couple of months into B2B and realising itd help to have a metronome. what are you all recommending? an app that goes through your hifi speakers? something that goes through your amp maybe? ive got a metronome on my tuner but thats not going to be loud enough i dont think.
thanks
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I’ve used several metronomes over the years. I’m currently using the Korg TM-60 (unless that’s what you’re referring to by “metronome on my tuner”. Works great for me.
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Really dig the TM-60. It’s why I don’t bother to get a tuner pedal on my pedalboard.
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I hate the sound of the metronome @sadexpunk. It reminds me of being forced to learn music as a child. That awful Korg thing is triggering 
For my money I’d look at some kind of drum based solution. At somepoint you might play with a drummer so it’s good to get used to playing along to drums. Also it’s more pleasant.
There are free apps you can download to your computer / phone that are good.
Drum pedals BeatBuddy or even a cheap Zoom Bx1 has one in built. I’d look at a drum machine that has a readout / dial for the tempo that you can change i.e BPM so you can practice using that. It’s useful to be able to dial in a certain BPM to match certain songs. Some drum pedals don’t have that and use a tap tempo button. That’s a sub par offering IMHO.
FREE
Multi effects pedal (includes drum machine, tuner etc) 100 quid.
Beat Buddy Mini 2 (much better sounding drums than the Zoom) 120 quid
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I use drum genius app. I believe you have to pay a small amount to unlock all the features. But has good drum tracks to play to and a configurable metronome. I can make it loud enough for practice use.
I learned bass and haven’t used a metronome once. Who wants to listen to that annoying click while they play? IMO it’s more important to practice in context - so while metronomes can certainly be valuable tools, it was easier for me to learn to keep time by just learning songs.
Agree with the drum suggestion - much nicer than a metronome IMO.
Any DAW will have a metronome built in as well.
For me, a metronome and a drum loop serve different needs.
When I’m learning a song I want to cover and i need to focus on what I need to play and when in the bar it falls, a metronome is what I reach for. Set it to four (or whatever count) and then it’s hammering out the beat without distracting me with stuff other than that solid beat so I can focus on learning the part.
If I’m just playing (including playing songs where I don’t feel like using the actual track at that moment), then a drum loop is what I’ll reach for.
So for me a metronome is a learning tool, but a drum loop is a practice tool.
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You can do this in a drum pedal / app as well. Set the drum pattern as 4 kicks per bar with no snare etc and you have the same thing.
Why use 2 things when mastering one is easier?
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Yeah. A metronome is basically just a super-shitty drum machine. Drum machines can do everything a metronome can and a lot more.
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I think that is an important distinction. Thanks for making it.
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The thing is - they are equivalent for what a metronome can do. I can program any metronome pattern in any time signature in a drum machine as well - it will just sound better and be more fun to play to.
Many DAWs have drum samplers and samples built in as well (and is in fact what I would do, even over the built in metronome.)
We are not talking about canned drum loops, @Barney and I are talking about drum machines.
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I politely disagree with the separation of these two things for separate jobs.
@howard explains it above. The drum machine is both a simple metronome and a practice tool.
You’re possibly equating a metronome with practice because that was how it was done. But good news, the days of listening to the shitty sound of the cheap plink plonk metronome are in the past.
All hail the drum machine!
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A number of people in this thread don’t seem to understand the purpose of a metronome vs. a drum machine, don’t seem to understand what it means to say a drum machine gives too much information, and aren’t seeming to make any effort to do so.
If you always play with a phenomenal rock solid drummer, you may never see the difference. You can just follow the drummer, never develop your own timing, and probably not notice. But if you ever have to play with a drummer who isn’t rock solid, and you don’t have your own good sense of time, you’ll follow them wherever they go, even right into a train wreck.
A metronome teaches you to subdivide for yourself, instead of just following the high hat (or whichever part of the drum kit is playing the subdivision). Also will help you when the drums drop out and come back in.
Maybe before dismissing a new idea, try to wrap your head around it first. Put the energy you spend arguing against it to trying to understand it. That’s how you learn and grow. It’s easy to dismiss a new idea. Much harder to grok it and try to implement it. If one person reads my post and “gets it”, it was worth it.
Also interesting how many will dismiss an idea literally every pro bass player I’ve talked to has recommended. Leading a horse to water and all that.
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Claiming a drum machine gives “too much information” is a completely subjective opinion. I absolutely despise metronomes, so why would I ever use one? I can achieve the same goal through different means. Your assertion that metronomes are the only way to develop a sense of time is absolutely ludicrous.
You also claim that those of us who don’t like metronomes simply can’t “wrap our heads around new ideas” which is equally as ludicrous and also insulting.
I can set a metronome to 120bpm and listen to that god awful click, or I can set a drum loop to 120bpm and actually feel like I’m playing music.
Perhaps you should try to understand other peoples ideas and opinions
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I understand both. A metronome gives a pulse. Be it a click, beep whatever.
You can do the same thing with a drum machine. Set it to just the kick drum or the snare and you have (in 4/4 time) 4 beats per bar. Giving you no more information than a click, just like a metronome.
It’s ok for people to disagree with you. It doesn’t make them wrong or you right. Maybe there’s more than one solution to working on our timing 
Also just because a pro player told you that the metronome is the way doesn’t make that the way for all of us.
If you enjoy the synthetic plastic chirp of the metronome go for it.
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At least one person in this thread doesn’t seem to understand what a drum machine is or can do.
Exactly. Or any other time signature; they reduce to complete equivalence. It’s just that one sounds much better and can also do a lot more.
I agree with @Barney. A metronome is what it is: a single-purpose tool. In contrast, a drum machine is a multipurpose tool: it can do literally anything a metronome can, but it can do so much more. On programmable units (or plugins), a player can customize a drum sequence in myriad tempos, patterns and for a multitude of genres.
Furthermore, assuming a player intends to play with popular tune backing tracks and/or with others in a band, there will be a drummer laying down the beats; it definitely won’t be a metronome.
But, whatever. Everyone’s free to practice/play however one wishes. There ain’t no sheriff around to issue citations, or anything. Just pick up a bass and be happy.
Personally, I practiced to a metronome for years while in college. I hate them with a white-hot passion. I don’t own one and will never use one. YMMV
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The goal is to NOT have the metronome give the pulse that’s the whole point. That’s why you go to only having a click once every one, and then two, measures. The pulse is in your head. The metronome clicks every 4 or 8 beats to see if you’re holding it.
Whatever. Anyone who’s going to get it probably did with the first post, so I won’t waste anymore of my time trying to explain it more.
And yeah, you can practice however you want. Which makes it funny that some seem to be triggered by this. If it’s not for you, that’s fine. Carry on. Interesting that some can’t do that and feel compelled to try to argue its validity to everyone else.
And you’re right, I have no idea what a drum machine is for, because that’s SO hard to figure out. Lol That’s called projection btw
No, it’s called responding to halfassed condescension, actually.
This is trivial to do with drum programming.
Exactly.
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