Quote:
Originally Posted by HAPPYDAN
I'm an at-home amateur, been playing for years. I always thought I was doing OK with a variety of folk and country songs, none of my own. I recently started working on Sir Paul's Blackbird, an easy piece or so I thought. I compared his recording to mine, and something was wrong. Then it hit me - my rhythm was off - way off. Very inconsistent. So I found an online metronome, set it for 90bpm, and after much practice and frustration, got better but not perfect. So, answer me this, you old (and young) Pros, how do you keep good consistent rhythm (without a percussionist) live on stage? Especially when your audience insists on "clapping time"?
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Congratulations if you have an audience who are that into it! (I never do...) Just follow them!
The advantage is that an audience will all clap at the same rate, and tend to fall into following each other, which will keep them steady. The disadvantage is that (1) it may not be the tempo you want, and (2) audiences can tend to have a tendency to speed up - as they get into it. But generally - on the occasions when I've noticed it happening! - audience clapping is a steady enough tempo. Maybe not metronomic, but near enough. And hey, even if they do speed up, follow them: they're having a great time, so what more could you want?
Otherwise - yes the answer is metronome practice, because your inner sense of time is not clockwork. You can think you're keeping steady time when you're not. And on stage, even the slightest hint of nerves will make you play faster without realising it. You find yourself making mistakes, not because your technique has somehow fallen apart, but because you're playing too fast, or speeding up as you play, without noticing.
The metronome is how you train your inner clock to keep time better.