Problems with keeping time with a metronome

[Muffinhead]

I know I should pactice with a metronome, especially since I know I tend to speed up as I am playing and singing.

The problem is that when I use a metronome the song sounds stilted and mechanical.

How do I avoid the mechanical sound when I use a metronome?

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Muffinhead

I know I should pactice with a metronome, especially since I know I tend to speed up as I am playing and singing.

The problem is that when I use a metronome the song sounds stilted and mechanical.

How do I avoid the mechanical sound when I use a metronome?

More practice. It sounds stilted because you're still having to focus on the metronome to be sure you're in time.

For a particular song, you could try setting it to different tempos (slightly faster or slower), because it may be that there's a tempo you'd be more comfortable with. (Perhaps the metronome is forcing you to play either a little slower or faster than you subconsciously want to.)

In addition, not all songs benefit from a totally clockwork tempo. It's natural for some songs to shift a little, organically. But it should be imperceptible to a listener.
You're clearly aware that you "tend to speed up", and only the metronome can address that. It's about learning to relax, to "sit in the pocket" and not push the tempo. (That's even harder when playing live, which is why time-keeping practice is so important.)
It's not just about playing the right notes in the right order (which naturally means you tend to speed up the better - or more nervous - you get). It's about feeling a groove as the foundation of what you're doing.

There's a great comment a Latin percussion teacher once made: that the groove is something that is there in the air all the time, like a radio signal - all you do is tune into it, hook on to it, and let it carry you. You're the passenger, not the driver.
It's a matter of attitude of course, but I've always found that a good image, helps me find the right tempo for a tune and stick to it (more or less....).
The metronome is about training your internal "clock" so it naturally keeps better time.

[Wyllys]

Originally Posted by Muffinhead

I know I should pactice with a metronome, especially since I know I tend to speed up as I am playing and singing.

The problem is that when I use a metronome the song sounds stilted and mechanical.

How do I avoid the mechanical sound when I use a metronome?

Relax and listen.

Use a slower setting if you must, then work up to speed.

Cut the # of beats/bar by half so you're "checking in" instead of keeping time.

[paulp1960]

If you really don't like the metronome you could (at extra expense) do what I do and use the Drummer in Logic Pro X (also in Garageband for OS-X) or I use Band-in-a-Box software to generate backing tracks. Or you could use a drum machine either hardware or software.

There is also a cheap piece of software called i-real Pro

http://irealpro.com/

This will run on any tablet (Android or iOS) or OS-X and generates backing tracks to order and it quite easy to use.

You need to nail the timing thing early on or you will struggle to play with other musicians.

[verstft]

Originally Posted by paulp1960

If you really don't like the metronome you could (at extra expense) do what I do and use the Drummer in Logic Pro X

+1 A drumbeat is a good way to keep time.

Because it's hard to set a groove with a tick. The drum beats sort of set the tone and groove.

The problem with a metronome or drum tracks is getting the level between your guitar and the metronome right. If the metronome is too faint you will lose the tick as the volume of your guitar drowns it out.

Regardless of drum track or drums, make sure you can hear it once you start playing.

[jman60]

There are some good pointers everyone has posted.

I've used an old Zoom drum machine that I have to help with timing when I teach.

And what has already been mentioned...
Practice, the more you do something, the easier it gets.

[paulp1960]

Originally Posted by verstft

+1 A drumbeat is a good way to keep time.

Because it's hard to set a groove with a tick. The drum beats sort of set the tone and groove.

The problem with a metronome or drum tracks is getting the level between your guitar and the metronome right. If the metronome is too faint you will lose the tick as the volume of your guitar drowns it out.

Regardless of drum track or drums, make sure you can hear it once you start playing.

Yes this is a good point. If you are using drum sounds you need to hear the bass drum whereas a metronome usually uses higher frequency sounds that don't need much amplification.

It can be tricky to get the balance right between the acoustic guitar you are playing and the metronome or drum/backing track.

[jseth]

Although I have worked with a metronome for many hundreds of hours, I have only VERY rarely used one to actually "play" a song... and I'm not sure at all that doing so would help your timing/sense of meter.

Metronomes are so mechanical, as well they should be! I view the metronome as a device or a training aid to help me "dial in" my internal sense of time/meter... the LAST thing I want when I'm performing is to sound like a metronome...

I would suggest that you use the metronome to practise playing scales or playing a series of chords, and to do that in a very structured way... use a VERY slow tempo setting (like 40 b.p.m. = 1/4 note), and give your entire focus to playing as perfectly as you can on the beat... begin with 1/4 notes, then do 1/8 notes, triplets and then 16th notes. Really give yourself over to the metronome and try to "synch" your playing with it.

Even after using this method for months, I would still suggest keeping it very slow, so that when you are doing triplets and 16th notes, you can be precise with those, as well as the slower cadences.

What I have found is that using the metronome in this manner "resets" my internal "clock", my internal sense of time... then, when I play "songs", that sense of time is ... just... there. I don't have to think about it and all the rhythms inside me mesh with the song, as needed.

While working with the metronome, I recognized my own "defaults"... I tend to lag 16th notes and rush triplets, regardless of the pace of the tune. This lets me "correct" ever-so-slightly as I go along...

Trying to think about what times I've actually played a song with a metronome; working on "Sailor's Hornpipe" at one point, and when I learned the "head" to Charlie Parker's "Scrapple From The Apple"... both times were just to check to see that I was 'close" to where I wanted to be with the tune, and I didn't do it very often or for very long.

Ideally, you want to get to the point where your own natural sense of time is present within all the music you play.

By the way, this worked for me within a band setting (w/ drummer) as well as with my solo and duo work.

Music mirrors life in many ways; one of the things I love about the "classic' recordings that have been part of my life for so long is the way the music "breathes"... sometimes speeding up a fraction, sometimes slowing down a little... it has never been my goal to play like a machine, not in any way, shape or form... moreover to have the rhythms pour out of me, like life itself...

Kind of depends on what YOU want from your playing...