Do You Use a Metronome?

Practicing with a metronome really helps a lot with meter and tempo, especially if you play with others frequently. IMO, it's not quite so important if you only play solo.

My husband and I both practice with metronomes, especially on "problem" songs.

if you know the song you will know the timing but if you are slightly unsure of the song then you need one, tonight in my ukulele lesson my tutor pulled me up on my timing and told me i was learning a bad habit and needed to practise my timing from now on, otherwise if i ever play with other musicians i will always be out of time, so its time to get a metronome simples

Sometimes: I played uke banjo and guitar twenty odd years ago and only really picked up a uke again recently. Timing is the hardest thing for me. Chords - no problem. But every aspect of timing, strumming, chugging, singing, and changing chords to the beat has all gone very seriously organic. When I use a click, things improve hugely.

At the kind insistence of some of my more accomplished friends, I've started using a metronome. The method I use, when practicing licks, scales, etc. is to start at about 40 bpm and go up in 10bpm increments until I hit 220bpm (if possible). The enforced "over-learning" is really good and allows you to play well at normal speeds/

mine just sits in my uke case, i cant get on with using one, i guess i am a bad uke player but i dont think i struggle at our club nights, well i cant hear myself when 30 + ukes are playing

I voted for "sometimes", but for me that means "a few times every few months". I'd like to make that "at least once a week".

Curious ,any x bass players or drummers use one regulary. Feel like they are the metronome in a group and they better be spot on. Just always have felt where the beat is.

Yeah my husband is the bass player /sometimes drummer type, and he doesn't use or need a metronome. He's got a great sense of how you subdivide that rhythm. He doesn't think about it, so I don't mention it.

As for me, I don't use one. I probably should, but it doesn't bother me if I rush or drag. At least I know I'm doing it, and leave it at that. There's no one to jam with anymore anyway, other than my husband... but I feel more comfortable playing with others than just myself.


... not that there's anything wrong with playing with yourself.

"Never" here.

vanflynn said:

Don't need to. The voices in my head help me keep time.

Click to expand...

Actually, that's a rather true statement for me, too.

I've studied classical on other instruments for many years, to the point where I actually have a pretty good sense of time and rhythm. (No brag, just fact. ) If there's a difficult passage I'm struggling with, I don't want a metronome clicking at me and telling me to hurry up. I have to slow it down and work on the notes, then repeat the passage until I can get it up to tempo. And I'll know when that happens.

Got a red Snark recently, it has a built-in metronome that shows a little blinking heart to the beat you set. I can't imagine that being terribly useful for me, as I'm more focused on what my fingers are doing or following the sheet music than wanting to watch blinks on the tuner as I'm trying to play.