Playing To A Click

[msb]

I find metronomes and click tracks to be highly over rated. Never found one that could keep up with me.

[moley6knipe]

I WISH my bands played to a click. Rhythm guitarist in both bands not solid, drummer in one of the bands struggles to start a song at same tempo on diff nights and ALWAYS speeds up during guitar solos. Every. Single. One. 

[tauzero]

3 hours ago, dclaassen said:

I think pre and post-digital musicians just have different views on this. Younger musicians are used to hearing music with metronomic rhythm. To me, it sounds mostly artificial. I'll bet any pre-digital recording varies tempo, at least a bit. And that is not a sign of bad musicianship. Classically trained musicians very tempo without intending to....it's a human thing. 

 

Looks like I'm down with the kids then.

[IanA]

I love using click track especially live, we also run a guide track as well which prompts for us for the likes of chorus/bridge/build etc

Keeps things nice and tight but was certainly a learning curve initially.

[MichaelDean]

I played in a band where the guitarist would loop stuff live. The click track took a bit of time to get used to at first but it was really useful. I now miss the whole IEM experience. If I could convince everyone in my current band to use in ears I would be sooooo happy. I hate ear plugs, which I do wear, but I feel it takes too much bass out. I'd love to go back to my own personal mix...

[Phil Starr]

Don't knock it until you've tried it

 

My duo have just moved to using programmed drums. In our situation it is so liberating. Like a lot of guitarist/singers his timing was awful, that's fine as a soloist because the voice and guitar change pace at the same time but it makes it impossible for anyone else to play with you. I spent gigs just concentrating on the 'dramatic' time shifts. I've also played with the usual mix of drummers who often speed up or drag on the beat. Playing with a machine completely frees you up to concentrate on the audience and your own playing. The click track tightens up the whole band and the audience react to that because it creates that trust in what you are doing and dancing is so much easier if the beat is reliable. 

 

For me it just feels as if the music flows out rather than being forced, more natural in a funny sort of way. 

 

Of course it's not for every song or every band, and there is a learning curve, but is it robotic and a barrier between you and the audience? Absolutely not

[BigRedX]

16 hours ago, dclaassen said:

You do have a great, tight sound. I checked beginning and ending tempos with a metronome then listened for variance….old school.

 

Thanks. I've been lucky enough to have played with some great drummers in the various bands I've been in.

[stewblack]

21 hours ago, IanA said:

I love using click track especially live, we also run a guide track as well which prompts for us for the likes of chorus/bridge/build etc

Keeps things nice and tight but was certainly a learning curve initially.

This is what I'll be doing. It's a definite help to a short notice dep.

[tauzero]

This could be very useful when playing to a click, to help you feel it as well as hear it:

 

[Dood]

1 minute ago, tauzero said:

This could be very useful when playing to a click, to help you feel it as well as hear it:

 

There's a version with a couple of mains terminals on the outside especially for those who need a bit of guidance back to the tempo...

[asingardenof]

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Edited June 9, 2023 by asingardenof

[asingardenof]

4 minutes ago, tauzero said:

This could be very useful when playing to a click, to help you feel it as well as hear it:

 

Designed by Hans Niemann? (niche chess joke there)

 

Certain websites inform me that certain similar devices do actually exist for women, but I can neither confirm nor deny that is actually the case...

[Dood]

Just now, asingardenof said:

Designed by Hans Niemann? (niche chess joke there)

 

Certain websites inform me that certain similar devices do actually exist for women, but I can neither confirm nor deny that is actually the case...

 

I hear they have ones where the tempo goes up when they get paid more? 

 

There's got to be a joke in there about bands not being paid very much...

[asingardenof]

Just now, Dood said:

 

I hear they have ones where the tempo goes up when they get paid more? 

 

There's got to be a joke in there about bands not being paid very much...

That's very interesting, I have also heard similar rumours. I have seen them being demonstrated by certain women who were doing other tasks such as ordering coffee at a drive through, which just shows their laudible dedication to multitasking.

[tauzero]

12 minutes ago, Dood said:

 

I hear they have ones where the tempo goes up when they get paid more? 

 

There's got to be a joke in there about bands not being paid very much...

 

You mean when they get a bum deal?

[asingardenof]

5 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

You mean when they get a bum deal?

[stewblack]

And the thread trajectory is complete!

[nige1968]

6 hours ago, stewblack said:

And the thread trajectory is complete!

 

Not till someone mentions the Nazis.

[Dad3353]

/topic

[ambient]

Bands have been playing to sequencers since the 1980s. One that instantly springs to mind is Level 42 with their song ‘Hot Water’. It doesn’t sound at all metronomic or lacking in groove.

 

I’ve done gigs where the drummer has been working from a click. The band just follows him.

 

A good musician should be able to make anything groove.

[scalpy]

On 09/06/2023 at 13:28, tauzero said:

This could be very useful when playing to a click, to help you feel it as well as hear it:

 

Sent this to the band, who thought it was hiliarious, (2 wanted to order them…)

 

But(t) seriously, playing in a function band a click has proved essential. We’ve had two regular drummers, the first was paranoid about rushing so always underestimated tempos, then to his credit never shifted. I took over counting the band in, deliberately counting them in too quick- but it was guess work still. He retired eventually. The second got faster and faster- to the point our extremely competent horn section couldn’t play their parts- which was when we introduced the click. He still played on top of it, and I had to tear strings off the bass to keep him in check- so I sacked him. We now have 3 drummers we use depending on availability, all three have the ability to use the click as a tool for good, and it’s a joy having having the consistency, especially as live footage can be edited really easily to do compilations of gigs- tempos are spot on. 

[StingRayBoy42]

One of my bands use clicks for some stuff - I've never felt it's lifelsess or robotic, and you can be as spontaneous as you like as long as it's in time!

I got this gig because I was comfortable playing to a click - Another string to your bow and a useful skill to have IMO.

[Muzz]

I've played to an audible click (inears) before, and it's not my favourite way to do things, but I've also been lucky enough to play a lot with a very talented drummer (who's also a talented producer...yeah, I know...) who has always read and played to his own click (actually the flashing tempo light on his iPad), which means the songs are always right...he can be a machine if required, but he/we can also push and pull around it. We're in a new project that's going to involve a lot of clever live Logic/Helix Native/Mainstage stuff, with tone and patch triggers happening automagically, so that means a click...but again, it'll be him controlling it all...

 

TL:DR - as long as you have a good drummer, only they should need the click: I don't see the value in having it for everyone... 

[stewblack]

I would happily do it again and if the drummers in my regular bands chose to play to a click it wouldn't bother me. It would spoil some songs which are supposed to gradually speed up but not ruin them so no biggie.

On the night in question the click was virtually buried in my mix so I missed cues which would have been useful, what wasn't useful was the extra instrumentation which we had in our ears but the audience didn't hear - obviously I play as a part of a whole, I play to the music of the band and having instruments which actually weren't there got in the way of that.

The spontaneity missing was the ability to stretch out passages of songs when people were enjoying themselves, everything had to run to the backing track. Also missing were those moments of musical magic which only come from a group of musicians improvising. It's an organic thing. that is what I said and what I meant about robotic. Not that there wasn't any feel. Clearly I never said that.

Anyway it was interesting. Not anything I would implement in my bands, I want those  to be an organic whole, not  separated individuals locked into a predetermined script. Although that has a lot to do with in ear monitors rather than the click track.

[Muzz]

You can do pretty much all of the above these days with the right drummer/clicker*; we've played extended sections where the drummer's paused the click/backing (e.g. when the dance floor's full of people in the middle of something with a groove, like Long Train Running, Play That Funky Music, etc) and brought us back in again together a little later...clicks can also speed up when needed...and improvising can always be done within the song itself**.

 

I'm not sure I understand the 'extra instrumentation which we had in our ears but the audience didn't hear' thing, tho: what was it?

 

Whenever I dep, I watch the drummer more closely than anyone else...if he's playing to a click, I don't need to: I play with him, we're the rhythm section...

 

 

* Overly technical description?

** Which hopefully reduces the possibility of an impromptu 32-bar guitar solo...

Edited June 12, 2023 by Muzz