Can't Play With a Click Track? There is Help

Preparing for the Studio: Playing with a Click Track

Often, with musicians who are new to the studio, I have found that they struggle with playing with a click track. This is because they have not yet developed a strong sense of pulse, timing and rhythm. Some do fine when playing along with a drummer or guitarist who can keep time, that is why it is incumbent on the rhythm musicians; drums, guitar, and bass, be especially good at keeping tempos. If a piece of music speeds up or slows down it should be because it was chosen by the musicians for effect and not because the musician is struggling with tempo. It is easy to tell when the reason is for the latter.

So what can we do about it? Practice with a metronome. Start by choosing a scale pattern on your instrument, set your metronome to 50MM, and begin by giving a whole note value of 4 beats. This may seem a little extreme, but if you do this it will train you to listen for the pulse of the scale and will lock in your ability to keep time. Many students try to skip passed this step and end up with inconsistent timing, pulse and rhythm. If you are a singer, conduct yourself along with the metronome as you sing. Use the standard conductor’s patterns that can be found online. These patterns vary from meter to meter and thus will help you to develop a strong sense of the pulse of each meter. Continue the process by playing 3 beats per note or dotted half notes. Move on to half notes, 2 beats per note. This process continues until you can play 16^th notes, 8 notes per beat. You can also add playing in groups of 5 and 7. When you can do it at 50MM, increase the speed a few beats per minute (BPM). Do this 3 or 4 times a day. If you want to see a more fleshed out version of this process, check out Pebber Brown's YouTube video on the topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2656SWkvRQ . In fact check out all of his videos.

Pebber starts with ¼ notes but I prefer to start with whole notes. It is harder to play slow than to play fast and you will not get to fast without mastering slow. Many of the concepts that he presents apply to any instrument. Slow and steady wins the race.

For singers, sing through all of the vocal parts with a metronome. Slow it down and bring it up to tempo a little at a time. If you can sing it without the ensemble then you will be able to lead the ensemble and not be a follower. When performing songs, it is the vocal part that is most important. All the other instruments are in service to the vocalist.

Practice with the metronome, with headphones on. This will make hearing the click track in headphones easy when you get to the studio. When you rehearse with your band it is a good idea to rehearse with a metronome. Get a metronome that subdivides the beats.

-          Adrian Yañez