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A follow up to the thread on time feel and tapping feet i started a couple of days ago.
As i said in that thread i have been doing some work on time feel lately and thought it might be interesting to do a thread on time exercises.
I have collected many of them through the years, so i'll share some of them here.
Perhaps some of you have some exercises that are new for me.
Most of these what i call "metronome games".
I like to organise time exercises in 3 main areas: Time keeping exercises, time accuracy exercises and time feel exercises.
Time keeping exercises
This is all about keeping a steady bpm and not speeding up or slowing down.
The main exercise i use for this is starting at a metronome setting with 4 beats to the bar.
As an example 160 bpm.
When that feels comfortable i half that number to 80. I like having the click on 2 and 4.
When that feels comfortable i half that number to 40. Now it's just one click pr bar.
When that feels comfortable i half that to 20. Now it's just one click every second bar.
I recently discovered an app called "doubletime" that will do this automatically with the press of a button.
Another time keeping exercise is taking a backing track and putting it into a DAW and remove a bar or more.
Play a long and see if you are spot on when the track comes back in.
Time accuracy exercises
These exercises are about hitting the precise points within a bar. All these gets harder the slower you play.
Hitting different 16th beats
Put the metronome on a slow setting like 70 bpm and think of the click as the "one" of each beat.
Then try playing a scale with each note on just the last 16th of each click. (this will make two 16ths in a row: your 16th note and the metronomes "one" click.
Try to make these two sound like two perfect 16ths in a row.
You can also do this with the second 16th of each beat.
The triplet exercise
Play 8 notes triplets with the metronome, but don't play the first one. The metronomes click and your two triplets will make the full 3 triplets together.
Make shure the 3 triplets sound perfectly even.
Moving the metronome
Put the metronome to a slow setting so it's just one click each bar.
Play something: a scale, a head, a comp figure with the click on "one".
Then move the click to "one and". Next try it on "two".
Then move it to each of the eight-note positions.
This will make sure you are placing each eight-note perfectly in the bar. Some of us rush some of the beats within the bar even though we are keeping the bpm steady.
Practicing this helps remedy that.
Having the click on the "and" beats is really hard when playing swing, since you have to have the click on the "swung and".
You can also do this with 16ths. That's really hard.
Counting the beats
Count "one two three four" out loud while you are playing.
This i find is really hard when playing syncopated rhythms, since i feel like counting syncopated as well.
Making the metronome disappear
Try playing so perfectly on the click that you no longer hear the metronome.
To do this it's important to not have the metronome too loud.
Time feel exercises
Playing laid back vs on the beat
Practice playing either with a backing track or with a metronome and switch between trying to play perfectly on the beat and playing laid back.
I find this is really helpful for making things really swing. The laid back feel sounds much better usually to me, but i often find my self playing a bit ahead of the beat
Varying the amount of swing
Try variations of swing: light swing, medium swing and heavy swing.
Here it's helpful to try listening to players who play with different swing feels and playing along.
Moving accents
Practice playing 8th note lines and varying where you put the accent.
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09-25-2023 02:33 PM
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These are evil. In a good way.
I find a lot of this stuff really tough to make time for, so I like things I’m able to do when I’m working on other stuff, so the different metronome ones are particularly handy.
I do a good bit of playing with the metronome just on beat one, but haven’t done enough experimenting with it. And some of these others are pretty new to me. Super cool.
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I used to practice playing a triple-time tune (in my case Bluesette) with the metronome just on beat two - I would play a chord on beat one (sometimes beats one and three) for example, and also do everything I'd normally do in the way of exercises for practising tunes, like perpetual arpeggio and scale exercises, with the click just on the second beat...
Another thing you could do, but which I haven't got round to practising, is play quintuplets but with the accent on every fourth note - of course the mathematical scope for these sorts of exercise could potentially lead you to some quite interesting/weird results...
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A basic tool of infinite possibilities:
Combining a rhythmic stepping pattern, clapping and vocalizing.
A subdivision game:
slow metronome, I like 30 bpm. Go through subdivisions 1:1 to 16:1.
a. be able to change from any subdivision to another with confidence.
b. in a given subdivision, work with patterns of 2 & 3 beats ex:9:1 333/2223/2232/2322/3222
c. practice patterns of one number within a different subdivision ex:7's inside 3 subdivision
||: 123|123 | 123 | 123 | 123 | 123 | 123 :||
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Hey Patrick... I'm taking it that you can already play... Working with a metronome should only be use at most ... 1/2 of the time you put in practicing on going through time exercises. You need to be working on developing YOUR internal pulse... Using a metronome basically is you being a time follower.
The other thing about metronomes...they have no feel. Everything is 1 1 1 1 1 etc. I know, 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 etc...
Having good time and feel... and a good pulse is all about subdividing..
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Subdividing becomes .... rhythmic patterns that repeat.
Don't work on playing SLOW....it's an oxymoron. The slower the beat or rhythmic pattern.... the more subdividing you'll be doing. It's not really slow. It's just not playing as much.
Triplets.... are almost always never straight or perfect divisions. I mean swing feel is all about using triplets with feel. Again.... work at least as much without a metronome as with.
We're not talking about sight reading.... or playing Western Art Music...WAM...
Get a rhythm app... like Drumgenius, or even most keyboards have rhythm patterns that loop and adjust tempos.
Learn Rhythmic patterns, that repeat. Usually 1, 2, or 4 bars etc... the point is have have a rhythmic pattern.
Even with 1 bar patterns... you can play it twice with a slight variation on 2nd bar that creates or implies repeat.
I'm a really good rhythmic player.... really good. I suck at soloing and other wise just average pro.... but I can back up what I say etc... but my time is as good as anyone. What that means is my time is alive, I not a metronome... I feel rhythmic patterns... not beats. I use to hate working in studio gigs when there was a click tract etc... LOL. Just too straight or vanilla. (we are talking about Jazz right)
Work on playing Chord patterns over or with a drum tract. Usually 4 or 8 bar patterns or loops.
I VI II V's are great chord pattern to start with..... lots of ways to play them harmonically different. Even latin music isn't that straight...LOL Just subdivide.
Great that your working on time... can't really get anywhere without
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Everything has upsides and downsides. The metronome is straight with no swing so you have to create the swing. Drum genius gives it to you.
Originally Posted by Reg
And I think you can be practicing with a metronome way more than half the time if you’re using the metronome wisely, which Patrick suggests. Basically the more frequently the metronome clicks, the more of a crutch it is. So setting the metronome to click just on one is a great exercise for time. You have to create the time, but the metronome is there to keep you in check. (Let alone setting it just on two or three or four, or every six beats or something weird).
Anyway … a lot of Patrick’s ideas are great ways to get a metronome into way more of a practice than if it was being used in a straightforward way.
Out of curiosity, what do you feel is the upside of using Drumgenius? (I like it and use it; just curious how you find yourself using it.)
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Originally Posted by Reg
I agree that it's important to develop your own internal pulse, and many of these exercises do that. By having the metronome only once every few bars, you can check if your are keeping time without having the metronome keep time for you. Using a metronome with a click on every beat does nothing to help develop an internal pulse.
After working on some of these exercises for a while i actually don't have much trouble keeping a steady tempo anymore.
I use a looper on some duo gigs and loop my comping for the singer when i play my own solo. It's almost always in time when i restart the loop.
What i feel i could use some improvement on is rhythmic accuracy and feel.
It's not too bad at the moment, but i still feel this is something i could get better at.
I can hear a big difference the times where my time is just where i want it. I just want to be able to do that every time.
I don't think playing things with perfect accuracy is something that sounds good, but i think being able to do so if you choose so is a good thing.
Then you can make the choice to play without perfect accuracy because of what you feel, not do it because that's the only option you have.
The metronome has no feel of course, but it's interesting how you can create an illusion of the metronome swinging by putting it on 2 and 4 and playing swinging yourself.
This is not the only things i practice of course. I usually start a practice session with 15 min of some of these exercises, and also use Drumgenius as well.
I do play live with other musicians as well, and i find having better rhythmic control is always a good thing.
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Playing live with people is not the same than practicing with a metronome.
Practicing with a metronome doesn't teach the fudge factor.
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btw. When talking about time in a band rehearsal situation, it is the most esoteric discussion
Everyone has their feelings about the time. None of them have it accurate. The loudest and boldest wins the argument
And the one sitting quietly in the corner goes "oh, well".
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I agree that playing live with others is different than playing with a metronome.
That's why these are just exercises to improve timing, but it's not the complete solution to getting better time feel.
Just like practicing scales and arpeggios is not the same as playing a solo, but still helps improving your soloing.
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I have a nice time exercise from ancient times.
When trying to learn a tricky rhythm for a lick or whatever, try this.
Left hand taps( um.. rather slams on a knee) 2 & 4, right hand taps the needed rhythm. No metronome required. That's it.
When doing it for a while, when it gets clear and comfortable, do it for a while then suddenly stop:
You can notice a bumping feeling in your guts or chest, hm.. that's the inner timer made large.
I think having large physical movements of them limbs might activate more cells in the spinal cord or something? heh, who knows
I've taught this thing to a few people, half of them don't get that last nuance but the exercise is still a good one.Last edited by emanresu; 09-30-2023 at 01:20 PM.
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