Is it just me or does the metronome gets in my way and only distracts me, and it does it every time. I believe that I do it better without metronome

Either metro or I start to fall behind/fast forward and I get lost. Cant seem to get used to it. Put it aside for now.

Is it necessary or can I skip using it for good(and God knows I want to)?

__________________
Action is the foundational key to all success.

If you can't play with the metronome because you are falling behind or can't stay on beat.....then the metronome is fulfilling its purpose of telling you that you need to practice more with it.

You can't just "feel" that you do better without it. Your brain doesn't work like a metronome, so even though you may think you are on beat, you might actually not be.

Don't skip it. There is a reason everyone tells you to use it.

Sometimes it can be easier on the ear to use a drum machine. There are some free software ones you can get. I like "FL Studio."

Maybe try that and see if you like it better? I like the idea of a drum track and am able to stick with it better than a metronome.

__________________
Jon Broderick
Guitar Tricks Instructor

www.GuitarTricks.com - Home of Online Guitar Lessons

I regret not using a metronome when I first started playing. You may want to put it on a real slow tempo to get acclimated. Once you start to see the positive effect, you will like it. To me it's the best way to keep an even tempo and improve speed. If you look at the songs they give you the tempo, for example Smoke On the Water is at 113.

I also regret not starting my playing with a metronome. Through long struggles I've finally gotten my timing to a place where its a LOT easier to play with someone else or even over a song I'm learning. There are many benefits to practicing with a metronome but most have already been discussed. I will go over just the basic major benefits though:

working on major timing issues such as macro managing your timing as well as micro managing.
What I mean by macro managing is practicing able to play in time with the down beats of every measure. This is very basic and therefore, VERY important.
As you can probably guess, micro managing is practicing the upbeats of every measure. you may have to set your metronome to 8th or even 16th notes to start off practicing this just to get used to practicing with it.
This will help bring your playing ultimately in time and very tight. This is all especially important if you ever plan on doing any recording at all, let alone a professional level.