Metronome with the Highest Beats per Minute?

[Fred Archtop]

A more important stat is how slow does the metronome go. Many only go down to 40 and I find that it's really cool to play with the metronome at 30-35 and practice really grooving

Couldn't agree more. Much more important is how you can handle slow tempos, such as 40-30 bpm. That's the secret to improve your tempo.

[jzucker]

I remember speaking with Paul Bollenback about this. Paul is known for having really great time and a good swing feel. Paul used to practice with the metronome beating just once per measure. Then, he's use the metronome on a subdivision of one of the beats but once a measure. So for example, he would have it clicking on the & of 2 but once a measure (whole notes essentially). This is how he developed such great time.

[AlsoRan]

I also remember you sharing how you would practice with the metronome well under 40 bpm, and found out how difficult that could be. That was eye-opening.

[cosmic gumbo]

250 bpm is faster than 4 bps....who would need a metronome faster than that???

[AlsoRan]

The two Pat Martino solos, Impressions and Lazy Bird, I am learning at rated at 292 and 268 beats per minute respectively.

What I have done is learn songs at their posted speed and then found that I become on dependent on hearing all 4 beats. So I started playing them at the rated speed but cutting the metronome tempo in half and sometimes by 1/4.

This seems to have really helped my issues with rhythm although as Jack and others mentioned above, there are many other ways to get a lot out of a metronome.

[christianm77]

For my own purposes, I am much more interested in how slow a metronome can go. I like to start my practice with a click at 10 or 15 bpm, one note a click.

Tempo is pretty good for this.

[Woody Sound]

250 bpm is faster than 4 bps....who would need a metronome faster than that???

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. 400 bpmin is 6 bpsec. That's 6 Beats Per Second.

[Tom Karol]

I think Hal Galper in one of his videos (referenced a while back somewhere on jazzguitar.be) talks about tapping your foot in half-notes as promoting more elastic swing feel.

[Moonray]

Slow is what I want in a click too most often.

Agree with others upstream that having a S-L-O-W click rate really tests your time sense.

As in one click per measure say.......and you could do like Paul Bollenback did and call that click
the "and" of 2 or 4 or whatever.

If you want to take this this idea way further you could call the click the downbeat of a 4 bar phrase
or 8 bars or maybe a 12 bar phrase [as in a blues]

I stole this idea from Bruce Arnold's catalog of teaching material.

....He has CD's that he calls The Big Metronome ...where you get a count off and a click on every
downbeat, then every 2nd bar, and then every 4 bars.
He later goes on to a series called Doing Time ....the first is a blues form where you get a click every 2 bars
with an accent to delineate the form ...on "one" of the next chorus.....He goes on up to 32 bar song form.
....Talk about thorough....does sort of have the effect on me that life is going through the hour glass at a
scary rate and there are so many things to do.

BTW, I'm pretty sure Bruce Arnold would have used a sequencer to produce these tracks and anyone
could make their own to measure once you have the seed of the idea.
And it is a great idea!

Meanwhile, down here on the ground I have come up with a cheap and cheerful workaround
to customize click tracks:

Given that most stand alone metronomes don't go much below 30, what I do is buy a
unit that offers various numbers of clicks per bar as a function.
Most often you get, 2,3,4 and 6 clicks per bar.
So if I want one click every 4 bars @ 128 bpm I'd put the beat setting on 4/4, dial out the 2nd,3rd and 4th beats.
Now you've got just the one click ...and if my primary school math is right...bingo....one click every 4 bars @ 128.

I have a Boss DB-90 Dr Beat metronome which allows for chaining 2 beat patterns so you could theoretically
have it do an 8 or 12 bar pattern.

Neccessity is the mother of invention...

Hopefully this may inspire others to make up their own solutions to the Big Click.

[pkirk]

Hopefully this may inspire others to make up their own solutions to the Big Click.

Zach Lapidus made a software metronome that does exactly that, and much much more. and it's free
software |

[Moonray]

Thanks for that link pkirk .......that is a powerful piece of work.

Downloading it immediately.

Edit: ....oh oh ....Windows said they would not recommend opening this file.
Have you experienced any weirdness computorially speaking
when you opened it?

[MaxTwang]

Pro Metronome is on IOS AppStore and Google Apps for Android. 10 - 500 bpm, simulated pendulum, you can select 1 of 4 sounds for each beat, , odd time signatures. And with the paid version - rhythm trainer, subdivision trainer, playlists, polyrhythms, practice mode, etc.

Really great tool and very easy to use. The pendulum is really nice to have when slowing it down.

[yaclaus]

In Time Guru, you can set it to 8th notes or 16th notes so the potential is 300x4 = tempo 1200, fast enough?
Btw I can understand the need to play with a fast click. I like taking it up to 168 on 2 & 4 and see (hear!) if I can follow just playing whole or half notes. And with quater notes I imagine the click being a frantic bass player whom I need to keep up with

[grahambop]

I just tried Time Guru at max tempo 300 in 16th notes. Sounds like a machine gun!

[matt.guitarteacher]

The two Pat Martino solos, Impressions and Lazy Bird, I am learning at rated at 292 and 268 beats per minute respectively.

What I have done is learn songs at their posted speed and then found that I become on dependent on hearing all 4 beats. So I started playing them at the rated speed but cutting the metronome tempo in half and sometimes by 1/4.

This seems to have really helped my issues with rhythm although as Jack and others mentioned above, there are many other ways to get a lot out of a metronome.

I use this Metronome Beats app on my android. Goes to 300. Also, has options for number of clicks per beat or number of beats per bar. So, you can subdivide in various ways , and also, have one click per bar etc., without having to do the "tempo math" or even adjust your tempo.

[matt.guitarteacher]

[Jazzism]

Ben Monder = 20bpm

[fritz jones]

try keeping time at 1 bpm, then you are a real musician.

[AlsoRan]

Matt, this thing is awesome!!

Now my phone is my metronome!

This is better alternative for me than going online and using the one of the online apps since I have phone plan that does not allow a lot of data download without paying through the nose.

I am alternating playing with all four beats, playing with the beats at half tempo, and even at quarter tempo. This has been fun!

[henryrobinett]

Idk. I can't get no satisfaction from all of my various iPhone or computer metronomes. I have 6 on my phone and five on my Mac. I never use them. I have a cheap plastic little box that takes a 9v battery. That's the one i use.

[lauwing]

Check this out:
The Metronome by Soundbrenner by Soundbrenner Limited
https://appsto.re/us/XxCH-.i

free and full feature metronome. And you don't need their wrist device for it to work, although it is a nice gadget

[henryrobinett]

Great. Yet another metronome. Why do you recommended this one?

[lauwing]

For it's simple interface, support for set list, and free of charge. Support both iOS and android.

[jorgemg1984]

Henry have you checked Time Guru? Has some really nice functions, namely "random mute".

[JazzNote]

I've been using a Boss DB-66 for decades. Quarter Notes 250, if you set it to 16th notes you can get 250 x 4 BPM. This should be enough i hope ;-)