Trouble keeping time to a beat

Question

I have a fair amount of skill (meaning technique and ease of learning a new piece) with both the piano and the guitar, and have had lessons with both for years.

Unfortunately the teachers I've had have always emphasized interpretation over strict adherence to the written notes. I won't argue the benefits to this, but I will state that I now have a horrible problem keeping time. I can usually carry the tune on beat for a few measures but then I completely lose the beat and fall back to interpretation.

Normally on solo this is not an issue, but I've been wanting to play with a group, and this isn't going to fly. What are some good techniques for learning to keep time?

Answer 1

Like everyone else, I would strongly suggest investing in a metronome to keep a consistent beat. In addition, practice counting along with what you are playing.

When it comes down to it, though, being able to count a consistent quarter-note (for example) is only a part of the problem, and using a metronome set to the quarter-note will really only ensure that the notes that land on that beat are on time.

I think that it is also important to make sure your metronome is beating at the right subdivision for you. If you are having trouble keeping time, you should be counting at a small enough subdivision that you can easily count with a high consistency, using the metronome to keep you honest.

For example, if you are playing a song in 4/4 at 60 bpm, you may want to set the metronome at the sixteenth-note (240 bpm) at first until you are comfortable. Count along with it; then gradually wean yourself down. You can do this by changing your metronome to the eighth-note (120 bpm) while still counting the sixteenth-notes. Again, when you are comfortable, try only counting the eighth-notes. You can go further, every time slowing the metronome by half, keeping your internal clock the same, which will become harder and harder, but a good way to practice. Throughout this process, try occasionally turning your metronome off or turn it on silent mode.

The other thing I would suggest is to separate your rhythm from the melody or harmony. simply tapping out a rhythm on your leg or a desk or anything else can be very effective at learning to count and keep rhythm, because your focus is solely on the rhythm, rather than it just being one small part of the whole.

Answer 2

I suggest that you get a good metronome (I like ones with a dial instead of buttons). But don't "start slow and then slowly speed up"! At least not yet. That will be good for new things later on, but first you need to re-learn you existing pieces. And it'll be easier on your nerves to do it at tempo (you've already learned the thing, right?).

Instead of wildly slowing and speeding, transform these effects to dynamics. Once you can do it tight to the frame, then the light rubato which may naturally occur is perfectly acceptable; even to "modernists".

Another thing to consider is the motion of the rest of your body. If your motions are fluid then your back muscles are constantly balancing the motions of your arms and the two forces are going on within your own body, and in time with the music. Thus there truly is a rhythmic "sense" that can be exercised.

Another useful skill is merely to take the tempo from the metronome. Then you keep it running in your head. To do this it's very helpful to be able to "sing" the rhythm. The vocal percussion pieces by Sheila Chandra are perfect for getting a sense of this (it comes directly from the Indian percussion tradition).

Answer 3

First of all, you should buy a good metronome. Then practise with the metronome. Start moderately slow and turn it up in small steps. Do this with for some time with different songs/pieces and after a while you will notice that you get better at keeping time. In my experience there are only very few people that are completely "time-deaf".

Answer 4

Many have suggested a metronome and practicing keeping time with that, but if you're playing woith a group, you need to be able to keep time with them. They're not metronomes - so although a metronome will definitely help, I don't think it's the end of the answer.

I found my ability to play in a group change massively when I stopped just listening to the sounds I was making. I don't know whether you're (subconciously perhaps) doing this, but if you are, this might be part of the problem. I'll explain:

Having played with various groups, I have noticed that some people are used to playing alone and need to hear a lot of their own intrument among the rest of the group. Sure, we all need our own (guitar in my case) poked up a bit so that we can hear the detail of what we're doing, but you still need a fair amount of the other instruments to get a context of what's happening.

This goes further than what you can hear though: It's about what you're listening to.

Next time you play along with anything, a group or a metronome or maybe a backing track, try listening to the whole thing : every instrument, including yourself, and hear the music as the audience would, as opposed to concentrating on hearing just what you're playing, which is v tempting given you want to get it right!

Once you start hearing the music as a whole, it helps with a lot of things including an appropriate volume, timing, and is a great way of ensuring you're fitting in with the band rather than just playing your bit and hoping all's well.

It might be that you're already listening this way in which case it'll sound like I'm accusing you of being self-centred musically. Please ldon't take it that way - tis just a suggestion :-)

Answer 5

Get a metronome, or better still something that can play you drum patterns. Some multi-fx pedals have some preset drum patterns. Used drum machines can be bought fairly cheaply.

A couple of advantages of a drum pattern over a metronome click:

• You can pick a pattern that fits the piece you're practising (on the down side, you can pick a pattern that's a really bad fit for what you're practising)
• A bar has more structure. It's more obvious when you're out by a beat.
• It's more similar to when you play with a band (assuming you're playing in a genre that uses drums)

Of course, you can make a drum machine play a simple metronome pattern too.

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Your problem is that you have to divide your attention between your own playing, and the beat. You're giving too much attention to your playing, and not enough to the beat.

So, learn to reverse the situation -- overcompensate and give too much attention to the beat and not enough to your music. Then find the perfect medium position between the two.

Turn the beat up loud, and as you play, listen to the beat more than you listen to yourself.

Once you're comfortable with that, bring things more into balance, so that you can hear yourself and the beat equally. But still concentrate on listening to the beat more than your own playing. If you fluff a note, play on. If you have skip part of a passage to get back in sync with the beat, do it. Resynching with the band is a good skill.

Keep practising in this way. When you think you're playing in time, you can readjust your priorities, and return to paying attention to your part.

Answer 6

Just recently came across this lesson with Victor Wooten on keeping time. Most of the tips he goes through are ones I've seen others mention too (e.g. halving the tempo), the five over four one was new to me though. Although he's a pro and plays a groove way above my head, you can instead simplify it, the important thing here is to play rhythm while staying on the beat.

If you have a DAW you can also record yourself playing and pay attention to where you're missing. And you could also program a click track and remove one beat in each measure, another exercise I've heard people suggest to keep time.

Answer 7

1. Tap your foot to every song you hear. Make it a habit. Try to do this consciously when you can (judge yourself how accurate you are).

2. Practice with metronome. Set the tempo to 70-90 and try to play simple rhythm patterns. Repeat a pattern until you can't hear the metronome. Progress to more complicated patters. Do not increase the tempo. Metronome should click 1/4ths. Sometimes it may help to switch to 1/8ths if you want to check on the finer divisions. While playing to metronome try to "understand and feel" where the particular notes fall in relation to the clicks. Know note lengths (dotted, triplets and such) and identify them in your pattern.

3. Always tap your foot when playing or do some other regular body jerk as long as it is equal 1/4ths or 1/8ths.

4. Forget about interpretation until you master the time keeping. You are going to sound way worse doing sloppy interpretation and falling out of the tempo than keeping the time dead on, like a robot. Robots generally look nicer than dog excrement as they have some defined shape and smell like machine lube. Most of the audience won't run away screaming.

5. 90% of solo guitar players who don't keep time during solos do not know where the notes should be and try to cheat. Then they call it "interpretation". Do not cheat. Be honest with yourself, bandmates and the poor song.
6. When playing with the band listen to the drummer. Kick and snare should be giving you solid base and refer to hi-hats to make fine grained corrections. Make sure your drummer keeps the time (test him by asking to play to your recently purchased metronome). If he does not keep the time - ask him to practice the time keeping with you. If he refuses - fire him.
7. After practicing every day for 6 months (at least 20-30 minutes) you should be ready to add some "interpretation" to your music.
8. It may seem at the moment that your solo is the most important thing in the world. It is not. The song is the most important thing in the world. Your solo is part of that song. It will be easier to improvise and keep the time if you have that mindset and listen to the actual song you are playing.
9. Never ever attempt to publicly play things that you are not technically capable off playing. Your timing will be the first thing to suffer. The second will be your bandmates and the third will be the audience. I've seen that way too many times. Know what you can play and what you can not play. Only do the stuff that you can do unless when practicing.
10. Timing is a necessary tool in music. It has nothing to do with "adherence to or disregard of the written notes". The improvised notes must adhere to the timing to make musical sense. The tempo may fluctuate, you can delay or rush some notes but it all has to be controlled in the back of your head in order to sound right.

Answer 8

Interesting! I too focus on interpretation, as any machine can play a piece of music. In my view, the pulse has to come from within, an outside source, ie metronome, is useful when given a bpm as tempo. I can't stand metronomes really, but they do have their uses. I use them only as a guide. Best of luck with your playing. perhaps Bartok would help you

Answer 9

One thing that has helped me be more attuned to following timing is playing the keyboard. When you play with the built in auto-accompaniment, you are forced to keep time. Over time you get more used to following the pace of the measures, and you mentally divide things that you hear into groups of measures, measures, etc. Also my keyboard flashes a red light on the first beat of the measure and a green light on the other beats, so if you somehow skipped or added a beat somewhere you'll be able to tell.

For getting better at conquering patterns of note timing (rythm), one very helpful technique I read somewhere is: when you learn a new piece, do it in 3 steps. Practice just the sequence of notes without regard to rythm; practice the exact timing of the notes without changing pitch; and finally play taking both into account. When you follow this "divide and conquer" method you'll find that in the end you'll have it much better.

Answer 10

Don't blame the teachers. YOU need to feel the beat, and to get your fingers to the right place for the next note or chord on time. If you cant, there's on;y one answer. Practice slowly. Slowly but accurately. The whole piece, or at least a section of it. Get your fingers used to playing it RIGHT. Then, when you speed up, it will still be right.

A drum machine, or the computer equivalent, is more fun than a metronome.

Answer 11

A key element to good timing is not only being able to keep time with a metronome, but being able to keep good time without a metronome. IMO this is a downfall to getting an analog-style metronome because they are always "on" so you are constantly dependent on it for your own time. With some digital metronomes and also with music software you can set it up to mute the click temporarily which allows you to practice keeping time without the metronome and then check your self to see how you're doing. Then when the click comes back on you will know immediately if you drifted off tempo while it was muted. Once you get to where you can really lock into the downbeat when the click kicks back on you should notice a big improvement in your ability to keep good time with other music and musicians.

Answer 12

You need to dance. Let your body keep the tempo. And you can have your mind om your own part.

Answer 13

I found that I had the same issue. I spent two years playing guitar without any backing music. I never thought about it much until I tried playing along with a drum and bass. I hadnt developed any coordination to listen to others while playing my instrument. Even after I started playing along to drum and bass it took me quite some time before I realized I was off beat. I was naturally focused on getting into the groove and feeling of the backing tracks, but this is how I created some of my best stuff, even though it wasnt perfectully built. My way to learn to play in time was to focus solely on the beat and forget about my hands, fingers, pick or whatever. It was very difficult, I found my mind focusing back to my playing rather than the beat, but the more I did it, the better I got at playing to the beat. Now, I still let myself get lost in the groove when I create new music, but since I learned to focus my playing both ways, I am able to take what I create and smooth it out.

Answer 14

I suggest to record yourself and hear your own miscounts. Then slowly play the song when you can keep up with the metronome (since you play guitar, online metronomes will work well). As you advance in the piece, play at a faster pace and turn the metronome to desired speed.