Piedmont and Dead-Thumb Blues to a Metronome

[davidbeinct]

I got the can’t play blues to a metronome blues…
Probably not the meanest blues of all, but pretty frustrating.
I’m sure we all see the advice to play to a metronome to keep yourself from speeding up when learning a piece.
I can do that relatively easily with patterns. As soon as I try with a piece that incorporates a melody, especially one with syncopation, I fall apart.
I would love any tips on how to stay in time with a metronome on stuff like Nobody’s Business or Kindhearted Woman.

[srick]

Dave -

I had some interesting revelations on that from classes with Toby Walker and Martin Grosswendt.

Martin taught me to move my whole body as I play the bass - including my shoulders and head. Tapping the foot is fine too, but getting the body into the music was a real eye-opener. And I'm pretty sure that somewhere along the line, Toby said to play to a metronome, but expect that there will be some variation. Think about those old blues players - no metronome within a 100 miles of the gin joints they were playing at!

I find that a drum track is a lot more pleasant than a metronome. And, since I play for fun, I've given up caring whether my playing is perfect or not When I have played at Open Mics the audience has politely applauded even when I was lousy.

So let's raise a glass and say, "It's good enough!"

best,

Rick

PS - and of course this is why music sounded so good in the 60s and 70s. We had raised a few too many glasses.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by davidbeinct

I got the can’t play blues to a metronome blues…
Probably not the meanest blues of all, but pretty frustrating.
I’m sure we all see the advice to play to a metronome to keep yourself from speeding up when learning a piece.
I can do that relatively easily with patterns. As soon as I try with a piece that incorporates a melody, especially one with syncopation, I fall apart.
I would love any tips on how to stay in time with a metronome on stuff like Nobody’s Business or Kindhearted Woman.

David,
First things first: You can't play in time with syncopated notes because you're not even learning how to play them to start with.

You need to take each syncopated section OUT OF CONTEXT for the moment, and learn each one of them by rote.

Forget about the metronome for the time being. You'll have enough to do just trying to tap your foot while you play something syncopated, believe me.

Even something like syncopation can be 'patterned', to a degree.

I'm not a country blues player, although my style is very informed by a lot of what I've listened to over the years.

Here's one of my 'dead thumb' compositions, in open C tuning. It's called Rumble Strut.

[rick-slo]

I would guess most people lose tempo and timing control because they are sweating playing a piece technically or memory wise and
experiencing small delays reaching certain chording positions and/or not being able to think a bit ahead of the notes they are playing
and are not mentally and physically prepared for the next notes. Mostly it is this rather than some internal clock that is supposed to be
ticking. Usually enough thoughtful repetition solves most of those issues.

[davidbeinct]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

David,
First things first: You can't play in time with syncopated notes because you're not even learning how to play them to start with.

You need to take each syncopated section OUT OF CONTEXT for the moment, and learn each one of them by rote.

Forget about the metronome for the time being. You'll have enough to do just trying to tap your foot while you play something syncopated, believe me.

Even something like syncopation can be 'patterned', to a degree.

I'm not a country blues player, although my style is very informed by a lot of what I've listened to over the years.

Here's one of my 'dead thumb' compositions, in open C tuning. It's called Rumble Strut.

Howard you really nailed it. I’ve spent the last couple hours picking apart Knoxville Rag and making sure I could both tap and count each phrase. It’s made an immense difference already. I can also tell it’s not a one and done kind of thing but rather something that will take much repetition. Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions but for me at least Howard got it.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by davidbeinct

Howard you really nailed it. I’ve spent the last couple hours picking apart Knoxville Rag and making sure I could both tap and count each phrase. It’s made an immense difference already. I can also tell it’s not a one and done kind of thing but rather something that will take much repetition. Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions but for me at least Howard got it.

Hello David,
I am very pleased that the coin dropped:-)

Having taught fingerstyle, open tunings and bottleneck since 1970 I've had some experience with how to describe, in any number of ways, the same thing to different students.

While it's certainly easier sitting face to face, the important piece of the information is figuring out what kind of listener the student is, and then tailoring the explanation to fit.

I've had dyslexic students who benefitted from having both of us sitting next to each other, and facing a mirror! Some require a verbal analogy to "get" a particular feel, but whatever it takes!

Glad to have helped!

Best,
Howard Emerson

[pinkfloyd]

I would suggest learning to groove with the metronome: move your body, tape your foot, bang your head. Try to lock in with the metronome without playing any notes.

[Bluenose]

I would suggest you learn to tap your foot on the 2 and the 4 beat because these are generally the accented beats in 4/4 time. Once you have that more or less second nature, add the metronome click.