Sweetnoise
Junior Member
Why should the other guys want the met. to be off during practice, when only I can here it?
If you play with the metronome instead of your bandmates, the feel of the music is lost. There's a certain push/pull in most music that makes it feel good, as well as a push/pull that occurs between the players, and playing with a metronome eliminates the possibility of that. Music stops "breathing", so to speak...
But, yeah...ask your bandmates. They should have their own answer.
Would you guys agree the push-pull should be against a solid meter, like a click? How can you play behind the beat, for instance, if the beat is arbitrary?
As for in rehearsals, in my opinion the band should learn their songs to a metronome at first, or you'll end up with a band that basically has one or two favorite tempos, and they play it all night.
Would you guys agree the push-pull should be against a solid meter, like a click? How can you play behind the beat, for instance, if the beat is arbitrary?
As for in rehearsals, in my opinion the band should learn their songs to a metronome at first, or you'll end up with a band that basically has one or two favorite tempos, and they play it all night.
When I'm by myself, I bring out the clicks. When I'm with other people at band practice, or playing for other people, I never want to line up with a machine. I want feel. I bet this is what your band mates are getting at. You might take it as a compliment; I reckon they don't think you have trouble slowing/speeding during fills or transitions, and they want to gel a bit more with you.
Right, I get what you guys saying about the band/drummer should be able to groove without a click, but time is everyone's responsibility. If the drummer is using a click only when working out on the pad or while otherwise shedding, that won't necessarily help other musicians with their bad habits regarding time - unless you're Larry who can successfully refuse to budge!
I don't know how many muso's I've played with over the years that have avoided clicks like the plague (always using the "It'll make us sterile" argument) but then turn around and pull me all over the place and otherwise make things feel bad. That was the reason I started bringing my click to practice to begin with.
I'm not saying I want to use a click as a matter of course and I don't want to use them for shows or recording, or even at practice most of the time, but it seems to me that it helps the whole band understand where time really is, so if straying is desired, at least everyone knows where that wants to happen and by how much.
The practice room is really the only appropriate place to work on that.
in one of my old bands we once tried putting just me on a metronome with headphones. the band had a tough time syncing with me because they were so used to being able to pull me along with them. maybe your band is like that too. when they're forced to play exactly the tempo the drummer is setting it makes them uncomfortable or they have a hard time doing it.