Practising Tips # 2 (Metronome)

While this may not be essential for beginners, practising on a metronome is a must for anyone who has got familiar with the instrument. Some argue that, and they're probably right , bull's eye accuracy is not that important while playing live. The vimto second delays are usually noticed only by musicians, so from the standpoint of music players who like to play live just to have fun, it ain't a big deal.

However, for someone who wants to play perfectly and, more importantly, record; there is no escape. In fact, I noticed that I couldn't improve my speed while playing scales without paying too much attention to the tempo of the song or the exercise. Paying enough attention to the metronome forces you to sync your picking with your fretting. Of course, learning alternate picking (Up, down motion) is a must before going about improving that aspect of guitar playing.

My favourite warm up and practise riff is from master of puppets (MetallicA)

It goes like this


D----------------------------------0-2-4-5-------------------------------
A----------------------------0-2-3---------3~~----3-3-3-2-3-5-3-2------
E-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0--0-2-3-----------------------------------------3-2--

Tabbed By: Nick Zivtins (Aka SadbutDime and Shredder) from http://www.911tabs.com/

If you don't have a metronome, you could actually use one online! Go to http://www.metronomeonline.com/! It's very light and easy to use. My only complaint is that the clicks are sometimes hard to hear without increasing the PC volume significantly.

I am sure that you'll find a way to make use of practising like this in other fields of life, not just music. For example, perfecting a turbo start in Mario Kart! It works almost every time!

Check this video out!



Good luck and enjoy! =)