Struggling with Keeping Time? Here’s the Answer

If there's anything that is a non-negotiable, essential part of great bands, it's this:

Keeping time. 

Good time keeping is the glue that holds a band together; without it, everything is danger of falling apart. No matter how well you perform melodies, chords, licks, hip rhythms, etc., if your sense of tempo is off, then you're sunk. 

A lot of musicians, especially beginners and somme intermediate ones, struggle to maintain a solid sene of tempo. Their internal clock moves forward and backward, which creates disunity within the group and leads to a disconnect in the worship experience. 

Some folks would say that good time keeping gets better with, well—time. But I would say that really isn't the case; you can learn how to lock in your tempo sooner than later, all through a tried-and-true traditional method, but with a bit of a twist. 

Go Find Your Metronome

Yep... the answer is none other than the tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock of a metronome, putting all your time-keeping flaws on full display. 

But you wanna know a secret? If you stick with it, the metronome can not only be one of your most effective tools for becoming a better musician, but it can actually be fun to use. 

Whenever I hear advice given to musicians considering how to use a metronome effectively, the directions are fairly generalized. 

"Just start slow, then work your way up to tempo."

I mean, yeah... that can work. But it's a bit vague and doesn't really explore the possibilities of what this tool can do. Here's a game I learned back in college, you can use it for warm-ups, licks, whatever you like. In this case, I'll "stick" to a drumset routine. (Pun intended—sorry, not sorry.)

• Set your metronome to 70 bpm.

• Play a full measure (4/4) of 8th-note single strokes on a snare drum or practice pad, starting with the right hand and then moving to the left: R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R | L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L.

• Do this for three minutes. 

• Once your time is up, adjust your bpm to 73. Then, repeat your single stroke pattern for another three minutes. 

Repeat this cycle until you've reached 100 bpm. (It'll take you about 30 minutes.) Over time as you make the incremental adjustments, you'll feel like you aren't really getting faster; the difference is hardly noticeable every 3 bpm. But after completing the routine, readjust your metronome to 70 and feel the difference in the timing. I promise you the first time you try this, you'll be blown away!

Now, I've used the drumset routine as an example; any other instrumentalist or singer can apply the same concept to their respective techniques. The point of this is to explore a working range of tempos that you'll likely encounter onstage, and you'll need to instantly be able to lock in.

Other Games You Can Play

Here are a couple of other fun options to use your metronome "outside the box."

• Set your metronome to 60 bpm, but instead of feeling it as quarter notes, feel it as beats 2 and 4, like a backbeat being played on a drum. 

• Pick a tune that's roughly 120 bpm, in quarter notes. Set your metronome to 40 bpm and feel only as beat 1 of each measure. It's up to you to keep solid time for the space in between clicks. After that, assign the click to beat 2, beat 3, and so on. See how well you can do!

Becoming a better musician requires focused discipline, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun. Take these suggestions and run with them—hope they help!

Be blessed 👊✌️

Scripture Memorization Tool: “Malachi Daily”

Do you have a hard time memorizing Scripture? I know I do—the sheer vastness of the Bible can be intimidating to retain.

But thankfully, there’s a great resource that you can use to memorize specific Scriptures AND their larger context within the Word of God.

It’s called “Malachi Daily.”

“Malachi Daily” is a newsletter that “uses brain science to help you write Scripture on the tablet of your heart via email.”

In each 5-day installment, you get larger passage context, insights into author(s), original language, and audience, along with a tie-in to the Gospel and the Bible as a whole. This way, you not only know the Word of God but you also understand it at a deeper level.

Subscribing is free, so what are you waiting for? Click the button to join thousands of others who are learning!