How to Use Metronomes

Video Transcript

"NEIL HUBBARD: Metronomes are a common tool that help you with your timing and with your tempo. There are some very simple metronomes that you can buy inexpensively. I believe this one was about $12. You can find them at most music stores. This one here is a little fancier. It's also got a tuner in it and it allows you to break up the beat into different time signatures, but metronomes are an important way for you to have a road map or a reference system for your beat. This one has a needle. It has blinking lights. You can change the tempo up or down and this will be sort of like your lie detector. If you're playing along with this and you hear yourself come off a note before or after the beat you know that you've made a bit of a mistake. It's important to learn to play accurate rhythms and always practice slower than you will wind up playing the tune in the end. The slow way is the fast way. Metronomes are a great reference to help you in learning how to play."