Metronome, I made my choice.

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Posted by caricc on Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A little bit ago I asked about a couple different metronomes. Well, I have made my purchase of the Korg MA-30 metronome. I didn’t want one that I could use on the computer. Since I have a house full of kids (7). I don’t want to push them off when they need to do their homework. Also I want to be able to go outside and sit on the back porch or anywhere else and practice.

I have been practicing with it over the last few days and have found my timing really sucks. I have been just going over and over my rolls and chord changes. Along with re-learning the 2 songs that I thought I could play. (Well actually one of the 2). Now I know differently.

Some of my timing issues are just making the chord changes to the correct fingering. Then onto the next. Such as with Banjo in the Hollow. The first G chord is fine then moving down the neck to the C chord, (the one at frets 1 & 2). I know that I could play the C chord barred at the 5^th fret but it doesn’t sound right, to me. Like for last night. I just kept repeating the A part. Over and over. I don’t get bored with it, and my wife is really, REALLY supportive of my learning to playing. I really find it a challenge worth my time and effort. Though I have found that playing at a speed slower that 80 bpm really messes me up more that at 90 bpm. But I have been forcing myself to play at the slower speeds.

I found that without the metronome that I was just playing at my own sluggish pace. Waiting to get the different chords fingered then playing it. Really a bad idea. Good for just starting out and learning a song. But, really bad in the long run. So if you are looking for the correct timing a metronome any metronome is a good choice.

3 comments on “Metronome, I made my choice.”

FiddlerFaddler Says:
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 @7:39:47 AM

Seven kids - bless your soul! You have had quite a boon there in Boonville. Any pickers, fiddlers or singers among the seven? I vote for not feeding them unless they at least sing for their supper. Even if you lose a couple that way, the others will get serious about practicing. (I'm just kidding - but only a little.)

Guy Says:
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 @2:34:24 PM

Hi Carl, good for you mate, recognising shortfalls in one's playing is a sure pathway to correcting them and improving your playing. You'll find it especially helpful when playing with others. I firmly believe that playing with good timing is the most important aspect of playing any instrument. Don't worry, you will find that playing in time comes naturally after a while.

Guy

PaulKirby Says:
Thursday, August 21, 2008 @7:50:15 AM

The metronome is great. I know that it's hard to get started with at first, but I think you're going to find that it's incredibly useful. I think that the notion of tempo is something that is generally weak among we musicians. Even at my day job, I'm astonished to hear how we can be so unsteady. It's really easy to fix, too, if you practice with a metronome. I do it every day I play the banjo, which is every day.

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