Time Keeping When Playing Solo Live

For the more experienced live performers here: How do you manage to keep time as you play?

My question isn't really about time keeping as much as it is about slowing down and playing slower.

Last night I did it again. When I timed the performance earlier in the day that I was to give live, my time came to 7:47. I'm allotted 8 minutes, including introduction, and I felt I had it nailed.

When I showed up, I kept telling myself, tap your feet, and keep it slow.

But I blew it. I knew I was playing too fast, and my set came to an end at 6:31.

Later that night, I thought maybe I could use an in-ear metronome. If I hear an audible-to-me-only tapping in my ear, it might force me to slow down.

What do you think? How do you manage to not speed up when you play? Is it just an experience thing? I'm not a bad time-keeper, I just tend to speed up when I play live. Huh.

I use a click in ear. I’ve seen a wrist watch like item that can either (or both as I recall),pulse your wrist and blink.

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Originally Posted by blackonblack

I use a click in ear. I’ve seen a wrist watch like item that can either (or both as I recall),pulse your wrist and blink.

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What do you use for in-ear? I found a free online metronome, and since I can (and do, sometimes) wear Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids, I can route phone output to them, and no one sees or hears anything. I haven't played with it (no pun intended) enough, yet to find out if it will work or not, but I thought if someone has experience, I can learn from it. Thanks!

We have click tracks for each song (played by a tablet) and it comes through the monitor system for all (we are all IEM). Not sure if it’s practical for a solo set. Let me see about the watch thing for you.

Here you go.

https://www.soundbrenner.com/pulse/

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Originally Posted by blackonblack

Here you go.

https://www.soundbrenner.com/pulse/

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Wow, interesting! Thanks. I like that you don't HAVE to wear it on your wrist (I kind of like the upper arm, but I'd have to experiment). Do you have one, and if so, which model?

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Originally Posted by OldStrummer

Wow, interesting! Thanks. I like that you don't HAVE to wear it on your wrist (I kind of like the upper arm, but I'd have to experiment). Do you have one, and if so, which model?

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I do not have one, but was contemplating one for a band I was with a few years ago.

When I first looked at it a while ago, there was only the Pulse. I like the added features of the Core.

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Originally Posted by blackonblack

When I first looked at it a while ago, there was only the Pulse. I like the added features of the Core.

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During Ash Wednesday service this evening, I downloaded a couple of iPhone apps that purported to work on the Apple Watch (which I have). One doesn't show up on the watch's app list, one stops pulsing when the display shuts off (which mine does the moment I raise my arm to play -- deal killer) and the third one produces a hardly noticeable haptic pulse when I tried it. So, I broke down and ordered the Pulse from Soundbrenner. I watched their videos, and when I saw them (multiple models) bouncing on the display table, I figured that would be strong enough to feel. I also like that it can be worn around the arm or the ankle, which in my mind makes it less "intrusive" to what I'd be trying to focus on -- the song!

I was trained to watch the conductor's wand. That way you knew which beat in the measure you were at.

After years of that you develop this mental timekeeping thing, but I still practice with a click.

Your issue sounds to me like it's more of a technique issue with you, where you have fretting hand focus and aren't keeping your picking hand properly timed, a very common issue for self-taught or poorly trained players.

When practicing you should always be counting in your head. If you know what beat position changes occur at you'll never lose your place even if you muff one.


The big thing is to stop before you start play, take a deep breath to relax and then get the count going in your head. I'm not particularly good at nailing 120 bpm out of thin air but I have the luxury of a drummer who can.


So is your meter constant or are you speeding up as you play? That's another common problem.

Playing with click does help, but it's a skill you need to develop. At first it will usually make matters worse because if you lose focus on the click and then get off time with it it's not an easy task to pick the beat out and rejoin. But once you have the click down and develop the listening skill it's the sland. I usually never practice without a click. Last night I was working on the Larry Carlton outro to Kid Charlemagne. Without the click to keep you on task it's too easy to slow down on the hard parts and then when you go live you can't keep up. The click makes me learn the music in meter.

In music, timing is everything.

As OffShore Angler pointed out, learning to play to a click track is essential. And before everybody jumps on this and says, "It's too restricting", it's all about learning to phrase your groove with the click. Techno and whitebread American folk live on the 1. Most other music lives just behind the 1 count. When you learn to use a metronome in this sense, the consistent timing of the entire song just comes to you because, now can feel it.

Oh yeah, slow ballads live just ahead of the 1 count. That tiny bit of anticipation keeps the groove alive and fresh. Playing a slow ballad on the 1, or behind it, will make it feel like a dirge.

Learning to use a metronome is NOT about learning to nail the down beat on the 1 count. It's about learning to nail the "feel" just before, or after that beat. Then overall timing just falls into place once you learn this.

The fact that you're paying attention to this stuff is much to your credit!

When I was a kid, my parents made my two siblings and I take piano lessons. I remember always having a metronome (the old-fashioned kind with the moving arm you adjusted by raising and lowering a weight on it) probably because my two sisters are older, so they were ahead of me in the learning curve.

When I take the stage I all of a sudden become like an impatient race horse. When the light goes off, so do I. Even a slow, soulful blues number becomes an energetic work. Part of my

As a kid, my parents made my two siblings and I take piano lessons. I remember always having a metronome (the old-fashioned kind with the moving arm you adjusted by raising and lowering a weight on it) probably because my two sisters are older, so they were ahead of me in the learning curve.

When I take the stage I all of a sudden become like an impatient race horse. When the light goes off, so do I. Even a slow, soulful blues number becomes an energetic work. Part of my issue is, I think, that I'm constrained by the clock. I have to get on, introduce my song(s), play and be done within eight minutes. And, to be honest, I think it's partly stage fright. At home, I practice alone, with ambient lighting and an audience of one: me. Then, I get up on stage with the lights shining and an audience focusing on my performance. I've gotten better at not caring so much what they think of my playing, but I don't want to be dismissive of them, either. They are what I'm there for, after all.

What I'm looking for is a "governor." I want some sort of feedback that makes me focus on the beat I've established I want to maintain, and not speed it up to get off the stage.

The funny thing, I just realized, is that when I first started doing these shows about a year and a half ago, I was much "cooler under pressure" than I am now. Then, I didn't know about the lighting, the sound guy, and the clock ticking away. Of course then I was playing songs I'd been doing alone for years, so it was easier than trying to learn new material for each show. While I enjoy the fact my repertoire has expanded quite a bit, I also figure that learning new material adds another level of stress when it comes to performing.

(Side note: I noticed during last Tuesday's event, nearly EVERY performer, both seasoned regulars and recent newcomers, made some sort of flub during their set. I told myself that it's OK to screw up and not worry about it. In fact, when I introduced the song, I said that the words and music weren't mine, but the mistakes were!)

Obviously you're learning from this experience.
Maybe try to forget your misgivings, and get focused on the things you're doing right!

You can't build on problems. You can only build on success. Sounds like you're well on your way.

Celebrate!

Thanks, Tele-Bob. I needed that!

OS,

You have nothing but my respect for going out and laying it on the line live no matter what the outcome.

The fact that you're aware of it and working on it tells me you'll get it. We all have shortcomings as players. Part of "talent" is being able to hear where you need to improve and what you need to work on.

Sounds to me like you're doing it right.

Put this in your guitar case:

The Man In the Arena - Theodore Roosevelt

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Cool stuff, OA. Thanks to you, too!