I just cannot play with a click

Farview said:
When you play to a drummer, you are playing to something else's timing. Playing to a click isn't any different. If you can't anticipate the next beat, you really need more practice.

If you can't figure out how your part is supposed to sit against the metronome, you really don't know your part. You may know what notes to play in what order, but if you don't know when they belong, you are only doing half your job. And you clearly don't understand the part you are trying to play.
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The click isn't new. It's been used for centuries. It's how multitudes have learned good timekeeping and as a result, to do the things Farview points out need to be done to successfully play a piece.
Farview said:
The main two jobs a musician has are being in tune and in time.
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You know, there are plenty of classically trained players of instruments that know every thing there is to know about music and the relationship of every note and chord and whom, if you put a score in front of them will reproduce it faithfully and who may even have perfect pitch, yet who have not got the simplicity of Farview's statement down pat. So they will find it hard to remain in the kinds of esoteric times that have developed in popular music over the last 50 years. And they will sometimes suggest/play notes and/or chords that theoretically are within the vast scope of the piece, yet have the effect of being out of tune because they've approached the particular music theoretically rather than as it is.

Xdrummer said:
However, if your timing is not yet developed enough to be able to play with "click" - then you really should work to improve your timing.

All musicians should have a well developed internal clock that allows them to keep accurate time
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For sure, some will take to this easier than others. But take to it all that play music must.

aaronmcoleman said:
I don't buy it. I know tons of good players who can't record to a click. They all do fine with drummers but clicks are a problem. But playing to a normal click track is something a lot of player struggle with.
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I reckon most of that is a concentration and/or stubbornness problem. The hardest parts for me to play are those simple unadventurous parts that require the same part over and over. Because it is so repetitive it's easy to switch off. But concentration is one of the more vital qualities in a musician's armory.
i am recording by myself. (If that wasnt already obvious)
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And here is the key to why concentration is so important. Many home recorders do so on their own. For me, saying 'I can't use a click' is like a driver saying 'I can't use power steering'.
Armistice said:
*Image of Armistice yelling "Stop tapping your f*cking foot while you're playing, godammit!!!!" to band partner whose tapping is clearly being picked up by microphone*

Not such a great thing when recording acoustic guitars - you have to foot tap quite gently.....
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Or wear slippers and use the cat. Apparently quite soothing.......
 
Is this thread still going on? My lord.....

If you can't play with a click, and want to be tight, then practice with one. If you don't want to play with a click, then don't. If it is more comfortable to play with a programmed beat instead of a click, then do it. If you want ease of editing later, then you damn well need to play with a click. If it is about variation of tempo and mood within your tune, then ignore the whole click track discussion altogether.

Genre dependent, and definitely a personal preference. Tho if you want to be a metal god, you need to play to a click. If you are a free flow jazz dood, then screw the whole click thing if that is what moves you. I would only say however, that training your own internal meter, is what probably any musician would say is a necessity. Period. Don't rely on a drummer (just because he is a drummer) to keep perfect time. Rely on your own timing. As good or bad that is, can only be proven by a metronome. Period.

Or maybe I am just making sense to only myself.......tick..tock..tick..tock..tick.....
 
I left the click alone for yearrrs.
I didn't bother seeing the importance of it, or grasping the concept of it. The whole 4/4 thing threw me off
"BEEP boop boop boop BEEP boop boop boop"... :wtf: "nawmean?"

Until I started playing drums and would click along 1/4 on the hi hat with stuff i was listening to.
Now I just find a tempo at 1/4 on the click that matches how I tap my foot as a play.

Just downloaded on metronome app on my smartphone so I can not use it the same way I dont use the SPL meter app...

:facepalm:
 
Everyone seems to be choking on the use of the word "click". If you have replaced the click with a kick, snare, cowbell, kick and snare, drum beat, etc... You are still, for all intents and purposes, playing to a click.

If you can't play to any of that, you need more practice. If you rely on a drummer speeding up and slowing down with you and can't play to a drum machine or a drummer that can't hear you, you need more practice.
 
Farview said:
Everyone seems to be choking on the use of the word "click". If you have replaced the click with a kick, snare, cowbell, kick and snare, drum beat, etc... You are still, for all intents and purposes, playing to a click.

If you can't play to any of that, you need more practice. If you rely on a drummer speeding up and slowing down with you and can't play to a drum machine or a drummer that can't hear you, you need more practice.
Click to expand...

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
 
Farview said:
Everyone seems to be choking on the use of the word "click". If you have replaced the click with a kick, snare, cowbell, kick and snare, drum beat, etc... You are still, for all intents and purposes, playing to a click.
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I didn't ..........
Lt. Bob said:
a click can be anything that helps you keep time.
There is nothing wrong with using a drum machine as your 'click' and I think very many people would feel more comfortable with that.
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:p
 
I wasn't talking to you two, I was addressing the other thousand people in the thread that said that they can't play to a click, so they use a kick sound or some other foolishness that they seem to think is different than playing to a 'click'.
 
Farview said:
I wasn't talking to you two, I was addressing the other thousand people in the thread that said that they can't play to a click, so they use a kick sound or some other foolishness that they seem to think is different than playing to a 'click'.
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we're just playin' man. :)

I'm impressed by how much louder grim said it than I did!

:D:D:D
 
If you think it's hard to play to a click track, try playing along to the SPOONS.

Alan

Oh and I would just like to add that I would love to run over that banjo with my van.
 
i have one moto when i'm playing with a click, if i can hear the click, i'm playing off time.
 
aaronmcoleman said:
I don't buy it. I know tons of good players who can't record to a click. They all do fine with drummers but clicks are a problem. Using a kick as a click is kinda different than using a normal click. It's more like playing with a drummer. If that's your point, I agree. But playing to a normal click track is something a lot of player struggle with.

I do think it's more important for a drummer so he can lay down a track, but to a guitarist it may not matter as much.
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Maybe for the sake of the discussion we can refer to it as a metronome. Some people are arguing that musicians that cent play to a metronome suck, while others are counter-arguing that good musicians struggle with playing to a specific noise called a 'click'.

The specific noise isn't the point. I too find the beep or click annoying, even though I can play to it. So I generally use a cowbell or a side stick sound.

If you can't play to a metronome, them it's a complete accident when you lock with a drummer, because it's the same thing. If you don't understand how your playing relates to the count, you don't know what you are doing. (Im not saying that you have to count your way through the song, nobody good does. But if you are confused by the meter, that is a big problem.
 
kidkage said:
I left the click alone for yearrrs.
I didn't bother seeing the importance of it, or grasping the concept of it. The whole 4/4 thing threw me off
"BEEP boop boop boop BEEP boop boop boop"... :wtf: "nawmean?"

Until I started playing drums and would click along 1/4 on the hi hat with stuff i was listening to.
Now I just find a tempo at 1/4 on the click that matches how I tap my foot as a play.

Just downloaded on metronome app on my smartphone so I can not use it the same way I dont use the SPL meter app...

:facepalm:
Click to expand...
I play to a click all the time and I hate the accent on Tue 1. I just shut off the accent, but I still keep the time signature because I have the song all mapped out in the daw and there would be no way to find anything if th entire thing was 1/4 time.
 
I hate it when I jump back into an old thread and say the same thing I did two months ago before I notice my own posts...
 
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I was in a band and this one guy was such a dick and I just couldn't play with him ................ hmmmmm ? ............ what? .... oh CLICK! ...... nevermind
 
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