Do You Use a Metronome?

Do you practice with a metronome?

  • almost always

    Votes: 3 5.4%
  • sometimes

    Votes: 25 44.6%
  • never

    Votes: 23 41.1%
  • what is a metronome?

    Votes: 2 3.6%
  • what is practice?

    Votes: 3 5.4%

  • Total voters
    56

arturo7

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Do you practice with a metronome?
 
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I'm a soloist and I let my feelings take over!! J/K I know I'm all over the place and I'll probably practice with one if I ever play with anyone else
 
I would if I owned one :)
 
No, but I have been practicing along with Jake, Aldrine, et al in their instructional apps & videos. I'm guessing their internal metronomes are pretty good. I kinda doubt I would ever use a dedicated metronome.
 
There should be a "not as often as I should" option in the poll :)

FYI for those who don't have metronomes but have smartphones - there are lots of metronome apps out there. On Android, I can vouch for the paid version of Mobile Metronome (the ads in the free version cause crashes sometimes but I've never had a problem since I upgraded to the "pro" version).
 
No, but I have been practicing along with Jake, Aldrine, et al in their instructional apps & videos. I'm guessing their internal metronomes are pretty good. I kinda doubt I would ever use a dedicated metronome.

Jake has horrible timing. I'm guessing he would choose the "what is metronome" option.
 
Jake has horrible timing. I'm guessing he would choose the "what is metronome" option.

Hmm...I would hope he's being more careful in his instructional material. There is a silent chord/beat chart at the bottom of the screen that follows along as he plays. It looks computer-generated to me. The question is whether it is following him or he is following it.

Jake's timing may be "loose" in his solo performances, but he also has recordings with other instruments. Wouldn't you be able to hear if his timing was off on those tracks?
 
I find a metronome boring. I practice with Band-in-a-Box, which serves the same purpose. My timing has not been good, and BIAB has helped a lot. Once a week I play with others and that's when my bad timing is obvious to me.
 
Jake's timing may be "loose" in his solo performances, but he also has recordings with other instruments. Wouldn't you be able to hear if his timing was off on those tracks?

I can't comment on the ensemble material, I haven't been exposed to it. Only his Liberace-like solo stuff, and a few clips with playing with one other ukulelist.
 
I use a metronome when practicing scales, arpeggios, a difficult song I'm slowly down to work on..... all things I mostly do on guitar. When I play my uke, it's usually just fun, although I'm starting to work on some more technical things with the uke, as well.... I always use a metronome when I'm doing a multitrack recording, also - just makes it 1,000 times easier to get things to line up if there is more than one track....

I've really only been practicing seriously for a year or so, but I can tell a huge difference in my overall timing having used the metronome a lot - it translates to betterngeneral rhythm on whatever instrument I'm playing. I think a metronome is pretty essential if you want to be a more technical player....

I use an online metronome, with my laptop plugged into some speakers. I've tried several and this one is the least irritating and the most expedient to use, I think.....
 
I have never used a metronome - but trying to do some multitracked MP3 / video projects, I can't hear/see the prior recordings, so I may be using a metronome soon.


-Kurt​
 
I answered with the truth (never) instead of what I want the truth to be (almost always). I know that I need to start using one to move up to the next plateau.
 
I use a metronome on my iPhone. It's excellent for practicing strum patterns, since I can set a time signature.
 
I don't use a metronome when practicing alone, but when rehearsing with a band, we break out a smartphone metronome app from time to time.
A metronome can be an excellent tool for a beginning musician and even for the veteran musician that didn't inherit the rhythm gene.
 
A metronome can be an excellent tool for a beginning musician and even for the veteran musician that didn't inherit the rhythm gene.

There may be a rhythm gene, but there is no meter gene. Most of the pros I know always practice with a metronome. It's just way too easy to drift off time when you're playing solo.
 
Both the Ludwig & Steinway metronome apps are produced by Steinway. I downloaded the Ludwig. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
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