John Mayer Teaches Guitar: Always Use a Metronome

[@jim_andrianakos]

Digitech had a 4 second delay pedal with repeating and that was my looper in the 80s. I did not know what a looper was but I used it as such. What a great learning tool.

[@RJReda]

This is precisely how I learned my timing and I still do so to this day

[@RobbieLeffel]

I just saw a video from legendary producer Allen Reynolds and he said to NEVER use a metronome or click track. He said they never produce honest takes. He wanted the imperfections because they're human.

[@chrischoir3594]

John is a decent player

[@thecraws23]

One of Guitar players of all time 😊

[@chrischoir3594]

@@thecraws23 yeah right is is "one of the guitar players of all time" just like everyone else who plays. he is like a 5 on a 10 scale. He is pretty average. Not bad not great.

[@thecraws23]

@@chrischoir3594 That is what I meant. There are lot of guitar players, and he is one of them.

[@chrischoir3594]

@@thecraws23 yeah agreed he is just average

[@MartinJHenebury]

​@chrischoir35 You're tripping on acid. He's critically one of the best rated guitar players of all time94

[@ledfarmer100]

What pod is this from??

[@gfbritto]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqarpGSFltqbaK8si=8ZaUFCthF6Iml-Py

[@PressuredSpeechBand]

Always play with other people! Metronome clicks drive me crazy!

[@chrischoir3594]

They had loopers in the 70s

[@Jaysthename]

No they didn't. Folks were experimenting with looping via tape in the 60s and 70s (Robert Fripp comes to mind), but there was no actual looper pedal until the 90s.

[@chrischoir3594]

@@Jaysthename Jaco used a looper and I never mentioned "pedal" so read my original post

[@chrischoir3594]

@@Jaysthename kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnqtY5qIqd2Via8

[@Jaysthename]

@@chrischoir3594 Mayer's exact words IN THIS PARTICULAR VIDEO were "we never had a looper pedal". Your comment strongly implied you were correcting him and I'm simply pointing out that a self-contained pedal form of looping tech didn't exist in the 70s.

[@jim_andrianakos]

My digitech delay pedal did loops in the 80s. I thought I was a genius to discover this. It was a very cool way to jam with people to develop rhythm and solo. Then I got the boomerang which still have. Classic gear. No echoplex but still awesome.

[@tahoemike5828]

Why would you ever use anything else, if you had Charlie Watts? For that matter, he plays with Micky Heart.

[@poelogan]

fuck this advice practice in a vacuum or you’ll be boring.

[@Dreyno]

Make me 😬

[@vancewilson9413]

😁

[@muzikjay]

Use both loopers and jam tracks. Problem solved.

[@thecraws23]

SRV didn't use it, or D. Gilmour, or Hendrix. But John M. Is one of the guitarists in history so maybe he knows the shitt.

[@phantomshadowfax5431]

Gilmour and Pink Floyd are actually a great early example of a band using what is now known as a click track. Acting like keeping time with other musicians isn't common practice is just ignorant. Nobody who's actually a professional recording musician would be argue the point.

[@Kurtis8801]

John M is indeed one of the guitarists in history, without a doubt

[@PressuredSpeechBand]

@@Kurtis8801 I can confirm John M is a guitarist with a history!

[@Blankarte]

Insane how many times you have to tell overconfident players to use metronome to get better at keeping tempo. Although is human nature to be an overconfident fool...

[@chrispage2782]

fekkin click bait…

[@robertstan2349]

be very careful or you will end up sounding like a robot

[@peterallenjensen]

That’s what people who don’t use metronomes say 😂

[@Fearzero]

Loopers quantize, everything in time so this theory is bunk.

[@collinsmith6565]

Not all do. The ditto, infinity looper off the top of my head

[@Fearzero]

@@collinsmith6565 That's a $60 product lol.

[@mattc1176]

But only the start and end points are quantized. Yes you’ve got a perfect e.g. 4 bar loop, but within that 4 bars it’s your own time. I learned from jazz players who practice with metronome on beats 2 and 4 only - if you can make your playing groove well with no support from backing, you learn to really play in time. You don’t learn the same way with a looper pedal even if it is quantized. Practising with a metronome is super valuable.

[@collinsmith6565]

@@mattc1176 I've seen where people go to a super slow bpm on the metronome and use the click for the 1. Robby barnsby has a killer video about creative metronome use

[@phantomshadowfax5431]

Only ever being In time with ones self could detract from being in time with a group is the point. Loopers keep time just fine but only the time you alone put to it.

[@ric8248]

This is nonsense. NEVER use a metronome.

[@rodnyg7952]

always use a metronome... don't think so -too annoying

[@mikecappadocia5959]

Maybe if you're a robot

[@crimson6362]

How is using a metronome being a robot ???

[@TheDingus401]

@@crimson6362 He's just trying to justify not using a metronome

[@mikem668]

No humans are robots. And playing with a metronome doesn't mean you can't vary where you play in regards to the beat. Plus your robot point fails theoretically because you'd have to argue that playing with a really really good drummer makes you a robot. Highly doubtful, because most of us aren't good enough to become close to having the sense of time as a world class drummer. But I'd bet it would make us all better. I bought a BeatBuddy. Is it a metronome? Probably yes and no. Steady, or robotic as you might say, but lots going on with the drums. I've found that what happens when you're learning a new song is that even if the metronome part of it - flashing LEDs - go by too fast, the overall effect is to speed up your learning. Somehow the brain figures it out. There are many ironies in this discussion. First, there's a lot of knowledge and skills necessary to become a good musician. Most of our paths are different. Do you have to read music? Does reading hurt you? For me, I could read extremely well playing a note at a time on the trumpet. I think it hurt me on guitar and banjo because it didn't develop my ear enough. But most of the greats couldn't do everything when they started and many never could. Dylan would watch guitar players trying to lift anything he could use, even though they were way better than he was. But it didn't stop him from writing or performing. John Lennon was famously insecure around guys like Hendrix and Clapton, who had doubts of his own. Finally, suppose you decide to find a teacher rather than stay self-taught. While there are many roads to Rome, and some guys that can play can't teach, knowing what I know about John Mayer, who is extremely thoughtful - practically a philosopher - I'd take his advice over a snarky comment on KZbin. Doesn't make him right. It is an argument from authority. But so what?

[@crimson6362]

@@mikem668 It really depends to be honest, i rarely use click tracks or metronomes when i play live or record (maybe sometimes when i cover songs that are mind blowingly fast i need to hear the click to keep time). But i mostly use it as practice, it forces me to play slowly which made me find flaws in my technique, it helped me alot when i started using it. Maybe we have a different outlook when we use metronomes you can also use it to practice on your own not just recording songs you know that ?.

[@mikem668]

@@crimson6362 I'm not sure we disagree. I wasn't focused on recording or even live. There's an interesting KZbin video on great jazz musicians who sped up. Bill Evans was a great example. His bass player and drummer just followed him, but it kinda drove them crazy. But Evans was doped up most of the time. The Stones don't surprise me since part of their sound comes from the rythmn section following Keith, which I think is rare. Mayer's point as I understand it is that click tracks save time and money in the studio. And lots of records are made without everyone else in the room. Jim Keltner was recording a drum part for Ziggy Marley IIRC. Bob's original player, again IIRC, a Wailer was in the room. Keltner was kind of lost. The Wailer would motion to him occasionally, a kind of human click track. Suddenly it all came together and he gave Keltner a thumbs up. You know way more about recording and live than I do. But I can tell you from experience - from a half hour ago - that have something like a metronome or drum track really helps someone like me. The interaction is only one way, though I'm listening to both the rhythm and the guitar. I'm amazed by how quick the brain can lock in. I looked up a couples songs I've been working on for to set the Beat Buddy. One is fairly slow in 6/8. I couldn't believe how much better I played it with the rythmic information available. What Mayer didn't say, which everyone says, is that it's hard to use a metronome. It feels like you're playing metronome instead of guitar. When I was a kid I had a perfect tryout for first chair first on the trumpet. Almost. I lost one point for playing the sight reading part too fast. I was still the best trumpet player in the band, but it irritated me. I now realize that other player had better ears and feel. I was a robot. See, read, play it perfectly. In a lifetime of listening to all kind of music, that's rarely a description of one of the greats. Technique is often boring without feel. It's true that a metronome doesn't breathe. But I think its job is to anchor us, so we develop feel and can use it without thinking about it.

[@vincentlussier8264]

Anyone who thinks Mayer is good knows nothing about guitar! i've seen teens on Utube that can play him off the planet completely! Play him under the table!