Staying on the Beat with Metronome-Blues

[davidbeinct]

I’m working on Kindhearted Woman with the help of video and tab from Guitar Workshop. It’s Tom Feldman’s transcription of the Robert Johnson original. I can play the whole piece through but I speed up too much. I’m trying to work with a metronome but it’s hard to keep track of the metronome and my playing in several sections.
First the easy. Whenever he’s on the I (A or A7) it’s just a pretty basic shuffle easy not to lose my place. E.g these four bars:

When he moves to the IV it gets tricky and I’m sure I’m speeding up:


Also tough is the move from V to IV:



Lastly the V in the turnaround I’m just a mess on:


Any hints on keeping time when the licks get busy, at least for me, gratefully received.

[rick-slo]

How do you keep track of how much you speed up? Are you recording it and playing it back for example?

One is more likely to lose tempo playing through a piece they are still working up to performance level - lack of flow and loss of concentration from trying to remember
what notes come next and the technique not being worked out smoothly to reach those notes. Then you lose the feel for the bigger flow of the music.

I'm not much of a metronome fan outside of perhaps some exercises such as scale practice. I'd say practice a piece until the above mentioned issues recede.
On the other hand if you can't maintain a tempo for a minute or so on some simple repetitive picking pattern (say your basic Travis pattern) then you may want to
metronome that for a while.

[davidbeinct]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

How do you keep track of how much you speed up? Are you recording it and playing it back for example?

One is more likely to lose tempo playing through a piece they are still working up to performance level - lack of flow and loss of concentration from trying to remember
what notes come next and the technique not being worked out smoothly to reach those notes. Then you lose the feel for the bigger flow of the music.

I'm not much of a metronome fan outside of perhaps some exercises such as scale practice. I'd say practice a piece until the above mentioned issues recede.
On the other hand if you can't maintain a tempo for a minute or so on some simple repetitive picking pattern (say your basic Travis pattern) then you may want to
metronome that for a while.

I can tell I’m speeding up but I haven’t recorded myself on this piece. That’s a good idea thanks. I will try that later today.

[godfreydaniel]

Play it slow. Slow. Slower.

[blue]

Yeah. It's a thing. And not just for you. The best advice I ever got was to make the "and" or upbeat as late as possible while still being legal. It works but you really have to concentrate on the groove. I find when I'm paying attention like that I have way more upper body movement. Rocking, etc.

Good luck!

[Sax Player Guy]

Two ideas, which you may have already tried...

First, there's the concept of "mini-mastery," where you take a very small part of the piece, like that turnaround you're having trouble with, and work just that spot only. Pour yourself a nice beverage, take a deep breath, and say to yourself, "I'm just going to get this one measure. I'm going to break it down, and take it down to a ridiculously slow tempo and then gradually bring it up, and get it up to where it's the strongest part of the song for me." Then, back up to the previous measure and get it as good as the formerly troublesome measure now is. Expand from there. And speaking of ridiculously slow...

Are you working on this with each metronome click being worth a dotted quarter note? If so, I suggest making it so that each click is worth one of the triplet eighth notes; so 'click click click click click click' is now 'one is uh two is uh' and so on. Drill the hard passages like that (slowly!) until your muscle memory has the hang of how everything is meant to fit together. Once you have that 'trip uh let trip uh let' motor feel ingrained, it may help to keep you from speeding up in spots.

Eventually go back to having the metronome click once for each dotted quarter. Then, if you're feeling brave, try having the metronome click just on 1 and 3 (and/or just on 2 and 4), and then clicking just on 1. The more space between clicks, the more the onus is on you to be responsible for the time. Start slow, and keep that triplet eighths motor in the background of your brain like there's a sewing machine running in the next room.

[Ceabeceabe]

I write out the beats on the sheet music so as to see where the notes fall, and then go over stuff real slow, counting the beats in my head... one and two and three and four and, or one e and a two e and a three e and a four e and a, etc., depending on the shortest note in the measure. Both without and then with the metronome. Sometimes I don’t play the guitar and at first just sing the note notes (aka make a noise) trying to get the timing right, both without and then with metronome. Tapping foot to metronome also helps to feel the rhythm and tempo.

[Andyrondack]

Originally Posted by davidbeinct

Any hints on keeping time when the licks get busy, at least for me, gratefully received.

To help you keep time play along to a very slowed down recording then gradually speed up the recording. If you don't have a recording to show you what it's supposed to sound like then personally I wouldn't try to learn it.

[davidbeinct]

Originally Posted by Andyrondack

To help you keep time play along to a very slowed down recording then gradually speed up the recording. If you don't have a recording to show you what it's supposed to sound like then personally I wouldn't try to learn it.

Thanks I’m working with a video lesson from Guitar Workshop. It includes a full play through by Tom Feldman of his rendition.

[Andyrondack]

Originally Posted by davidbeinct

Thanks I’m working with a video lesson from Guitar Workshop. It includes a full play through by Tom Feldman of his rendition.

Can you take that turnaround you're having trouble with, isolate it on the recording, put on repeat and slow down? Then go over what it sounds like in your head .That's what I do when I have that sort of trouble.

[Kyle215]

Have you tried playing along to the video with just your thumb? And really count along - out loud - to get the feel for how it sounds while really focusing on the rhythm. Then move to a metronome for just those measures that are a problem, and just play them over and over, still while counting.