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By Craig Bassett
I'm sure you've heard that it is incredibly useful to practice
with a metronome. Most books and teachers make it abundantly
clear that using a metronome is a great way to improve your
timing. This is true. But did you know that there are other
HUGE benefits to using a metronome? Let's take a look at a few
now...
***Goal Setting***
It’s been proven time-and-time again that goals need to be
specific and measurable to work. If you don’t know exactly
WHAT
you are trying to achieve, how will you know WHEN you have
achieved it?
I use my metronome all the time to help me set SPECIFIC goals
for my technique development. For example, let's say that you
would like to increase the speed at which you can play a
particular exercise. If you use a metronome you can set an
EXACT speed for your goal. For example, you might say that
when
you can play the exercise using sixteenth notes at 160 bpm
(beats-per-minute), then you have reached your goal. Can you
see how powerful this is? The metronome setting gives you a
clear target to aim for!
***Progressive Realization Of Goals***
Metronomes allow you to progressively achieve your goals. What
do I mean by this? Put simply, it means start slow and
GRADUALLY increase the speed of your metronome. For example,
let’s say you want to get a particular lick up to 200 bpm. You
could first master the lick at 40 bpm. Once mastered at this
speed you could then increase the metronome speed to 42 bpm,
then 44 bpm, then 46 bpm. You get the idea! You would work up
to the target speed incrementally over a period of days, weeks
or even months.
***Developing Listening Skills***
One absolutely vital skill to develop is the ability to play
your guitar while still being able to listen to the people
that
you are playing with. This is especially true in jazz, where a
large proportion of the song may be improvised!
Metronomes really help you develop this listening skill. As
you
practice you will also have to be listening to the click of
your
metronome. If you don’t, you will soon be playing out of time
with it!
Obviously, you’ll develop this listening ability more fully by
playing with other musicians, but playing with a metronome
will
definitely help as well. It’s a great place to start and can
often can help build your confidence to play with other
people.
Hopefully this article has inspired you to dust off your
metronome and use it. It would also be a great exercise to
think of some other benefits yourself. Practice hard and have
fun!
About The Author: Craig Bassett is a professional guitarist,
author and guitar tutor. To gain TOTAL Fretboard Mastery,
please go to: www.GuitarNoteMastery.com
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