Great point Jay, when practicing to push the time or be lazy while soloing.
I wasn't making a case against using it to be clear, I'm just not convinced it's as essential as it's claimed to be a lot of time.
Like, I noticed Remi has a number of videos on YouTube where he's improvising with a metronome on 2/4. And he's certainly among the very best in the genre with a pulse in his playing, it's incredible. So if he thinks it's worth doing it then...
So many good ideas here. It's funny how little this stuff is discussed in improvised music, but I guess we've also got to focus on inventing the notes a lot of the time.
I've been studying classical bass this last year, and practicing a lot. The lessons have been very interesting from a technique perspective. My teacher (who went to the same uni I attended almost 20 years ago, at the same time, but on classical bass) has so many insights on how to get things up to tempo and in tune - little tricks and techniques that as a university educated jazz guitar player, I never learned before. She said to me once "But you're a professional musician...how do you practice this stuff?", and I didn't really have a good answer. Before last year, my answer was just to sit in a room for a long time gradually bringing up the metronome speed and trying to be accurate, but there's so much more to it.
My best improvisation comes when I don't focus any attention at all on what I am playing. All my focus is (and I believe should be) on what is going on around me.
Never lose the groove to find a note.
The Magic really starts to happen when you can play it with your eyes closed
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I wasn't making a case against using it to be clear, I'm just not convinced it's as essential as it's claimed to be a lot of time.
Like, I noticed Remi has a number of videos on YouTube where he's improvising with a metronome on 2/4. And he's certainly among the very best in the genre with a pulse in his playing, it's incredible. So if he thinks it's worth doing it then...
I've been studying classical bass this last year, and practicing a lot. The lessons have been very interesting from a technique perspective. My teacher (who went to the same uni I attended almost 20 years ago, at the same time, but on classical bass) has so many insights on how to get things up to tempo and in tune - little tricks and techniques that as a university educated jazz guitar player, I never learned before. She said to me once "But you're a professional musician...how do you practice this stuff?", and I didn't really have a good answer. Before last year, my answer was just to sit in a room for a long time gradually bringing up the metronome speed and trying to be accurate, but there's so much more to it.
Good topic!
Jon
https://365of251.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/slow-is-faster/
Never lose the groove to find a note.
Nice post - enjoy reading it.