Yet another JT Cover - Only a Dream in Rio

[lpa53]

I've read that James Taylor wrote this song after performing in Rio to a great reception at a time when he had primarily been writing only covers and had despaired of writing any more of his own work. The audience's enthusiastic response inspired him to get back to writing.

For me, the most difficult part of performing this song is getting the tempo right and getting it consistent. I always go faster as the song progresses. JT plays it at various speeds on recordings versus different live performances, but regardless of the starting tempo, the syncopation tends to make me speed up. Practice practice practice. But that's OK because it's great fun to play.

As someone here suggested earlier, I should probably get a drum machine to play along with for practice. Any suggestions for a good (free?) one?

[66strummer]

Wouldn't a clicking metronome be helpful? I would imagine that some of them sell fairly cheaply.

[Steve Berger]

Here is the link to a FREE online metronome.

http://www.metronomeonline.com/

[lpa53]

Originally Posted by 66strummer

Wouldn't a clicking metronome be helpful? I would imagine that some of them sell fairly cheaply.

I have a freebie computer metronime that I practiced with but didn't run it when recording because the computer noise gets picked up. Even then I still sped up. I think if I used it while recording it'd intimidate me!

When learning this, I checked a JT video against the metronome and, although he didn't get as fast a tempo as I ended with, his band was still all over the place. They aren't a machine after all. Still more consistent than me, though.