The Chetboard

I played the guitar for many years before I ever started using a metronome and wish I had done that from the beginning. I notice that the songs that I learned without a metronome are so ingrained in my nervous system that I still play them somewhat “uneven“. Songs that I’ve learned with the metronome are much cleaner, especially the faster ones. I have learned that it is quite difficult to unlearn and then re-learn. Richard emphasizes the value of the metronome and here is an example of its value.

When I took a few classical lessons in the 80's, my teacher was a bear on STRICT RHTHYM, and that's the first thing he dug into on me. Insisted on a met., and I did use it for a period, but these years, I'm ashamed to say I don't.

John McLellan says that it is a standard "must" that any good guitar instructor will insist upon. It was hard for me at first but when I listen to recordings of myself now, I would never practice an exercise or learn a new song (with consistent rhythm) without it. If I hadn't felt improvement, I may not have continued.

Any knowledge on whether Chet used one?

I would assume that Chet practiced with a metronome at times but he also had a lot of experience playing with live drummers and that would be a value in the same way.

Another "more fun" way of improving our tempo is using Band in da Box.. From experience I always suggest to new folks "in our circle" that are struggling to keep the tempo we (or, he/she) started with is to use BIAB. It's AMAZING how slow the damned thing gets as soon as you start using it... LOL Pretty much all of them come back and thank me for the suggestion. AND, I notice a big improvement...

I've also noticed that it's when I get nervous with a new lick, or even an old difficult one, that I tend to "rush"... So, I go back and play those licks with BIAB for awhile to regain a "reasonable" tempo...

This is an important topic especially if we are playing with others. It's rather rude to "rush" off in tempo when playing with others....

Gotta admit, I didn't know BIAB from a hole in the ground..until you guys helped me.

Then I watched a slew of videos on Ytube to get a bit of an education and am determined to get one as soon as my son sets up my pc in my house.

It looks to be totally awesome.

You'll never be satisfied with a basic metronome again. You will also have the benefit of creating a sophisticated "band" behind you that can be as sophisticated as you are able to work with it. There are many features that most owners never take advantage of and in some cases, aren't even aware of!

I have had a lot of fun with BIAB and used it to make a CD of some Ventures, Duane Eddy, and Shadows songs. It does make you keep proper time. Some of those styles that you can apply to the "band" are perfect for things like that. I have an older version and I've been thinking about upgrading to get the REAL DRUMS, REAL GUITAR, and REAL BAND features. Would it be worth it to do that? Is it easy to incorporats that feature into a song? I'm pretty happy with the "band" sounds I get now.
Ray

Upgrade BIAB? I think I'm on issue 2.. No, I guess it's around 10.... The only reason I would suggest anybody spend MORE money on the product is if you play "out" with it. Or, record yourself - and, what's the sense of that if you don't play out and need CDs to sell at your gigs? My reasoning it that I'd rather spend the time I would have spent messing with BIAB PRACTICING. Lord knows I need it!!

Just the basic drum "click", piano chords, and maybe a bass is enough to bone up on any of your tunes. Now that I play with a bass"person" (lol) a lot, I drop the piano most of the time.