How To Practice With A Metronome And Have Great Timing

Do you avoid using a metronome?...

Do you think it’s too complicated to learn how?...

It’s not that hard to learn how…

I will show you an easy way to get started...

You just have to simplify playing things you already know how to do...

In this article, I will talk about beginning to use a metronome when practicing your rhythm playing. Many people shy away from it or think it's scary; others believe they don't need it, but really, they do. What I'm going to teach you today is how to get started with using a metronome. Most people try to play with a metronome at too fast of a tempo, and they get lost or don't know they're not playing in time to it. 

I have a straightforward way to show you how to ease your way into using a metronome. Once you get this foundational stuff down and can do it, it's easier to start practicing at faster tempos. If you haven't used a metronome before, I found that this is the best way to get you started, and it's not that hard. You'll be playing things that you know very slowly at first. 

All you need is the type of metronome that allows you to dictate where you want the accents and can change the sound of the click on any beat. 

First, you're going to set the metronome so that the different sounding click happens every four beats, and you're simply going to strum one chord. That's it, but you're going to strum it once on the different sounding click or the accent, and then you'll let the other three clicks happen while the chord is ringing out. You want to do this because you don't want to be using any of your mental bandwidth on playing the guitar. We want to be able to focus on listening to the click happening, and we only need to do one thing: strum one time when the click sounds different. You don't want to do any more than that. You want to be focusing as much as you possibly can on listening. You don't want to be taking up any of your mental capacity to concentrate on how to play. The first step to learning how to use a metronome is to learn how to listen to the metronome while you're playing. It is not easy to do when you're first starting. As you get better with it and you can listen while you're playing, you begin to develop that skill and can start doing more complex things. 

Next, you will set your metronome so that the click occurs every other beat, and you will strum when you hear the different sounding click. While doing that, you want to be focused on hearing that click. That is the most important thing. It's twice as fast, so you must play your guitar twice as fast. You don't have the same mental capacity to be listening as closely as you did when it occurred every four beats.  

Next, you're going to add one more chord, and you're going to go through this whole exercise all over again. You're going to play just one strum of the first chord for four beats, and then you're going to change chords and strum once for four beats. When you change the chord, that is when the click is supposed to sound different. Every chord change is going to occur on the different sounding click. Then, after that, you could do it twice as fast, just like we did with one chord. 

 You want to ease your way into listening and playing simultaneously. Most people don't or can't hear the metronome while playing. They're playing things that are way too complicated for them to be able to listen and play. It would help if you started with something super easy. If you were to do this for two minutes a day for two weeks, just at this super slow tempo, you would hone your listening skills so well that you can leapfrog up to doing much more complex things. Your awareness of the click going on will be so finely tuned that it will be hard for you not to hear it. Sometimes beginners have a hard time hearing the click because they're too focused on difficult things that they're trying to play. If you make your playing very simple, you can hear the metronome. 

Recap:

Start at slow tempos, take one chord, and strum once every four beats, strumming on that one click that sounds different. Then you could set the metronome so it's twice as fast, or it is every other click, and you're gonna strum on those clicks. Repeat the process using two chords. Take it easy and ease your way into this. Remember, two minutes a day for two weeks, and your listening skills will be super honed. You'll be able to do much more complex and faster chord progressions with greater ease. 

Remember to always have fun with your guitar and I’ll see you next time…

If you are looking to learn another excellent rhythm guitar skill, you can check out my FREE lesson on how to weave lead guitar melody lines to your rhythm guitar playing here: https://rhythmguitarlessons.net/Pro

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About Mark Turko: Mark Turko is a professional guitar player and instructor with over 30 years of experience and teaches guitar lessons online.