Is developing an internal 'metronome' essential to play the guitar properly?

[Edgar Poe]

Timing is critical in a band or jam session setting. If you play solo, not so much. However the listeners may not enjoy it.

Ed

[Christian Reno]

Originally Posted by TJE"

...before even thinking about anything else to do with guitar playing.

Or is this a dictatorship of overthinking?

If having absolute perfect time is this important, many great players would have been stuck in the starting gate. Of course it's important, but so are many other aspects that come with the journey. "before even thinking about anything else to do with guitar playing." This might be a bit extreme.

[ALBD]

IMO reasonably good timing is critical. Especially if you are a singer/guitarist. Took me a while to understand and accept this and incorporate a metronome into my practice. Once I became aware of my timing, the improvement in just about everything I do was dramatic.

[mr. beaumont]

Good time is not necessarily metronomic time, but yes, to be a good player, you have to have good time.

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by Bridgepin

If you plan on playing with other people it is a must.

Agreed. I played rhythm a couple times with a fellow who just couldn't keep a beat, and it was miserable. He had a hearing problem, I think, and needed drums to keep tempo. A shame, because he was a good guitarist otherwise. But it doesn't matter how good you are if you can't keep a beat because, at that point, you suck.

[Joe Beamish]

Good time is huge, and no it isn’t metronomic. It’s about communicating a feeling of time, or groove, or swing, to the listener.

Good time is largely what separates good players from everyone else.

[ALBD]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Good time is not necessarily metronomic time, but yes, to be a good player, you have to have good time.

I agree that metronomic time is not the goal. But one definitely helped me become cognizant of where I was off--in some instances waaay off!

[Grantgreen42]

Originally Posted by lowrider

You can do a lot of things wrong and, if you have good timing you'll still sound pretty good.

If you have bad timing, you can do everything else right and you still sound pretty bad!

Perfectly said! Timing is critical to me in music. I rather hear the WRONG note in TIME versus the RIGHT note out of TIME.

[jaymarsch]

Originally Posted by Grantgreen42

Perfectly said! Timing is critical to me in music. I rather hear the WRONG note in TIME versus the RIGHT note out of TIME.

Totally agree.

Best,
Jayne

[WordMan]

If you have a great groove and a big pocket, you can carry folks along with you even if you speed up or slow down - ask most drummers

Not metronome perfect, but groove solid - that's what counts first, to me.

[rick-slo]

Developing an internal metronome is very important - how to effectively use small variations in note durations (rubato), accelerations, decelerations, fermata, etc..

Strict metronome tempo is relatively external to expressive playing - good for technical practice aspects though.

[rstaight]

If you are by yourself variation can add some flavor and soul to unotherwise mechanical sounding piece. But you can't take it to extremes.

When playing with others, unless well rehearsed, timing is everything.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by rstaight

If you are by yourself variation can add some flavor and soul to unotherwise mechanical sounding piece. But you can't take it to extremes.

When playing with others, unless well rehearsed, timing is everything.

A "tight" band is where the players can play off of each other's musical timing and accenting variations. That mostly takes band members who are all individually
good musicians and who have also played together for some time. Especially important in many jazz and classical pieces as compared to say most ragtime pieces.

[Glennwillow]

I think being able to maintain a fairly consistent beat is extremely important. The tempo might be a little fast at times, a little slower at others, but keeping a reasonably consistent beat matters a great deal. Music is laid out around a beat. If you can't keep something close to that consistent beat, your going to have trouble making a song or musical piece sound musical.

People can learn to play with a consistent beat: by playing with previously recorded music, by using a metronome or a drum machine, or by playing with others who are good at maintaining a beat. For some people, maintaining a consistent beat comes fairly easily; for some people, outside controls are needed until that sense of maintaining a beat is built up and established.

Varying the timing between beats can makes a song very musical, but the beat through the song is not changing very much. People sometimes think that a player varying the divisions between the beats is messing with the beat, but that's not the case. There generally is a lot of room between beats or across a measure to work all kinds of magical division, but the beats are still there, going on and on.

Kind of reminds one of a song...



- Glenn

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Grantgreen42

Perfectly said! Timing is critical to me in music. I rather hear the WRONG note in TIME versus the RIGHT note out of TIME.

Yes. I agree.

Playing along with the mp3 of the cover is a good way to back door metronome work. Keeping steady time is very important to the listener.