How To Use A Metronome Effectively

A metronome can help you a great deal if you want to take your rhythm skills to the next level. We’ll look at how you can use a metronome for trumpet playing to become a better trumpet player.

What different kinds of metronome are there?

Before you get started, you’ll need to pick a metronome There are two different kinds:

Analog wind-up metronome

You’ve no doubt seen this one around. It’s a little box with a pendulum that lets you set different speeds. As the pendulum swings, it gives you both a visual indicator of the speed of the rhythm as well as an audible click for each beat.

Digital metronome

Digital metronomes do the same thing as analog ones, they indicate a rhythm with clicks or beeps while showing a visual indicator of the rhythm at the same time. They’re available as stand-alone gadgets or as an app for Android or iPhones.

Get to know your metronome’s settings

To use your metronome effectively, it helps to get to know the different features it offers. An analog metronome most likely will only offer a “beats per minute” (bpm) value. This will not come as a surprise to you, but the beats per minute value indicates how many beats (or clicks or beeps) there are in one minute at the indicated speed.

Here you can see my Korg metronome doing a 4/4 beat at 80 BPM, the visual indicator in mid-swing. 4 here means that you have 4 beats per bar, so this value influences the accent you will here. Digital metronomes usually use high and low beeps to differentiate accented notes.

So while a 4/4 beat will sound like this:

Beep, boop, boop, boop, beep, boop, boop, boop, etc.

A 3/4 beat sounds like this:

Beep, boop, boop, beep, boop, boop, etc.

The rhythm you need will be indicated in your sheet music.

Using a metronome to work on your timing

A metronome can be a useful tool to work on your general ability to keep time. Keeping time means you start with a speed of 80 BPM and continue with it during the whole musical piece.

It’s very easy to accidentally speed up or slow down a bit, especially if you’ve not practiced keeping time. If you play in a band with a drummer, it will be a lot easier to keep time if your drummer does, but this is generally a very useful skill to have as a musician.

Here’s how to practice keeping time:

• Set your metronome to a BPM value of your choice
• Clap or tap along as well as you can
• Pay attention if you’re slowing down or speeding up and adjust

Once you’ve practiced this for a while and think you’re getting the hang of it:

• Play a note on your trumpet in time with the beat

This is not a one-time exercise but an exercise you can integrate into your practice sessions every day or every week. Like any skill, you need practice to master keeping time.

Using a metronome to practice a particular piece

The other main way of using a metronome is to practice a particular piece slowly and then speed up.

If you’re playing a piece with some technical difficulties or a piece that requires a lot of very fast notes, a metronome can help you master it step by step.

• Pick a speed that is a good bit below what you feel comfortable.
• Keeping time, play the notes one by one. This should feel easy.
• Every time you play the piece increase the speed slightly.
• If you stumble across a passage at the low speed, practice it until it becomes comfortable before you increase the speed again.

With this method, you’ll be breezing through your pieces before long.