10 commandments for worship bands / 3. metronome

1. thou shalt play in tune
2. thou shalt learn the song, not just the arrangement
3. thou shalt practice with a metronome or drum machine
4. thou shalt seek out a mentor or coach on your instrument
5. thou shalt know thy gear
6. thou shalt play less for more
7. thou shalt seek out feedback
8. thou shalt be on time
9. thou shalt learn basic practical music theory and ear training
10. thou shalt continue thy education

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solid rhythm continues to be one of the most important aspects of music that gets overlooked by developing players. it’s much more captivating and fun to figure out the cool guitar riffs, drum fills, keyboard patches, etc that we love on our musical heroes’ tracks. but solid time (and not just for drummers) is a MUST to graduate from garage band to viable musician.

if you’ve ever done any recording, you know it’s true….your rhythm is not as good as you think. i remember the first time i ever recorded myself playing a simple acoustic guitar strumming pattern. easy enough. but when i played it back, i couldn’t believe how “out of the pocket” my strumming was.

in fact, over time, the process of recording music has really helped me clean up my rhythmic approach to music.

a very high percentage of commercial music is recorded to a click track. it’s much easier to track, overdub, and edit songs this way. the result is that the general public (whether we are aware of it or not) has been trained to “feel” music in solid time. a steady bpm (beats-per-minute) just feels right to us.

i’m convinced that one of the best ways for a worship band to take a leap forward is to lock in the tempos of songs and find the groove. in fact, we now play to a metronome just about every song in our worship services. takes a bit of finesse and cooperation in the transitions, but it’s well worth it. we use in-ear monitors so that we can hear the click without inflicting it upon the crowd…

metronomes:
:: Boss DB-88
:: Tama Rhythm Watch RW-105

now, just a few thoughts and tips for different instruments….

piano/keyboard:
:: hanon excercises. practice these excercises with a metronome. this will help you lock in rhythmic control of all 10 fingers. start really slow, and touch the tempo up just a bit each time. don’t go any faster until the subdivisions are right on.

guitar:
:: practice 16th-note strums (down, up, down, up, or DUDU) starting at a slow tempo (less than 50 bpm)
:: concentrate on making each one even
:: on each different strumming pattern, practice keeping your right hand DUDU pattern going, just hit the strings only when you want them to sound. for example, see if this makes sense….capital letters indicate strumming the strings, lowercase indicate “missing” the strings. strum pattern: D u d u D u d U d U D u d U D U

bass players:
:: again, starting slowish (60 bpm) and gradually faster, practice the following…
:: 8th-notes with index finger
:: 8th-notes alternating between index and middle finger
:: 16th-notes alternating (start slower, 40 to 50 bpm)

drummers:
:: my friend john hogan was the first person that i heard of practicing to a metronome in headphones.
:: he sets the click, starts playing a basic groove, concentrating on playing on or just behind the beat.
:: after settling into the pocket, he starts adding in simple fills, or moving the groove to different hand and foot patterns
:: after 10-15 minutes of this, gradually dial up the tempo a few clicks at a time, every 16 bars
:: pay special attention to fills. it’s very common to speed up during a fill. teach yourself what it feels like to play a fill in time.