause me to slow down unintentionally. Good to realize before playing with someone.

[david blair]

I can't ever find my metronome. Seriously, when I do use it I notice an improvement in my playing. Without using one I think about keeping a loose wrist while playing the chords of a tune, and then playing the melody with the same loose wrist. Counting measures helps me too.

Colfax?

[Ken Sager]

The best use of a metronome is help you learn to listen to an external tempo. Use it to learn to listen while you play. It's the best thing you can do for yourself outside of quitting playing altogether.

Best,
Ken

[jasona]

I think they are a good tool to use to learn to play with others. It doesn't rule my playing; I play with it.

[farmerjones]

i wouldn't say i really use a metronome to gain speed either. In the way other have described by slowly increasing the speed of a tune. No, but by speeding a tune up or trying to play it too fast, nuances come out of the tune. Like a fast boat on choppy water, you can get up on top and just catch the tips of the waves. The same way by slowing a tune over-slow, you find yourself wallowing in a trough between two peaks. so you have the opportunity to make something up to fit in the trough/lurch. I guess it's like seeing a tune from different vantage points. You may not want to dig into a tune that deeply. Some tunes aren't like putty. Some are. By speeding them up and or slowying them down, i can test the tune's elasticity. How's that for a word? :)