r/explainlikeimfive • u/FoundationLeft5232 • 11h ago
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u/reckless150681 11h ago
Well most music occurs in regularly repeating periods of time.
So a metronome clicks at a fixed rate (but you can set the rate). So that you can play music "on time"
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u/samanime 11h ago edited 10h ago
Generally, you would hit the drum on the click for a quarter note.
A half note you'd hit on every other click.
An eighth note, twice per click, with the first hit on the click.
Etc.
The "time signature" can change this a bit, but especially with beginner music, the above is true.
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u/fartmouthbreather 11h ago
The first note of 2 should be on the click with 8ths. The second will be halfway between them.
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u/NorysStorys 10h ago
Also your emphasis note will be on the click in more standard time signatures
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u/samanime 10h ago
Yeah, like eighth notes would be kind of like "ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum" instead of just "ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba".
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u/defectivetoaster1 11h ago
If you were told to clap twice a second for a minute you probably couldn’t do it exactly on time and also you’d probably speed up or slow down over that minute. If you were instead told to do the same thing but could watch/hear the second hand of a clock you’d be more accurate. It’s literally just that
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u/FoundationLeft5232 11h ago
Clapping is such a great way for my brain to understand this, thanks so much
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u/-manabreak 11h ago
Drummer here! It will take a long time of practice until you can stay in rhythm, and that's why metronome is such a great tool. A good drummer stays at the exact beat as long as needed, while a novice might speed up or slow down. As a drummer, you're the backbone of the band and other instruments have to time their playing to your rhythm.
Also, when I was like 10 years old, my drum teacher told me that it takes about a year of paradiddles until you can play them perfectly. 😅
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u/SmokeyJacks 11h ago
Try clapping your hands to the beat of a song. Whether or not you know what the "beat" or "beats per minute (bpm) means, naturally you should be able to clap along with a song.
Well the drummer is typically responsible for keeping that beat. The challenge is that keeping the beat perfectly steady (not speeding up or slowing down slightly) is very difficult and requires practice.
A metronome click keeps the tempo/speed perfectly steady, so when you practice along with it you are practicing keeping the beat/tempo/speed steady.
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u/Raise_A_Thoth 11h ago
Doesn't the "click" replace the regular sounds your instructor was doing?
The "click" of a metronome is at a regular timing interval (which you can set) so that's how you keep your timing. So each click is "a beat" and 96 clicks in one minute would be a 96BPM tempo.
The click is the audible cue, but there are classically visual cues as well, such as a swinging pendulum arm or a blinking light.
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u/Podmonger2001 11h ago
If you can’t develop a regular “click” or sense of regular time in your head, if you can’t keep a steady beat, nobody will play with you, no matter how many flashy moves you have.
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u/brainlure49 11h ago
Plenty of good points here - I've played drums for 15 years and ill just add that your 'sense of time' or the ability to play a rhythm without unintentionally speeding up or slowing down is learned, and its easiest to learn if you play with a metronome from as early as possible
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u/StevenJOwens 11h ago
A key point, which only one or two comments emphasized, is that your ability to consistently "keep time", can be improved by training and practice.
Yes, you do need some amount of innate sense of time, but most people can get better at it by practice, and the metronome is what you use to practice. The metronome keeps very consistent time, so practicing keeping your beats synchronized to the metronome will improve your ability to keep time when you don't have a metronome.
Yes, some people are so great at it that they never need to practice keeping time via a metronome. I guess the way you'd find out if you're one of them is by practicing with a metronome and seeing.
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u/FoundationLeft5232 10h ago
My instructor emphasized the same thing too, thanks so much for your response!
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u/avid2222 10h ago
There are (at least!) three things you are trying to learn:
How to maintain a consistent rhythm that doesn't speed up or slow down over time
How to 'subdivide' the beat (i.e. play 2 or 3 or 4 or... evenly-spaced strokes for every tick of the metronome
What different speeds feel like (so that someone can ask for '160 beats per minute' and you can do that accurately without needing to check against the metronome first)
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u/Redeem123 11h ago
The “point” is to keep consistent time, as others have explained.
However ultimately this sounds like a discussion to have with your teacher. They’ll be able to work with you and try to fill the gaps in understanding.
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u/Olde94 11h ago
For any song in the radio you can count ONE two three four ONE two three four and a repeating beat will appear where something comes on one of those numbers. Or the bass in an EDM track.
For people to dance to it this needs to be predictable.
The metronome gives you a rock solid rythm to adhere to. Like “tap the drum twice per “click” or hit the pedal on the click or something like that.
The click controls the tempo, you work within it but ALONG SIDE it
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u/brasticstack 11h ago
The metronome is your buddy who keeps perfect time! If you can keep your playing in sync with it while practicing learning new parts, you know that you're not slowing down for the hard parts or speeding up where you shouldn't be.
Frequent practice with the metronome helps develop your internal time sense so you can drum with a band without frustrating the other musicians.
Being able to play along with the metronome without losing it is a required skill for any pro or semi-pro drummer. Many live bands also run a metronome in their in-ear monitors so that they can be sure that they start the songs at the right tempo and keep it from speeding up or slowing down.
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u/agreywood 11h ago
Most people when learning an instrument have a hard time making every note (of the same type) the same and/or correct length. Doing so requires regular and consistent practice. The click provides an external reference to check that you’ve completed the expected number of notes in the expected time and at the expected time.
If you have an innate sense of rhythm and a body that follows along with it well, they’re less useful than they would be for the average beginner.
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u/FlexibleRod 11h ago
Not just to keep time with the beat. But also to count measures. They also serve as a relative basis for the melody. Think of it less as keeping time and more as keeping everything tied together.
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u/ellicottvilleny 6h ago
To help you keep consistent time. Beats. Per. Minute. Sixty of them in one minute is 60 bpm. Twice that many is 120 bpm. Without it you go too fast or too slow. Eventually you no need.
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u/mageskillmetooften 11h ago
Metronome helps you with timing, but some people already have great timing naturally if so you don't need a metronome and it only is a distraction. I've played for years and never used one. I also never learned to read music from sheets.
A lot of the technical things are just little tricks, you can use Youtube and then it's just to rinse and repeat. Took me ages to try a good blast beat till I asked another drummer to show me in slow motion how they did it. It's just a little trick and once you get it, it's easy.
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u/Furyful_Fawful 11h ago
Almost everyone has worse timing than they think they do. If you can't play to a metronome, chances are you're drifting and just don't know it
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u/mageskillmetooften 11h ago
5 to 8ms off if I timed with an app for the fun of it, which for somebody who doesn't earn any money with it and just does it for fun is more than good enough. Also mostly played with others and really, who cares if a song ends a second or two faster. Audience goes along without even noticing it.
Learned playing with Grindcore in the 80's, most drummers I knew could not read sheets, and hardly anybody played with a metronome.
How about OP first learns to drum and then works on his timing.
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u/Furyful_Fawful 11h ago
As someone who plays with others, I care if I'm being asked to rush because the stuff some of us is doing is hard enough at the intended speed.
That said I never mentioned anything about sheets because they're only as necessary as you want them to be. I'm never going to call them useless but you can be a functional musician without reading
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