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[oggiesnr]

One of the other instruments is bass and I'm now having double bass lessons.

A fun exercise I've been using for playing in time and getting used to keeping good time is as follows -

Set a metronome (or you mobile app etc) to play 4/4 at 60 beats a minute.  It needs to be a click sound not a beep.  Now clap your hands on every other beat.  If you are in time you will not hear the metronome click on that beat, if you're out you'll hear a double click.  When you can reliably do it at 60 bpm, reset to 70 and repeat.  It gets a lot harder as the bpm increases 

I'm doing it for around five minutes a day as part of my practice routine and I'm finding that it's helping a lot, not just for bass playing but for melodeon as well.

Steve

[Mike Hirst]

I wouldn't be without my Wittner table top model and the pocket sized super-mini.

[george garside]

interesting! - Have just tried it  foot tapping instead of hand clapping and it looks to have potential  for those who have been 'brought up' not to tap their feet.  It is perhaps a bit more realistic as it leaves hands free to play  whilst  programming the accuracy of ones built in metronome

 george 

[oggiesnr]

interesting! - Have just tried it  foot tapping instead of hand clapping and it looks to have potential  for those who have been 'brought up' not to tap their feet.  It is perhaps a bit more realistic as it leaves hands free to play  whilst  programming the accuracy of ones built in metronome

 george 

I think the idea behind the clap rather than foot tap is that it is immediately obvious if you're out because you hear the two sounds, I'm not sure that a foot tap replicates that.

Steve

[george garside]

depends what the foots shod with and the surface upon which it is tapping!  Works with normal shoe on laminate floor.

george

[Chris Ryall]

I've been told off a few times for foot tapping. Not convinced it works, and unless you are from Québéc I'm told it can be a distraction to performance. Also a very difficult habit to get rid of ...

[pikey]

There's nowt wrong with foot tapping, parrticularly at the foot tappers and shunters social club do's.

T'Pies have come.......

[waltzman]

Nor metronomes.....

[Tom]

Id recommend starting to clap/tap a pulse with the click and then leave/ silence the click but keep tapping the pulse. After a minute, return to the pulse and see if you're still in time. Just clapping the 'one' from each bar (if you have a metronome that can click bars not beats) will give you even less room for error.
Enjoy!

[pikey]

Try playing along to a CD, get a friend to turn the volume down whilst you keep playing for a minute, then get them to turn the volume back up and see if you are in sync   

(This could make a good game for a radio 4 comedy show.....)

[Marje]

Next problem: once you know you can play strictly in time, how do you get other musicians at sessions to do likewise and not accelerate?

Marje

[Lester]

Next problem: once you know you can play strictly in time, how do you get other musicians at sessions to do likewise and not accelerate?

Marje

If the tempo picks up significantly I just stop and shout Woaa! and start all over again 

And, of course, if you are playing for dancing or singing you then need to be able to ignore strict tempo and go with the flow. I skipped the learning strict tempo part myself

[george garside]

Next problem: once you know you can play strictly in time, how do you get other musicians at sessions to do likewise and not accelerate?

Marje

this is where foot tapping is very useful - if the bandleader is tapping his/her foot either in strict tempo or to the feeet of the best danacer in thehallmorris side etc All bandmembers should be tapping exactly the same as the leader (& its very easy to spot the bugger that isn't!)
 george

[Ziachmusi/Louise]

I can't play and tap my foot at the same time, but i can't play in time either

[Tom]

I find yelling "have you lot got a bus to catch?!" to be completely ineffective at altering the tempo but still immensely satisfying for releasing stress...

As a drummer for a variety of genres, being confident that I can keep metronomic tempo (when suitable) is a handy skill. (although my drum teacher used to say that if your band where relying on the drummer to 'keep the band in time', you'd be well advised to find a better band)
For folk music (and quite a lot of other world music traditions) metronomic time is, at best, a stepping stone to understanding 'pulse'; which is dynamic and alive.

[Bill Young]

Next problem: once you know you can play strictly in time, how do you get other musicians at sessions to do likewise and not accelerate?

This is not possible. It is only possible to keep together in a band with an acknowledged leader. A famous ceilidh band leader once told me, when discussing band seating arrangements, "the drummer sits where he can see my right foot".

[george garside]

INDEED!

george

[Québécois]

(...) A famous ceilidh band leader once told me, when discussing band seating arrangements, "the drummer sits where he can see my right foot".

... or reach him/her with it?

Seriously, timing is always an issue in a group. For some tunes, it starts slow and gets faster towards the end. For others, it's the opposite.

[Owen Woods]

This is not possible. It is only possible to keep together in a band with an acknowledged leader. A famous ceilidh band leader once told me, when discussing band seating arrangements, "the drummer sits where he can see my right foot".

Sadly, this is definitely apt. Especially last night, where we were in a very echo-y church. It was all too easy to play off the echoes, not the band! Between us, me and the drummer kept everyone together, in time and at a steady speed, although there were a few sets where it was a bit of a struggle.

[Marje]

I think tunes in 6/8 are particularly at risk of speeding up, and if I'm starting one I always try to begin nice and steady. I think I'm pretty good at not speeding up if I'm playing on my own (I think perhaps melodeons don't do it as much because they're generally playing the bass in a rhythmic way, which is a bit like tapping a foot). However, certain other players who shall be nameless (I will say that concertinas and fiddles are often involved) just grab the tune and gallop away. I don't think they do it deliberately, they just tend to shorten the long notes or gaps at the end of lines, so the whole thing gathers momentum, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. I sometimes try to tap my foot visibly, which one player has told me is helpful. I find a good guitarist can be very helpful in keeping the time steady, if others bother to listen to him or watch him.