As I notice that my left hand is not on the beat at all times, I was wondering if there was a simple way to do a visual analysis of one's playing. What I mean is the ability to see whether we hit the notes at the right time. I know hearing is one way to achieve this but it requires to improve hearing to such a level where we feel the offsets to a metronome.
This is not do develop a "robotic" playing but to be/come aware of where one's notes are in reference to the beat (or time). Experience musicians can tell this by simply hearing, but what about those whose hearing is not yet at such a level? I would like to see if any beat (i.e. snare - left hand) is playing in time and what is the offset. The end result being a visual assistance that indicates if I should play earlier or later. This, in return, would help me learn the feel of when different limbs are playing exactly in time.
So far I'd be aware of two possibilities - recording WAVs and MIDI.
a) MIDI would be easier to analyze but is more difficult to record as it requires a PC. This increases the hurdle in setting up for practice and is severely detrimental. Anything that adds time to the practice, or the preparation for it, makes the practice less likely to happen.
b) Recording WAV would be easy but what would be the best tool to analyze the recording? This method would probably also work great with a practice pad or any surface.
Here I'm interested mostly in drums and drum practice but probably other instruments might benefit.