Why Every Beginner Guitarist Needs A Metronome

You might never have heard of a metronome, or didn’t think using a metronome would help you to learn how to play the guitar. Many new guitarists are so concerned about getting their fingers in the correct position to make the chords sound right, that they sacrifice the beat or rhythm of the song they’re playing.

However, most regular music listeners wouldn’t necessarily realise that your guitar is slightly out of tune. Or that you muffled one of the strings, but they would more than likely recognise that your rhythm was off.

That is especially true if you’re playing with others who are sticking to the beat of the song. That’s why you need a metronome when practising. In this article we’ll be taking a close look at the metronome and explaining what it is, where you can get one as well as how to use it to improve your guitar playing skills.

What Is A Metronome?

A metronome is a device that makes a sound at a set speed which allows you to play at a constant speed. You can buy physical metronomes from any decent music shop or they can be purchased online.

Or you can use our free metronome by clicking on the link. It’s absolutely free to use and has been designed to be accurate. So you can rely on it to assist you with your timing. Plus there’s no need to sign up for anything or download it.

It is completely free to use as often as you need to.

Why Do You Need A Metronome?

It’s quite common for guitarists to practise playing song chords using the wrong timings-either too fast or too slow. This means that many guitarists face the problem of speeding up or slowing down whilst performing the same song. 

For instance, if a particular chord change is more of a struggle for you, you’re likely to slow down your strumming to accommodate that difficult chord transition. Likewise on easy to play parts, you’re likely to speed up your strumming because these parts are easier to play.

Using a metronome helps you learn how to play any piece at a set speed. This will improve your muscle memory and it will become an automatic thing to play the piece at the correct speed.

The metronome keeps you in time which will mean you develop the habit of playing at a steady pace. It will also help you to improve the precision of your playing which is really useful when learning complex pieces or fast rhythms.

When using the metronome, you can learn chord changes in your own time. The metronome’s beat can be set at any given beat per minute allowing you to start slowly until you master the chord changes and then gradually increase your speed until you can play the piece at the correct speed.

How To Use A Metronome

Once you have clicked on the link above you will see exactly what is shown in the image above. Simply click on the up or down arrows to adjust the speed or tempo of the metronome. 

The metronome starts when the start button is clicked. The first sound is different to subsequent notes as it indicates the first beat in the bar.

Altering the time signature will add or detract from the number of beats between bars. However, for now let’s focus on the BPM and leave the time signature as 4/4.

Using A Metronome To Keep A Steady Beat

Let’s start with a slow beat so you can get used to strumming along with the metronome. Set the BPM (Beats Per Minute) to 60 and leave the time signature as 4/4.

Playing Whole Notes

Now try fretting a simple chord, let’s say the E minor (Em) chord and just start by strumming the whole notes. Now that bright beep that you hear at the beginning of the sequence represents the first beat of the bar.

So for our purposes, that means that just strumming in time with that bright beep will mean that you’re playing a whole note. Use a downstroke and remember, when playing along, you’re trying to strum at exactly the same time as the bright beep.

Keep practising this until you find yourself keeping in time with the bright beep. Once you have mastered playing whole notes, you can move on to playing half notes.

Playing Half Notes

To play half notes, you don’t need to alter the metronome’s settings at all. It’s all about getting your timing right. So you’ll still be strumming on the bright beep in just the same way as you were for playing whole notes.

But you now need to strum on the third beep as well. So you’ll be filling the same bar with two strums set at equal distances apart. Effectively you will be strumming on the 1st beat (the bright beep) and the 3rd beat. 

Playing Quarter Notes

Once you are comfortable strumming half notes, you can move onto playing quarter notes. All that means is that you strum the guitar on each beep of the metronome.

So start on the bright beep and strum on every beep keeping your strumming in time with the beeps. This might take a while to master or you might get it straight away. But remember there is no set time to master any of this, some people learn new skills faster than others and that’s fine, keep going until you are comfortable.

Playing 8th Notes

Once you have successfully mastered strumming along to quarter notes, it’s time to step it up a bit. So far, you’ve been strumming on each beat of the metronome using a downstroke.

But this will only get you so far, to play 8th notes you’ll need to play between the beeps as well. Now the only way to do this is to play down strokes on the beeps and upstrokes between the beeps. This might seem really difficult to start with, but if you persevere, it will soon become easier.

At first, if this is really difficult for you, you can decrease the speed of the beeps on the metronome. Try reducing the speed to 50 BPM or even 40 BPM if necessary.

Once you can play on the beeps with down strokes and between the beeps with upstrokes, increase the speed on the metronome by just 5 BPM. Gradually you’ll be able to get back up to 60 BPM strumming 8th notes.

Increasing Your Speed

Once you’re comfortable playing 8th notes at 60 BPM, you can increase the beats by increments of 5 BPM until you can strum at that speed successfully.

This might seem quite boring because you’re only strumming the same chord over and over, but this helps you to build on your strumming speed and will also assist you in learning how to keep in time with any song.

Changing Chords With A Metronome

Once you have all of the above mastered, you can try adding a few chord changes into the mix whilst still keeping in time with the metronome. So drop the metronome down to 60 BPM again and simply play whole notes.

Remember that means just strumming on the bright beep. Start with the Em chord because you should be comfortable with that by now. Strum the Em chord on the bright beep and then change to the Am chord for the following bright beep.

Then change back to the Em chord and so on. The important thing here is that you alternate between these 2 chords whilst keeping in time with the metronome. If this is difficult, remember, you can always reduce the BPM to a comfortable rate and build up as you go.

Once you are comfortable changing from Em to Am at 60 BPM, try changing from the C chord to the G chord and back again. Once you can change between these 2 chords, try others that you are finding difficult.

Stick to the same pattern of starting at a low BPM and gradually increasing by increments of 5 and so on. However, the most important thing here is that you learn how to change chords accurately and not worry about the speed at this point.

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