How to Play Guitar With a Metronome

Playing the guitar is more than striking a few chords or playing a really good solo. Practicing correctly in order to let your songs sound right is one of the important parts of learning how to play the guitar. Using a metronome in order to make sure that everything fits together is one of the keys to striking every chord right.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Guitar
• Metronome

1. Understand how the beats work. The beats, or ticks on a metronome, will be divided into a bpm, or beats per minute. This means that the beats are divided according to how fast or slow they go in relation to a minute hand. For example, if you have a bpm that is 60 bpm, it means that every time the second hand ticks, there will be a beat.
2. Line up the beats of the metronome with the song. Every time your metronome clicks, it is lining up with the strong beats that are in your song. These will be divided by measures, but will typically be the 1, 2, 3 and 4 beats. Line up the down strokes on the guitar as the strong beats, then line these up with the music and with the metronome.
3. Line everything up. You can now begin playing your song with the metronome. Make sure that you keep the strong beats at the same time as the tick that is on the metronome.
4. Change speeds. Once you have the idea of where to hit the stronger beats of the guitar, you can change the pace a little by either increasing the speed of the metronome or playing the beats in between the stronger notes, such as the up strokes in order to get a sound that sounds like the song should.

Tips & Warnings

• Start slow. If you have difficulties keeping up with the metronome beat when you are playing, start the metronome at a slower pace, such as 50 bpms. Each time you play the song, move the metronome up a few bpms.