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#1
05-08-2016, 08:37 AM
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Metronome in the Head: R. Adams "Am I Safe?"
Further evidence, if any were needed, that perfect tempo makes the simplest song great -- indeed, is ESSENTIAL to make a simple song work.
Ryan Adams doing "Am I Safe?" acoustically on Carnegie Hall. Capo 2nd, I believe, 1st postion Emin/Emin7 with a G/A, CmajAdd9, Dsus and Asus chords. This is a song that you would think would NEVER work acoustically -- that it needs a full band with a pounding drum and bass rhythm. And when you see him play it with band there are times they are off the guitars and let the bass and drums propel the tune. But by yourself, you HAVE to provide the beat AND the bottom with the guitar. For me, it is very difficult.
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2011 Gibson J-45 Standard 2014 Martin D35 1971 Harmony H1204 Sovereign Jet Black 1970ish Harmony Buck Owens American 2012 Martin D1AXE 
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#2
05-08-2016, 10:07 AM
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For rock steady tempo throughout a tune you can't beat a loop track or something computer generated. Ones internal sense of rhythm is important, but playing a rock steady tempo has pluses and minuses on the music in many cases. Being able to play with tempo can be the thing to do.
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Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love To be that we hold so dear A voice from heavens above
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#3
05-08-2016, 05:29 PM
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I was going to ask a question but this post is the subject I wanted to bring up so I hope it's ok to add on. I have been a student of music and guitar about one year. My rhythm is still horrible. I have had a couple teachers but moving and other situations I didn't stay with them. I do have a new teacher and he is great. He suggesting when I use the metronome to use the lights and sound as a guide. I always heard it's a bad habit to rely on the lights. I have used the metronome in this past year. I just never seem to get any better. Long as I look at it I'm dead on. Soon as I look away for a few bars and come back I'm off. I guess my question after a year and I am no better do I just resign to the fact I have no internal rhythm?
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#4
05-08-2016, 07:49 PM
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Quote:
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#5
05-09-2016, 07:00 AM
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Quote:
Our natural sense of time is flexible, depending on our mood, what we're doing and what's going on around us. Music, however, requires our sense of time to be more... metronomic. The typical we play, instinctively, is to find a comfortable average tempo, and then slow down for the hard parts and speed up for the easy parts. Obviously that doesn't make for a great performance  .The first exercise you should do with a metronome is to set it to an average medium tempo (between 100-120), and just strum one chord in time to the click. Make sure the click is loud enough to hear above your strumming (metronomes with an earpiece are useful there). Keep doing that until you can stay comfortably in time with the click without tensing up and concentrating too much. Next, try playing a fairly simple chord sequence, to check you can change chords without losing the beat. Again, keep the bpm to a medium not-too-fast, not-too-slow rate. When you're comfortable with that, there's a few ways you can go. I suggest challenging yourself with a slower tempo. Not much slower, just slow enough that you're tempted to speed up, at least when it's easy. You have to train yourself NOT to get faster just because it's easy - this is probably the main problem most people face: not being able to relax into a slow groove. (Playing faster is usually just a matter of improving your technique, through constant practice and repetition; we don't realise how hard playing slow and in time is, until we try it - to a metronome.) The other useful challenge you can set yourself is - with that comfortable tempo you had no problem with - halve the metronome bpm, and keep playing at the same speed, so you only have half the clicks to keep you in line (you have to get the missing beats correct). IOW, all metronome exercises are about steadily increasing the challenge. You have to start at a level where you're comfortable, however simple that is. and then steadily make it more difficult, in whatever way you can think of. I.e., it's like any kind of physical training. Don't keep hammering away at something you can't do, where you fail all the time; start with what you can do, and investigate where it starts to become difficult, so the challenges are always small and incremental. More tips here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X1fhVLVF_4 (from 0:35 to 5:00; after 5:00 it gets sillier...  )
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"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen.
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