How a Music Teacher Wants You to Use a Metronome

Click! Click! Click! Click!

If you’re a musician, you likely know the unrelenting “tick tock” of the metronome. If you’ve had a music lesson, your teacher has probably told you to use one in your practice sessions. If you don’t: shame! You’re missing out on a useful tool in the shed. It’s only as strong a tool as you make it though.

Why use a metronome?

A metronome, or click, is a wonderful tool to keep us consistent, especially when changing something. By this, I mean transitioning from one part of the instrument to another, from one scale to another, or maybe from one section of a song to another. It’s easy to speed up or slow down in these spots, but a click will keep you honest. No, your metronome didn’t slow down. You sped up! If you’re having trouble playing along, ask your teacher for help at your next music lesson (click here to get a lesson or a referral).

This tool also really helps us learn to play with something external too. As we go through the physical and mental motions of playing our instruments, the metronome clicks steadily and forces us to adjust. It is similar to playing with another musician. Playing to a recording gives us this same opportunity, but it can be difficult to change the speed without special software. A metronome, however, allows us to set it to whatever tempo is comfortable so we can work out a part while still playing in time.

The first trick to using a click: set it to the right speed.

Set it slow enough that you can play your part cleanly and deliberately. You should make very few mistakes as you settle into this tempo. Once you’re able to easily play at this tempo, bump it up. This will allow you to slowly work your way up. No one cares how fast you play if it isn’t clean. So start slow and get it right!

Trick #2 to using a click: set it to a subdivision to make it easier.

Let’s say you’re really struggling to work out a part, and playing is difficult with the metronome set so slow. This is when you should take advantage of subdivisions. Instead of setting the metronome to the pulse, set it to the divisions of the pulse. These subdivisions are usually eighth-notes or sixteenth-notes. Using subdivisions with the click can help playing with a really slow BPM. If your struggling to play to a quarter-note at 35bpm (beats per minute), try the eighth-note at 70bpm or the sixteenth-note at 140bpm.

This works in duple meters (3/4, 4/4, 5/4), but the same concept works for compound meters (6/8, 7/8, 12/8) by setting the click to the subdivisions, which are now in threes. If your pulse (dotted quarter-note) is 40bpm, your eighth-note subdivision is 120bpm.

Trick #3 to using a click: set it slower to make it MORE difficult.

I know I just told you to set your metronome slow enough to make it easier to play, but hear me out. The metronome is like a constant reminder of where the tempo is. If you’re playing a song in 4/4 that is 120bpm, try getting fewer reminders from the click. A quarter-note pulse at 120bpm is actually two reminders per second of what the tempo is. Try setting the click to the half-note, or 60bpm, and play the same thing. If you’re able to play that without straying from the tempo, try the whole-note at 30bpm. You’re really starting to kick some butt at this point.

Trick #4 to using a click: set it to a weaker beat.

You can play to the metronome set to half-notes? Are you sure? What if that half-note wasn’t on beat one and three? Take your song in 4/4 and set the click to the half-note, but make that click beat two and four. It’s a whole new ballgame playing to only the “backbeat.” What about the whole-note, but make that “click” beat two, three, or four instead of beat one? What if it is still set to the quarter-note, but you feel the clicks as the “and?” (1)+(2)+(3)+(4)+. Now we’re really starting to rely on our internal clock! Other musicians probably really love playing with you.

Trick #5 to using a click: set it to an odd division.

OK, so you’re able to play with the click at 16th-notes, 8th-notes, quarter-notes, half-notes, and even whole notes. You can even play with the click on weaker beats. Awesome! Have you tried setting the metronome to a mismatched beat, though? If your song is in 4/4 at 120bpm, try playing to a click set on the dotted half-note at 90bpm. Now, it’ll only land on one every 4th bar!

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1

What about set to 5 beats? Set your metronome really slow and feel it on every 5th beat so that the click lands on one every 6 bars.

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1

Trick #6 to using a click: don’t always use a metronome!

This may be the most important trick yet. Yes, I mean turn off that click and just play! It is so important that the metronome, or other external source, doesn’t turn into a crutch that you need in order to play. It’s also important that you play like a human being. So make sure to leave the metronome in the case sometimes.

A lot of times, it can really help to have someone guide you. I’m available for lessons on bass, guitar, music theory, and production. I also have a network of amazingly talented friends if you’re looking for lessons on a different instrument. Click below to let me know what you’re looking for.