00:00Hi, I'm Stuart Ryan. In this video I'm going to show you some ideas for how to practice with a
00:04metronome. There are so many reasons why we should play with a metronome, but I think for me the big
00:09ones are first that it's going to show you where your limits are, so it will give you goals to
00:13work
00:13towards, and second it's going to get you ready for playing with a drummer. So if you've never played
00:18with the rhythm section, a metronome can simulate what it's like to have fixed time and you can
00:23really get a sense of where your timing is. It's worth experimenting with the various different
00:27types of metronome. I really like the traditional wind-up metronome because it has quite a percussive
00:32kind of feel to it, but phone app metronomes are great and they actually really mimic the sound
00:36that you'll get on a click in a studio or live situation really well. To begin with we're going
00:41to use the metronome as a device for practicing rhythm guitar with a part inspired by David Williams
00:46who is the guitar player for Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and many more. We're going to play a simple D
00:51minor 7 chord, we're going to set the click at 100 bpm and we're going to first play an eighth
00:56note
00:56rhythm pattern one and two and three and four and and then we'll shift to an eighth and two sixteenths
01:05one and a two and a three and a four and. But the key here is let's try and get
01:13the down strokes
01:14just to accent the beat a little bit stronger than the up strokes and when you're playing this part
01:20see if you can really lock in with the click and really play on top of the beat. Here we
01:24go.
01:37Next I'm going to use the metronome for practicing alternate picking. I'm going to play these four
01:42notes from the A minor pentatonic scale with a strict down up down up pattern played as eighth notes.
01:50I'll start off playing them at 100 bpm but then the click is going to shift to 180 bpm
01:55so I can really feel if I can lock in with that higher tempo and also to get a sense
01:59of how different
02:00those two tempos feel for example three. I'm going to take the same group of four notes that we've just
02:17looked at but I'm going to play them through shifting rhythms now. I'll start with a simple
02:22quarter note rhythm where everything is played on the beat and then I'll shift to eighth notes
02:32and then I'll move to sixteenths the one and a two and a three and a four and a pattern
02:40and this is a great way of just being aware of how different rhythmic groupings
02:44feel at different tempos and it's also a good way of finding where your limits lie.
02:49Eighths and quart notes may feel great at 100 bpm, sixteenths might be something to work on.
03:11One of the advantages to using the metronome in a DAW like Logic or Cubase is that you can
03:17program tempo changes and this is a great way of simulating tempo changes in tracks and also getting
03:22used just the shifting tempos when you're playing. So for this example I programmed the tempo and logic
03:28at 100 bpm and then I shifted it to move to 180 bpm just so I could work on that
03:34acceleration.
03:35Example four is about more challenging rhythmic groupings. I'll start off with a simple eighth
03:41note pattern on the first and second strings like this or this
03:51but then I'll play it as triplets so a one and a two and a three and a four and
03:56a feel.
04:03And then I'm going to move into sextuplets cramming six notes into the space of one beat and this is
04:09a challenge I find it a challenge anyway particularly at a tempo like 100 bpm which is where we are
04:14here.
04:15You can play this legato but it's a fantastic alternate picking exercise to try and cram in
04:24those six notes into each beat. Here we go.
04:26I'm going to go.
05:05For the next example, I'm going to combine rhythms in the same bar.
05:09I'm going to play three beats of triplets, and then on beat four, I'll play the sextuplet rhythm.
05:14The sextuplet is that sudden burst of speed, and this is a really cool technique
05:18just for getting some energy and momentum in a lick or a solo.
05:22Here it is.
05:36I'm going to end with one of my favorite ways to practice using a metronome,
05:39and this is something you'll find in the jazz world all the time.
05:42I've set the metronome only to beats two and four,
05:45so I have to really try and develop an internal pulse for where beats one and three are.
05:50I'll start off with a simple jazz comping pattern, but I'm going to play on every beat,
05:55so I've kind of got that ghost beat on the first and third beats.
05:58It's very straightforward.
05:59It's just one, two, three, four, but I've got to try and keep my tempo even all the way
06:05to make sure I'm really hitting the beats on the click, beats two and four,
06:08but then coming back in at the right place on beats one and three.
06:11This one is such a challenge, but it can really help you develop great timing,
06:16that internal timing, and a swing feel as well.
06:40And to close, I'm going to play a simple jazz blues solo over the previous chord progression.
06:45The difference here are that we have space within some of the bars,
06:49and we have varying rhythms, so that whole idea of losing beats one and three on the click
06:53is even more of a challenge.
06:55There are two ways you can practice this.
06:56First, practice along with my rhythm section.
06:59So my rhythm section is effectively the click.
07:02You've got the chords on each beat, but then try removing the chords
07:05and just play along with the two and four beat click to see how it feels.
07:32Thanks for watching, everybody.
07:33I hope you've enjoyed that one.
07:34As you can see, the metronome is a brutal machine.
07:38It doesn't lie, but then you can't blame it.
07:40You have to really look at your own playing
07:42and find out the things that you need to work on
07:44and the areas of timing you have to improve in.
07:46If you've got any questions or comments, leave them below,
07:49and I'll do my best to answer.
07:50Until next time, don't forget to subscribe to Guitar World,
07:53and I'll see you soon.
07:54Take care.
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