The benefits of Metronome use with guitar practice

The use of a metronome is absolutely vital and totally unavoidable. Many tutors regard the use of a metronome to be so important to development that some are quoted as saying 'if you can't play it to a click, you can't play it'. It's a good point, if you think about the use of a metronome then it's a strict time keeping device. In a band situation a guitar player plays in time with a drummer first and foremost. The drummers job is to meter out time in a steady and even fashion. That's what a metronome does too. If you can play your song at home against your metronome you can walk straight into band rehearsal and play it in time with the drummer (assuming they are in time!!!!). It starts to make sense to practice to a metronome because it starts to have an ongoing benefit. Saving time in band rehearsals is just one of the real benefits of dedicated metronome practice.

You will sound different too. A confident player is always 'at ease' with a metronome because the player knows that the chances of making a mistake are lower than a player who's timing is compromised. If the metronome player makes a mistake it's a genuine one. If the guy who plays without a click makes many it's because they may have timing issues. For example they may not be able to get to a chord at the start of a bar. Practice the chord change to a click and over time your will nail it. Don't bother with a click and the chord change is always a guess at best. An unconfident sounding decision will always sound inferior to a confident chord change. So it makes sense that a click player will sound better than a player that guess's.

Apply this to all you guitar related skills, chords, rhythm playing, lead playing e.c.t.
It makes sense to round off all these skills against a click. They will become solid , reliable musical skills that the player can call on at any time. The metronome will improve your playing beyond expectations and in a way that will produce long term skill improvements.

Got any good metronome routines? Post them on the forum.

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