Did you know that the Metronome is an extremely useful device that can really improve your guitar playing? Yet most beginning guitar players overlooked the importance of this device or probably didn't realize the benefit of using it.
Well, let me tell you that it is not just some device with boring clicking sound.
Let's look at the benefits of using a metronome and why you should start using them in your guitar practice today.
1.
Help develop your sense of rhythm (Feeling the beat) Having a good sense of rhythm is crucial in any of your guitar practice.
Be it learning Strumming Patterns, Fingerpicking Patterns, Riffs or Licks, they are going to be easier to learn if you can develop the ability to feel the beat.
What that means is that, you need to know where you are at all time; On the 'Downbeat', 'Upbeat' or somewhere in between(as in Triplet rhythm).
Working with a metronome will help you develop this ability.
2.
Train you to play at a steady tempo and keep time The ability to keep a steady tempo is a must have skill for every musician.
Not only this will help you in developing your inner sense of rhythm, it is also the one thing that you need to be able to do if you want play with others.
When you play with other people, you'll want to sync in with the other musician by keeping time and if you spend time working with the metronome, you'll train yourself to keep up with the clicks as you would do with other musician.
3.
Help you develop speed and timing If you play lead guitar, you can use the metronome to build speed and improve your timing.
Let's say that you want to improve your fast alternate picking technique, you can set the metronome to around 60 bpm (Beats Per Minute) and start playing some picking exercises.
You can start with 1 pick per beat (Quarter Note), and then 2 picks per beat (Eight Note), then 4 picks per beat (Sixteenth Note)...
you know, gradually picking more notes within one beat.
The steady clicks of the metronome will encourage you to keep up with it thus improving your timing.
Once you mastered the exercise at that tempo, you can gradually increase it until you reach the desire speed that you're going for.
It's a methodical way to develop clean speed picking technique that can produce great results.
The metronome has gone through some major development in the past few years.
The newer digital version even has human voice feature that will count the beat for you making it even more fun to work with.