I play professionally and still use the metronome every single day. I tell students if I can, they can too. Some may see it as a crutch that prevents one from developing an internal pulse. I disagree; but maybe it’s a fake it ‘til you make it circumstance.
If you set the metronome to accent the downbeat, it is difficult to allow yourself the luxury of stopping and restarting on errors.
The most frequent issue though is starting the learning process faster than you can consciously process the music. When a student asks me about the correct tempo, my answer is always the same: it’s the tempo of perfection. If you play a piece no faster than you can play it perfectly, most things take care of themselves.
I believed in this as well for many years, but I've taken some lessons with famous bluegrass guitarists and all three of them said that you can't really play fast (which in bluegrass is "blistering") unless your body has a feeling for what it's like to be moving quickly at speed without tensing up. All three recommended occasionally taking a swing a tempo that was too fast just to get the feel there.
I've ended up on the following practicing diet, all to metronome:
CYCLE THROUGH:
- 1 rep Slow, No Mistakes (you can think really deliberately about what comes next)
- 1 rep Medium, 1 Mistake Max (you're using mostly muscle memory)
- 1 rep Fast, 3-5 Mistakes Max (focusing on how your body feels moving this quickly without tensing)
Then at the end of the practice session I'll take one or two (or admittedly five or six) inappropriately fast just for fun. I've been informed that this is possibly undoing some of the work I did in the practice session, but I'm playing music to enjoy myself, not to get as good as possible as quickly as possible.
Also I'd have them try setting the metronome to half speed so it counts the 2 and the 4. It forces you to internally feel the downbeat. Plus it's nice to switch things up during your practice session.
Half. For instance, if the tune is at 100, set the metronome at 50. And that’s your two and four. The one and the three are in the silence/your body. It ends up at the same tempo.
I play professionally and still use the metronome every single day. I tell students if I can, they can too. Some may see it as a crutch that prevents one from developing an internal pulse. I disagree; but maybe it’s a fake it ‘til you make it circumstance.
If you set the metronome to accent the downbeat, it is difficult to allow yourself the luxury of stopping and restarting on errors.
The most frequent issue though is starting the learning process faster than you can consciously process the music. When a student asks me about the correct tempo, my answer is always the same: it’s the tempo of perfection. If you play a piece no faster than you can play it perfectly, most things take care of themselves.