If I wanted to practice staying in time, would you recommend a metronome? I have noticed there are the traditional pyramid ones with the needle on the front that sways side to side and electronic ones, and also electronic ones with tuners built in. Which type would you recommend?
Yes of course. The advantage of the electronic ones is that they can add emphasis to indicate the start of the bar, and you can often program them to an actual time signature 4/4, 3/4, 12/8 etc rather than just clicks.
Then there is something nice about the traditional ones, I think because you can watch the needle swinging it's gives a better sense of the movement and pulse than just the electronic click track.
The long and short is ... Check out some free apps for your smartphone. You can get a good feel for what options are out there. Some of the apps that are free , charge for the additional options. Like changing the notes to 16th notes, etc.
There are a few good ones out there, but you just have to try them. Unfortunately the Android is not the best for these things, but if you have an apple product your in luck.
Try to find a good app that has the ability to change tempo, the measures, etc. So you dont just have the tick tick. You can actually get the metronome to play drum beats, etc.
Also as I mentioned above some of them you can change to 16th notes, 1/8th notes , ect. This is VERY Helpful.
Let me know if you find a good one. The one I have right now is called Pro Metronome, but you have to BUY all the little options. Which I haven't done yet. I was able to try them for free when I first downloaded it, but now it's just a simple metronome pretty much. But atleast you can see the options I'm talking about.
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Nov 16, 2016 5:57 AM
Pro Metronome is good. I also added DrumBeats, a drum "machine" app, for a few bucks. The longer I've played, it seems the more useful they have become. but a simple metronome, old school or new, would be a good investment. ---------- Phil Pennington
I want an old school one just for aesthetics in my Jam Room.
I actually was messing with that Pro Metronome last night. I have it on my galaxy. I think I will buy the upgrades they have available, but I will do it on my Ipod Touch. There are a few other good programs that would be great if it weren't for the latency issues of the android. HarpNinja and the Bendometer are two apps that I have tried on my Galaxy and they just didnt respond fast enough. So I feel if I had them on my Ipod they would be great.
I just prefer to have things on my phone because I rarely use my ipod, as all my music is on my phone Mini SD Card. So it's just nice to have all the programs right in your pocket at all times.
But perhaps I will set up my Ipod touch specifically for all my harp apps. They have other apps like GarageBand and apps like that, they really work great on apple products.
I forgot to post this video When we were talking about all this metronome practice.
Watching this video changed my life. Bob Maglinte always talks about time. How most musicians, (especially Harmonica players) of a nonprofessional level, have horrible time. And I was always one who thought ... " I have rhythm ... I can keep time." But oh was I wrong. This video shows you a whole other level of time. And hopefully will make you realize ( as it did me ) How much work I have to do .... lol.
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Nov 21, 2016 10:43 AM
Good post Killa. Useful way to use metronome. I have an app on my iPad called MetroTimer which works well for me. Lots of flexibility in settings, e.g. can accentuate the down beat on the one in 4/4 time. Main downside is it's not loud enough to hear and play notes on harp, even softly. I sent it through bluetooth to speakers or use headphones to hear the metronome while playing the harp.
I really don;t practice enough with a metronome, I actually dont really practice Anything at all. I just play alot. Always just noodling and trying to learn new songs, licks, techniques .... aswell as developing the ones I already have. But I dont view any of it as actual structured practice.
That is one thing I would like to touch on when I finally take lessons. ( looks like its postponed until after the holidays, for now.)
Anyhow, back to the point.
I wish you could get a Metronome and set it up to use in 12bar practice. For instance on every bar you could set it up so it accentuated the downbeat ( like harpdoc was saying) I do that with my program now. But I would like it to maybe sound different on the 1 4 and 5 chord. And then it would also be nice to have the different versions of the 12 bar to set it to.
For example you could set it for a Quick 4 or 1-2-4-5.
Perhaps it would just be easier to use in conjunction with simple backing tracks, but ... it was just an idea. Sometimes backing tracks are to complicated. Or sometimes too simple maybe. If im going to play to music I prefer it to be more dynamic.
