Metronome

shaunm

I was watching a video of John Hertington last week where he discusses practising things at a slow speed in order to get it right rather than playing at the speed you want to play at right away. 

Obviously this isn't news, I've read and ignored this advice for a long time. However I have been doing exactly that this week, playing slowly and increasing 10bpm when I'm comfortable with my accuracy at that speed. I've been doing this till I'm right at the limit of my ability and the decreasing 10bpm steadily. 

I just wanted to give my advice that anyone wanting to lift thier playing up a level should use this back to basics way of doing things. I've really noticed a difference in my playing this week, the notes are clearer, my fretting hand is more comfortable and I have more dexterity in my picking hand. 

As I know we all seem to want to set ourselves goals going into a new year I thought I'd give another shout for this age old method.

MatthewShreddery

Yep, it's a valuable practice tool.

Aside from serving as a good measure of technique in terms of speed, the metronome is also invaluable for learning to 'groove'.

As it never speeds up or slows down, you can learn to play ahead of the beat, behind or bang on.

ElectroDan

Yes @shaunm the key is to play as slowly as you need to, to get it perfect. I too ignored this advice for a long time, but I think now I'm pretty good at being critical of my technique, and correcting it.

A drum machine or Jam tracks might inspire you more than the metronome though. You still get the rigidity of the metronome, but in a more musical context. So you're exercising two areas at once.

Good luck. 

guitarfishbay

I hate metronomes for writing music, but they're absolutely invaluable when it comes to 'proper' practising.

I use an app on my iPhone called MetroTimer, I have the paid version (wasn't expensive) and it does enough divisions/accents for my needs.

Clarky

I practice at very low tempi all the time... more importantly, I don't just play something at a slow speed, I try to play it in "slow motion".. this means that I try to do everything I would at the performance tempo down at the lower tempo..

quite often, guitarists will use a different picking technique when playing slowly than at higher speeds.. like the difference between walking and running.. I don't.. I focus on essentially running in slow motion for [what would be] fast phrases at a low tempo..

also, the bends and vibrato would be played slower too.. so that everything is relative to the practice tempo..

the devil is always in the detail..