Timing / metronome

I have never used a metra thingy in my life. Ive been playing for two years now- am i in trouble!!
Id say im good at time keeping anyway. When ur in a band the drummer keeps the beat anyway so why bother getting worried bout timing.
I dont understand the need so a metra thingy!

The only time I'm using one is when I'm recording. It's good to have it 'cause you can match everything. If it isn't used while recording I'm almost sure I can't get everything matched. I'm usually using two or three rhythm
tracks for guitar and two for soloing and because of that I can hear immidiately if the timing isn't exact on one of the tracks. It's very easy to slip out of beat without even noticing it....
While playing with a band it isn't that necessary though...

I don't use'em too much too ... You can get one from the net and see how it works for you.

Most recording softwares have a built-in metronome.

Yeah, that's what I'm using. But when you get to hardware recording it's whole different story....

I have recently started using one for practicing scales. I find its great for keeping your rythm.

Rather than a metronome, grab yourself a cheap drum machine, or buy some software like Band in a Box or Pro Tools Free and play midi files.
You learn ten times as much playing scales to actual music than sitting there with a mechanical clicking sound.

Originally posted by Axl_Rose
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When ur in a band the drummer keeps the beat anyway so why bother getting worried bout timing.
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and what if the drummer is not precise? if you play to some noodling drummer all the time you might be on his rythm, but what happens when you get yourself involved in a studio situation? you HAVE to play to a click then. and when you are not used to it, it will get you in trouble. plus almost all of the realy good and experienced studio and live musicians are as precise as a metronome - and why? because they practiced to a metronome!

That happened to me a lot. This drummer never practised with a metronome, and I did a lot. Everytime he slowed down, sped up, played a polyrhythm unevenly, etc. I caught him. He would always disagree. "I'm a drummer, I JUST CAN keep time!" Doesn't work that way.
Anyway, this brings me to another point. Playing things like triplets or songs in funny time signatures can be tricky when just using the nod of your head and tap of your foot. Metranomes assist geatly here, so that you dont carry a triplet over for 1 and a half beats, or speed it up, or something. (Just something that drummer did again)

I think metronomes help every guitarist. If you've never used a metronome and you just play by what you think is rhythmly correct, you don't notice it yourself but you usually have sloppy rhythm. Naturally people don't have a great sense of time, or at least not precisely enough.

Test yourself by looking at a clock and when it starts a new minute, count the first 3 seconds, then look away from the clock and keep counting, when you think the minute is up, look up at the clock. If you have precise rhythm you should be dead on. You'll probably get fairly close, maybe by one or two seconds but in metronome time it 60 per second. That's alot to be off, when your thinking in sense of music time. If you have a stop watch, that's even better.

What I'm trying to say is a metronome helps with your sense of time, or rhythm in music sense. The better your rhythm, the better guitarist you are. Those who don't use it, try it for a couple of weeks and watch how your playing will improve that much. A metronome has many benefits:

It gets you to pay attention to the rhythm your playing. It increases speed. It's also gives you a better sense of rhythm notation and time.

Really test your self by using extremely slow metronome timings like 30-50 bpm. This will really improve anyone's rhythm, cause you have to be more precise. Also try timings that don't naturally fit the part your playing. Say a part is 90 bpm, try it at 110 or 70 (where it seems unnatural). Both are great workouts for even a experienced metronome player.

hope this helps.