If you have to use a click live you have to make sure you have a foolproof system setup - either IEMs or headphones etc. You don't ever want to run into a train wreck where people can't hear each other and the band gets out of sync. Or the disasters of Simpson and Carey having meltdowns on national TV when their backing tracks screwed up.
I much prefer playing live and in sync with my bands using my big 'ears and eyes'. I do use a phone metronome to burn meters into my brain in band practice and on gigs for rapid transitions between tunes. I don't hear the click.. Just a quick glance at the flashing balls on the screen. Then once started , I don't look at it after that.. and if I do glance over during a tune I'm always dead on.. so its always consistent and never any debates about 'it was too slow or too fast' etc. The trick is to find the meter everyone agrees on and sits well with the groove and vocal line. When you count in I don't rely soley on the meter.. I still quickly dial up the key melody line in my head.. so that you're locked into the groove of the song from beat 1. The other benefit is you deveop a muscle memory in your brain for the meters..so if your phone dies you can call them up pretty accurately.. what it buys me is speed - I can jump into the next tune with perfect meter with one tap and within seconds. Medleys are different .. I just call the time change on the fly as usually one song leads directly into another at a different tempo. I use the current tune as a springboard to set the next tempo eg. Afew bpm faster or slower etc. The thing is singing guitar players can usually hit the meter dead on eveytime without thinking about it as they have the melody and lyriccs in there head and the muscle memory of how fast to strum it built- in. We drummers don't naturally have that advantage - so whatever work for you! The app I use is one of the first and best apps out there - Tempo Advanced by Frozen Ape - about $5 if I remember correctly.. it does setlists among other things.
Oh yeah and some tunes don't always follow steady time.. some on purpose (like Santana) or Stones (Honky Tonk) speeds up till the end etc. but play what works!
I much prefer playing live and in sync with my bands using my big 'ears and eyes'. I do use a phone metronome to burn meters into my brain in band practice and on gigs for rapid transitions between tunes. I don't hear the click.. Just a quick glance at the flashing balls on the screen. Then once started , I don't look at it after that.. and if I do glance over during a tune I'm always dead on.. so its always consistent and never any debates about 'it was too slow or too fast' etc. The trick is to find the meter everyone agrees on and sits well with the groove and vocal line. When you count in I don't rely soley on the meter.. I still quickly dial up the key melody line in my head.. so that you're locked into the groove of the song from beat 1. The other benefit is you deveop a muscle memory in your brain for the meters..so if your phone dies you can call them up pretty accurately.. what it buys me is speed - I can jump into the next tune with perfect meter with one tap and within seconds. Medleys are different .. I just call the time change on the fly as usually one song leads directly into another at a different tempo. I use the current tune as a springboard to set the next tempo eg. Afew bpm faster or slower etc. The thing is singing guitar players can usually hit the meter dead on eveytime without thinking about it as they have the melody and lyriccs in there head and the muscle memory of how fast to strum it built- in. We drummers don't naturally have that advantage - so whatever work for you! The app I use is one of the first and best apps out there - Tempo Advanced by Frozen Ape - about $5 if I remember correctly.. it does setlists among other things.
Oh yeah and some tunes don't always follow steady time.. some on purpose (like Santana) or Stones (Honky Tonk) speeds up till the end etc. but play what works!
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