Home >> Lessons >> Axe No Questions >> Lesson 01 - Using a Metronome Effectively (Part 1) - Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

So what is a metronome, why is it so important, and where can I get one? The first metronome was invented in 1812 by Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel. Today, you can find them everywhere, like your local music store and usually in vast supply. They’ll come in every shape and size imaginable with millions of other little bells and whistles like digital ones with tuners built in, analog ones with dials or pendulums, or even some in pedal formats. They will all be relatively inexpensive, (unless they have more than a few functions,) and they will all perform that basic function of keeping a steady pulsing ‘sound,’ similar to the way a watch or clock keeps time with a second hand. They will have a wide range of tempos or the amount of sounds in a minute and the amount of time between them. Some will click; some will tick, and some will snap, crackle and pop.

1) A metronome is not a drum machine.

If you’ve been practicing your scales and licks with a drum kit or synthesizer of some sort, it might be time to stop and get a metronome that has nothing more than a click-type sound. The reasoning here is the effect it will have on other aspects of your playing, such as your feel.

Professional musicians have many personal, preferred synonyms that describe feel, such as groove, beat, jam, pulse, or flow. It is essentially your ability to tap your foot, bob your head, or dance and sway to a piece of music. The problem with using a drum-kit is that it gives you the groove without you having to feel it on your own. This is an intangible ability that all guitarists must be able to do by themselves and it’s a form of ear training to internally ‘hear’ the rhythm without there being one at all.

For instance, if you are jamming to a 4/4 swing feel (think every beat as a quarter note followed by an 8th under a triplet, or three eighth triplets minus the middle one) with a rhythm section, and the rhythm section was to cut out or stop suddenly, you should be able to hear, feel, and play with the beat as if it were still there.The drum machine gives you not only this, but a perfect, uninterrupted groove without you having to feel it on your own and does little to help your musical development.

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