Is it fair to play live with a metronome?

brownie1969

Senior Member
Is it fair to play live while using a metronome.......before you answer a simple, "yes"...I challenge you to think about the older generations, not having access to these tools. THEY were the metronome, the time-keeper using hands, feet and brain....i.e. Is it fair to the, "art" . Because to me...the very definition of drumming...is the art of keeping time, in the context of music...YOU are supposed to be the metronome.
 
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It's all fair. I myself couldn't do it, wouldn't want to do it. The music comes out too sterile sounding for me, and the human-ness is quantified right out of it.

I think it's good to practice to one, to show you how the fills and grooves sounds like in perfect time, but for performing, give me human time everytime.

If you're playing along to a loop I guess you don't have much choice though.

I love Motown. I can also keep pretty steady time. Trying to play Motown stuff....the meter isn't steady throughout. I never realized this until I tried playing to the old recordings. It breathes, and it found me too much in front of the beat sometimes, too much behind at others, and right with it, not enough. Those songs touch my soul. Yea, give me human time.
 
I think that playing along to a click is a necessity for modern working drummers and I think its definitely not a bad thing as it enables artists to use backing tracks etc. in live situations.
Although Id agree it can sterilise the music I think thats where the art of playing to a click comes in because you have to be able to manipulate that click to make it sound more human and to prevent you from becoming a drum machine! Playing slightly behind/in front of the click are valuable tools in this and make a huge difference in a live situation.

But Im with you in that the job of the drummer should be to keep time and in my opinion all drummers should have good time. Even if they can manipulate a click so it sounds as human as any motown great, what happens when there isn't a click there?
 
Oh man it's not a bad thing, it's a heckuva skill.
Also, if playing along to a click, the other musicians have to be good at it too, a tall order. How many stringed instrument players do you know who practice to one? I can't name any.
It's relatively easy for me to play to one, but the minute the others come in with their "non metronomed" sense of timing, that's when it gets derailed for me.
 
Haha, too true, when I first tried playing to a click live it was crazy, felt like I was getting pulled apart by the band and the singer told me to speed up even though she knew I was playing to a click! Good times...I realised that the only way to do it is to just ignore the rest of the band and just play and hope everyone locks in and if they dont...hopefully the clicks for a backing track so the rest of the band look wrong rather than me :D
 
Define fair?

What makes it "unfair" ?

Using the analogy above, it's not fair that any of us use a decent drum kit, because drummers of 100 years ago did not have access to tunable tom-toms, well functioning bass drum pedals, or well made hardware. Drummers of 150 year ago, well, didn't have drum kits period. And this can go on and on down this road (see the thread on close mic-ing).

Music has no rules, and what rules exist are made to be broken.

Otherwise, the only music in existence would be Gregorian chants and primitive tribal music.
 
I think there are a few challenges involved in playing to a click. Two of the bands I play in have sequencers as well, often with 16 or more bars of silence in the middle of the track, so it's imperative I play to a click. The challenge is making your parts groove to a click, playing around the beat subtly, but still holding it together.

You've also got to make sure your internal clock is strong without a metronome as well, I often do exercises with 8 bars with a click, then 8 bars with it muted on loop, to make sure i'm in check.

I read Vinnie Colaiuta say "Make the metronome your friend, not your enemy" I never looked back.

Because I play live to a click so often, I only notice the click in my headphones when i'm out of time, which makes my studio playing so much more comfortable.

So to answer your question, yes it is fair to play live to a click.
 
Metronomes were invented in 1812 so any drummer who played without one in the history of the drumset CHOSE not too.

I think playing live with a click is something every drummer should be able to do. Practice with a click is ESSENTIAL.
 
Haha, too true, when I first tried playing to a click live it was crazy, felt like I was getting pulled apart by the band and the singer told me to speed up even though she knew I was playing to a click! Good times...I realised that the only way to do it is to just ignore the rest of the band and just play and hope everyone locks in and if they dont...hopefully the clicks for a backing track so the rest of the band look wrong rather than me :D

Yep, that's the big issue with using a click live, it'll only work if you're playing with musicians who are good enough to know to listen and follow the time of the drummer. Most amateurs play in their own little world and expect the drummer to follow them.
Less a case of 'is it fair', more, 'is it possible?'.
 
If playing to a click live is unfair because drummers of old didn't have access to it, there are a long list of things that should also be counted as unfair:

- Playing on modern drum heads is unfair, because in the old days drummers had to use animal skin.
- Playing the hihat with sticks in unfair, because in the old days it was on the floor, and only played with a pedal
- Playing with microphones is unfair, because in the old days drummers had to be able to make themselves heard without them

...and so on. If you go far enough back in time, drummers had to use rough pieces of wood or their hands to play on hollowed out tree trunks. Is it unfair that we have access to more finely crafted instruments?

Advances happen all the time. You're free to choose whether or not to take advantage of them, but using them does not make you a worse player. In the end, the music is what counts, and if you produce better music with the help of certain tools and gadgets, more power to you.

I play to a click for a couple of songs live, where we play to a prerecorded backing track (some keyboard patches and background vocals), and the songs sound much better than if we were to only play it using what we have available to use live as a band. Playing live to a click was a challenge at first, but like any skill it gets easier and more comfortable with practice, and now I don't even think about it.
 
My answer is a very simple "yes". It's actually harder to play to a click live than not to, I think. But it's ideal for a backing track.
 
They should also ban sheet music on stage! This is not an open-book test, people. You should have studied and done your homework. Anyone who objects will also be blind-folded.
 
It's not about fairness. What is "fair" in music? It's about what works for your playing situation. If you are using a lot of sequencers and backing tracks live, it's nearly impossible to carry through without one. I personally prefer not to use one live, but that doesn't give me any moral advantage over someone who chooses to.

Stop imposing rules on my deliberately anarchic instrument! (grin)
 
I play in strictly cover band and I could not imagine having to play live with a click. Just playing along to cd's of the songs we cover (70's 80's classic rock) I can tell they are not all perfect time and thats something that adds to the greatness of the songs IMO.

I practice to one all the time but I notice when I do get off time with the click I do whatever it takes to get back in line with it and it sometimes sounds like crap for a a note or 2 and I can't imagine doing something like that live. Thats just something even the most drunk listener will hear.

I did see a guy playing to something he had on his snare drum, I forget the name of it but he said it told him what speed he was playing the snare at, anyone know what this is?
 
I used a click live 5-6 nights a weeks for over 10 years. My internal clock is much better than it was before I started using one. Sometimes that controlled emotion we all play with becomes a bit skewed and the click will keep us straight. I can sense a tempo change instantly. It has made me a much better drummer and I highly recommend using one (if not live, then at least in rehearsal).
 
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