[slingerland59]

How do you practice keeping a steady pulse? Do you spend some time with a metronome, or maybe a drum machine or a sequencer? Do you play along with recorded music (assuming the musicians playing the recorded track are keeping steady time!)?

I once heard a story about a bass player who used to sit in a dark room and play bass pulses for hours at a time to the beat of a strobe light. I always thought that might be a neat way to lock in a good sense of timing.

I welcome all your suggestions. This is one area where I'm not as confident as I want to be.

[God-of-Thunder]

yeah, metronome is a good way to do it if you want to be locked in tight on the beat but you don;t always want that. sometimes you want to lay back or even rush a little, it's all about the feeling you are trying to convey. Practice practice practice and play with other musicians a lot. That is what helped me get good at timing.

[don11817]

I've found playing with a metronome or consistent click will improve your timing dramatically. Start out just playing straight 4/4 at around 120 Beats Per Minute (BPM) and once you're comfortable with it work some fills in paying attention to time. You may be surprised to find that you speed up or slow down coming out of the fill and you may have to work on some timing--or you may find that you have a great internal metronome and you're doing fine--either way you'll know what you do ad don't need to work on.

As for Thunder's comment, it is true that there are times when you play a bit behind the beat or ahead of it depending on the pocket or the push you want to achieve in music, but you can usually find that better once you have established where the real click or time is. So, the metronome and click still benefit you in this situation as well.

Oh and if you can--wear headphones and get the click in there so you can hear it better otherwise you'll find yourself straining to hear it over your own drums or may not be able to hear it at all.... A strobe as you mentioned might help you to visualize the click if you can't hear it--- I dunno never used a strobe.

Most modern multi-track music is sequenced or the musicians were playing along with a click or sequence for synchronization of the tracks. Studio software like ProTools exists to make sure the time is accurate and they can even adjust timing, pitch, key, everything with the software after the fact if they need to fix it. Most recordings automatically are corrected for timing (quantized) so you can trust their meter to play along with.

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[skinslapper]

I recently purchased a td-6 drum module and a few pads to make a little practice kit. It's been awesome. With the headphones on I can hear clear drum beats and the metronome click at any volume I want.

[Meddy]

Originally Posted by skinslapper

I recently purchased a td-6 drum module and a few pads to make a little practice kit. It's been awesome. With the headphones on I can hear clear drum beats and the metronome click at any volume I want.

That's what I do haha. My "internal metronome" is pretty good as it is (apparently I have natural rhythm or something o.0) but on fast fills its easy to rush! So practicing fills over again with a metronome on my vdrums kit is great i think.

I dont think you should go to the extent where your hot and sweaty playing over and over in a dark room to a strobe light after 6 hours non stop playing ... =P Take breaks at least haha.

[slingerland59]

Ya, fake electronic drum patterns is the way to go. I'm playing along to the rhythm tracks of a cheap electronic keyboard and it's helping a lot (not nearly so boring as a straight metronome).

I have good timing for any moderate to fast tunes and I keep good meter when transitioning from beats to fills and back again. Where I struggle and lack confidence is on the slowest of slow and very sparse tunes where you can only keep time with quarter notes on the ride and there's miles of empty space between the beats.

That's why I like the idea of a slow strobe light to reinforce the internal pulse that should be there. But I still haven't tried it yet. I'm looking at second hand shops for a strobe.

Man, I remember snubbing a primo trumpet player and band leader many, many years ago who had offered to teach me how to "think" time. Actually I was just too shy to take the lesson. But I wish I knew the secret. I'm guessing you have to visualize intermediate pulses between the ones you hit to keep steady time for very slow, sparse passages.

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[blord]

i've always had trouble keeping time in slow beats as i used to play for a metal/hardcore band with slow break downs. my natural tendency was the rush the beat. as you said it is the miles of empty space that gives us trouble. one thing that helped me was to almost hum the guitar or vocals in my head so i had a sort of reference. another technique is to practice stepping on your high hats to keep a constant beat that you can hear. then when you're used to that you can merely just tap your foot or raise your leg without creating sound but it will help you keep rhythm through those parts where there is little reference.

also. if you do decide to use a strobe, do not get a cheap one from a place such as a party supply store as they do NOT strobe at a constant pace. their strobe is not perfectly consistent.

best of luck! can't wait to get my set goin again so i can start practicing! ahhh!

[skinslapper]

LOL!!! signature of the year!!!!

[slingerland59]

Thanks for the tips blord, regarding keeping time and buying a strobe. I could have easily made that mistake about buying a cheap strobe.

I like the idea of tapping my left heel in time to in-between beats that I hear or visualize. But I definitely don't want to rely on the guitarist or singer for help. In my experience many other non-drummers lack good timing or at the other extreme they have brilliant timing and play all around the beat (i.e. good jazz musicians). In both cases I have to be rock solid on my own so they can depend on me for cues and so I can tell whether they are speeding up or slowing down.

[blord]

you are correct about others needing to rely on your cues so i retract that statement. haha. considering that is the job of a drummer. it is our job to stay solid regardless of where the other musicians may waver. thanks for the enlightenment!