I think everyone knows that rigid metronomes just hold you back, and the thin g you are nissing is that clicks are just there to keep things tight. Loose is bad, but loose is NOT what most 'loose' players are at all! they play around the beat tightly. Military bands are the most rigid, and playing that rigidly is amazingly dificult, and often a difficult habit to break.
We do lots of recreations for backing tracks, and in most cases, we take the original and build a Tempo Map. Some classic songs are amazingly rigid when you expect flow, and others are crazily sloppy, changing BPM inside single bars. To be loose AND tight which is where the tempos flows, but everyone follows it, you need to be able to play to the click in the same way clasical musos follow the conductors waving arms, they don't watch every arm wave, but they get the flow with their peripheral vision in the main. if you compose flowing music, but need to add to it with new instruments, espcially drums and bass, you must build a tempos map then add it to the music so you can follow the track timing or deviations from it - you as producer, decide if the drums/bass are the primary beat and the click follows this, leaving the guitar to meander, or if everyone follows the guitar. one sounds better than the other. if you use clicks live, then its a skill that needs practice. you get used to it pretty quickly - ive been playing to clicks for a long time, and its a good skill to hone.
We do lots of recreations for backing tracks, and in most cases, we take the original and build a Tempo Map. Some classic songs are amazingly rigid when you expect flow, and others are crazily sloppy, changing BPM inside single bars. To be loose AND tight which is where the tempos flows, but everyone follows it, you need to be able to play to the click in the same way clasical musos follow the conductors waving arms, they don't watch every arm wave, but they get the flow with their peripheral vision in the main. if you compose flowing music, but need to add to it with new instruments, espcially drums and bass, you must build a tempos map then add it to the music so you can follow the track timing or deviations from it - you as producer, decide if the drums/bass are the primary beat and the click follows this, leaving the guitar to meander, or if everyone follows the guitar. one sounds better than the other. if you use clicks live, then its a skill that needs practice. you get used to it pretty quickly - ive been playing to clicks for a long time, and its a good skill to hone.