Thanks, definitely a thought provoking video for me. Sort of blew my mind saying to not practice to drum machine and use a metronome. I’ve got to think about this one. I bought a Boss RC-500 loop station that has a drum machine built in. I’ve been using that for 2 years for my practicing…. Im 57, started learning a few years ago and rhythm is my hardest hurdle…. I have a hard time tapping my foot on the beat while trying to think about my right hand. Especially when the lick is mostly on the off beat… Would I be further along if I didn’t get the pedal? 🤔
(sorry for the slow reply - out of town): To answer the question, I don't think the loop station is an impediment. It definitely won't (and can't) hurt, but in my experience my time got a lot better once I stopped using drum machines AS the metronome. Now when I use them it's either for fun or - other times - more deliberately as a way of checking to see how close I got it (sometimes I'll set the click to every other beat or even just one beat out of 4, record myself, and then drag in a MIDI block/drums from EZDrummer or something similar, just to see how locked in I was...or not). But for *active* practicing of time/groove, I stopped using drum machines. Hopefully it helps you to know that it's not just you -- I've been at this for 33 years now and there's still nothing more deceiving than rhythm. It's a lot harder than we all (myself included) originally gave it credit for but the silver lining is that (even small) improvement - which we can all do -- matters more than perfection (which questionably doesn't exist -- humans are not metronomes). For tapping the foot, I do it by instinct and perhaps from playing drums (not terribly well) many moons ago in high school. I don't think it's important to sweat over the foot either way. I've heard arguments for and against it from great players. The argument against is that it becomes one more element of your body that can mess up your time by getting tired. The argument for is when it helps anchor in the backbeat (or which-ever beat your foot is tapping on). If the off-beat is a big challenge, see if it's helpful to set the metronome to every click, then forget about your foot completely for awhile and just focus on the lick or tune itself with the metronome going click, click, click. The foot might be getting in the way but the metronome won't drift so that's where I'd start!
@@thefretboardplayground Thank you for your detailed response and personal insight. I don’t personally know any musicians, so I lean on UA-cam videos for guidance. I will take your advice and work the metronome into my daily practice…. Look forward to your uploads, as you have created some great intellectual content on your channel, Thanks again
Thanks, definitely a thought provoking video for me. Sort of blew my mind saying to not practice to drum machine and use a metronome. I’ve got to think about this one. I bought a Boss RC-500 loop station that has a drum machine built in. I’ve been using that for 2 years for my practicing…. Im 57, started learning a few years ago and rhythm is my hardest hurdle…. I have a hard time tapping my foot on the beat while trying to think about my right hand. Especially when the lick is mostly on the off beat… Would I be further along if I didn’t get the pedal? 🤔
(sorry for the slow reply - out of town): To answer the question, I don't think the loop station is an impediment. It definitely won't (and can't) hurt, but in my experience my time got a lot better once I stopped using drum machines AS the metronome. Now when I use them it's either for fun or - other times - more deliberately as a way of checking to see how close I got it (sometimes I'll set the click to every other beat or even just one beat out of 4, record myself, and then drag in a MIDI block/drums from EZDrummer or something similar, just to see how locked in I was...or not). But for *active* practicing of time/groove, I stopped using drum machines. Hopefully it helps you to know that it's not just you -- I've been at this for 33 years now and there's still nothing more deceiving than rhythm. It's a lot harder than we all (myself included) originally gave it credit for but the silver lining is that (even small) improvement - which we can all do -- matters more than perfection (which questionably doesn't exist -- humans are not metronomes).
For tapping the foot, I do it by instinct and perhaps from playing drums (not terribly well) many moons ago in high school. I don't think it's important to sweat over the foot either way. I've heard arguments for and against it from great players. The argument against is that it becomes one more element of your body that can mess up your time by getting tired. The argument for is when it helps anchor in the backbeat (or which-ever beat your foot is tapping on). If the off-beat is a big challenge, see if it's helpful to set the metronome to every click, then forget about your foot completely for awhile and just focus on the lick or tune itself with the metronome going click, click, click. The foot might be getting in the way but the metronome won't drift so that's where I'd start!
@@thefretboardplayground Thank you for your detailed response and personal insight. I don’t personally know any musicians, so I lean on UA-cam videos for guidance. I will take your advice and work the metronome into my daily practice…. Look forward to your uploads, as you have created some great intellectual content on your channel, Thanks again