Metronome at band practice?

[Big John Studd]

A band I play in has trouble sometimes keeping the tempo constant throughout a song and other times just getting the tempo correct at the start. I have been wondering if playing with a metronome would be a worthwhile exercise. I know it improves my timing when practicing alone. Would this be feasible, acceptable, heresy, etc. in a band practice setting? We are an amateur classic rock cover band...Beatles, Stones, Eagles, etc.

[gpasq]

First, leave it up to the drummer. It's his job to keep time. Some use an in-ear click, others don't.

If he can't keep time, suggest that he use a click. If he can improve from there, great, if not, you need to find another drummer.

Or maybe you don't care, and it's just a band "for fun", and that's all good too.

[AJBaker]

Can't hurt!
Over here, a lot of solo performers/duos, and even some bands use drum machines. While musically, I find it pretty unsatisfying, it does mean that these guys have near perfect time. Try practising to a drum machine, it might feel a bit more musical than a metronome being blasted through the PA!

And I'll add it's not purely the drummer's job to keep time. A good drummer can't completely make up for everyone else having bad time. Everybody in the band should be sustaining the groove, and even if all you have to play is one note on the triangle every 10 bars, you should play that note as if the song depended on it.

[Lazloryder]

It would be the drummer that would need an in ear click. Though some drummers take offense to it, or take it personally...you need to find a clever way to trick him or her into it.

[Big John Studd]

Cool. Thanks y'all. That's good to know it's not unspeakable. Yeah, we play classic rock, so in many ways it's perfectly fine IMO for the tempo to ebb and flow a bit for effect, feel, etc., but there are a few songs where it is obvious that we are struggling with keeping the tempo constant.

I did play in a modern country band where the drummer had a little machine beside him that he would dial up a BPM on. I never did really ask him much about it, and I don't think he actually played along with it, but I think he was just using it to get the right speed in his head for songs he kicked off...like Alan Jackson's Chattahoochee for example. Is that kind of a standard thing drummers might do?

[Sharp5]

Maybe try it with the drummer. If he takes offense, it's often because he can't. I've never played with a pro who would object. If you can, then there is no issue.

The drummer that I have played with for about 10 years started out playing in a band that used tracks back in the day. That of course means that he had to play with a click. Althought he hasn't done that for years, I think it had an overwhelming influence on his ability, whether he knows it or not.

He's also like the first call guy for any group. Go figure.

Now, it may not be the drummer. Anyone can be the culprit. See what happens with the rhythm section minus the drums and a click.

[AJBaker]

Originally Posted by Sharp5

Now, it may not be the drummer. Anyone can be the culprit. See what happens with the rhythm section minus the drums and a click.

Exactly. A really solid bass player and a solid guitarist can make a shaky drummer play in time. Though the buck stops at the drummer, everyone is responsible for the groove.

[Scantron08]

The drummer should be practicing with one at home, so that he doesn't need one at rehearsal. This would be good for everyone in your band, actually.

[guitarbiker]

Everyone should get some in-ear click. Drummers hate it when they are the only one with the click and the bass player and guitar player even the singer is pushing and they're trying to hold it back. Lead guitarists are famous for speeding during a solo.

[AJBaker]

Originally Posted by Scantron08

The drummer should be practicing with one at home, so that he doesn't need one at rehearsal. This would be good for everyone in your band, actually.

Good advice, and true for more than just the drummer!

[jefrs]

Metronome? No drummer?

Actually most drummers don't mind using a metronome and they are the only one that needs to hear, or perhaps more importantly, see it.
If the drummer is on the beat, then no-one else can hear the thing anyway.

[Gnobuddy]

Originally Posted by Scantron08

The drummer should be practicing with one at home, so that he doesn't need one at rehearsal. This would be good for everyone in your band, actually.

Agree 100%.

I'm a hobby musician, not a working pro, but I use a metronome at home for solo practice. I use it during practice with my wife who sometimes sings with me. And I use it sometimes during group practice with three or four friends.

For a long time - many, many years - I didn't use a metronome because I didn't realise how much it could do for my playing ability. Now that I do, I can tell that my playing has improved in many ways. Some are less obvious than others - for instance when singing solo and accompanying myself, I used to have a lot of trouble with songs where the vocals were ahead or behind the beat, or with heavily syncopated rhythms. I'm getting better at those now.

I once was briefly part of an informal trio with a drummer and rhythm guitarist. The rhythm guitarist couldn't hold a tempo and always rushed ahead of the beat. The other two of us would do our best to stay locked to him, so every song we tried to play together would speed up as we went along, and end much too fast. He indignantly denied our many attempts to gently let him know that he was the one causing our tempo problems and needed to work on his problem - until one day, at my suggestion, the drummer pulled out his Yamaha electronic drum toy, set it thumping away on an 8-beat pattern, and asked the rhythm guitarist to play along.

Well, he couldn't stay with the toy drums any more than he could with us, and this time he couldn't blame us for the problem. So he got mad, left, and never came back.

Classically trained musicians all seem to know about the importance of using a metronome during practice. Those of us who learned music informally often didn't get that particular memo, though. I got it a couple of decades late.

-Gnobuddy

[Martin R]

Yes, use a metronome.

We had occasionally used one, but started using it religiously for about three months. What a difference. Everybody got a whole lot better real quick.

Now we'll just have the drummer put it in earphones for scratch tracks and new songs.

[bikeracr]

Think of a band in layers. The drum is the foundation and it falls to the drummer to keep time. The rhythm section (rhythm guitar, bass, etc.) should lock in with the drummer to establish a solid groove. Everyone else should lock in with the rhythm section. At the end of the day, the rest of the band should be listening to what is going on instead of going their own way.

There are some merits to an in-ear click if you can have one. If not, it falls to the drummer.

Good luck!

[swellsmd]

IMO if you start introducing electronics into your music you will suck the life out of it. Of course your drummer needs to be a bit more aware of what is going on and if not, find one who does. Just sayin!

[muudcat]

Drummer needs to work with a metronome, period. He should have been using one from the day he started to learn to play. Natural, slight changes in tempo are acceptable and some times used to enhance sections of certain songs but the drummer must have control of what he's doing and that's laying down a consistent tempo. Nothing drives me crazier than speeding up a song with out a reason. Think of the dancers, they can feel it and it will put them off quick. The guy should welcome a chance to make himself better, it's certainly not a put down.

[getbent]

yes. but put it on a music stand

[AJBaker]

You know, I know drummers that can keep good time, but lack the authority to keep the band leader in check when he wants to speed up.

[sax4blues]

Originally Posted by Scantron08

The drummer should be practicing with one at home, so that he doesn't need one at rehearsal. This would be good for everyone in your band, actually.

This is really it. People who grow up keeping good time by practicing with a metronome will not need one in the band. And this won't be something fixed by just having a metronome at rehearsal, because your band members are "practicing" their poor timekeeping during the week.

[Old Cane]

Lets call a spade a spade....or shovel.

Is it band practice or is it rehearsal?

If it's practice do it however you need to to get it right. If it's rehearsal, do it the way you're going to play. That's why it's called rehearsal. Tons of pros use in ear clicks at least to start the song. But once it starts it takes a third hand to turn it off. In other words it keeps going. Unless you're Omar Hakim. I really believe he has 3 arms and hands. Beat bugs, clicks, whatever. It works. A good drummer plays around the thing, not just on top of it like a drum machine. The song can still breathe if they guy knows what he's doing.

Just a side note: if you're playing so quiet you can all hear the metronome TURN IT UP; YOU'RE NOT PLAYING LOUD ENOUGH.