brentcn
Platinum Member
Hi all,
I’ve been recording myself to a click and looking at the hits on the grid. i know people say not to do this but i find it useful, as i feel like i’m right on the beat when i’m playing but the grid/recording says something different. it’s good immediate feedback that has really improved my playing.
i find that i’m about 2-3ms off (usually in front of beat, but sometimes behind) from the click. this is subtle but nonetheless feels different from being right on.
question is: am i expecting too much of myself? can i really fix that 2-3ms or is that totally normal? i’m finding that correcting this extremely slight difference is difficult to feel out and am wondering what i should consider to be bang on the beat consistently.
thanks!!
2-3 msec isn’t much, but what might be concerning is that sometimes you’re in front, and then behind. So, mathematically, there *could* be 4-6 msec of drift in your time playing from one beat to the next.
Most players tend to rush the space from beat 4 to beat 1, so they arrive on beat 1 early, and then spend some beats getting back on track. Is that happening with you?
I had a marvelous teacher from Wayne State University who could bury the click so well, you couldn’t hear it, even though it was coming from a speaker next to the kit. I swore it was turned off. But when I put my ear right up to the speaker there it was! I learned how to improve my time center in the weeks to follow, and it was probably the most valuable lessons ever, for me.