Counting A Steady Tempo | Metronome | Counting Out Loud
I remember early on when I was taking lessons and in band I hated counting out loud. It seemed so monotonous and silly. I “knew” when I was supposed to play the notes anyway. Well, of course, now that I’ve got a few years and some experience between now and then, I know how essential counting can be. I remember in college the definition of music that we made use of was “sound organized in time”. Well, without some sort of counting it’s hard to consider it organized… When you’re playing through a piece and “counting in your head” how consistent are you at keeping that count steady? Do you give yourself a bit of a break when you’re searching for notes? Counting out loud seems to help many people hold themselves a bit more accountable and keep to a steady pace. If that doesn’t help…
If counting out loud doesn’t force you to be honest with the time, then find a metronome. These are usually fairly cheap (some around $10 or so.) It let’s you set the speed of what you’re playing and then will click a steady beat for you.
Counting out loud and practicing with a metronome either one will show off some of your “shortcomings” in keeping a steady pace, so you’ll likely need to pick a bit slower tempo than you’d expect. The typical rule is this… play at the fastest speed that you can KEEP a STEADY tempo. (no uh or uhm, or “let me see” pauses.) Once you can consistently keep that steady pace then start moving the tempo up gradually as you practice until you can get the song to whatever tempo your goal is.
As for counting out loud while playing. I know it can raise the bar of “things your having to think about”, but developing the ability to keep the count yourself as your playing (and keep it steady) will dramatically improve your playing over the long run.
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