Keeping time???

[Bloodsoaked666]

Ok, I have recorded my 8 song CD and while I recorded each song I played to a click track to keep my timing. Now I have been playing along with just the drum tracks thru my speakers and I am having a hard as hell time keeping time with the song.

Basicly I have my guitar and amp and then just the drums playing thru my speakers, nothing else. Most of the timing is with the kick drum and trying to concentrate on jst the kick drum is not as easy as I thought. The snare always seems to be what I tend to hear and that messes me up totally. Then on the blast beats it is hard a hell to keep the timing. Is it just practice, practice, practice or am I missing something?


Peter

 

[Machinated]

I find my timing is a lot better when I'm recording, when I'm using headphones. May be worth a try for you.

 

[TheDude]

If you're annoyed by the snare, turn it down. Headphones is good. Whatever it takes to make you nail the guitar.

 

[Bloodsoaked666]

That is the thing I do NOT want to use hear phones, I basicly want to play LIVE and not recording.

 

[JeffTD]

Do you have a drummer? He should be able to count you in and you'll be fine.

 

[Bloodsoaked666]

Do you have a drummer? He should be able to count you in and you'll be fine.

I don't think you guys are understanding.

I am NOT trying to record guitars anymore. I want to play LIVE with a real drummer but untill I find a real drummer I am using the Drum tracks to play to as if I am playing with a real drummer. I do have a 4 count at the begining of each song, that is not the problem. The problem is keeping time through-out the entire song. I always sem to end up a beat or two off, and I find myself always trying to get back on time.

Does this explain it better?

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, so you're just playing along with drum tracks to keep up your practice until you find a real drummer, but you're having a hard time getting use to it without the click....
I'd say it would just be a case of more practice needed to get use to it. Possibly even adjusting so that you use the snare not the kick, since an accoustic kit will have a louder snare than kick anyway.

I'm not sure how long you've been playing, so I don't mean any offence, but I'd say that with enough practice you'll be able to listen to the first few bars then keep your timing consistent throughout the rest of the song without having to actively listen like you are now.

Good luck with it.

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

I once had trouble with something like what you're describing, I was recording a cover of "Brave New Hell" by Bloodbath and the verse has snares on the "&" of every beat, and I would always end up hearing that as the beat. What got me through it was just listening to the drums by themselves and trying to hear it/think about it the right way without playing along. Also, you might try accenting the cymbals more to help with your timing, as they normally keep the most normal time anyway.

 

[scorpio01169]

like said above....it sounds to me as you have no experience in playing in a full band. the thing is you cant just concentrate on what you are playing, you also have to listen to what everyone else is doing when you can get that down then keeping time will come with it......i have auditioned players just like you and they are trying sooo hard to play the parts that they are not paying attention to the rest of the band. just listen and you'll get it.

 

[Bloodsoaked666]

Thanks a lot guys!!! I gues I explained it a bit better the second time around. I will just keep practicing and hope for the best.

I played in a band in 89-90 but that was forever ago and have not been in practice with a band since then, just the click track while recording.


Thank you for everyones time!!!

 

[sparkyness]

Playing in time, along with playing in tune, are the fundamental aspects of playing music. There's no shortcuts in a live context, other than practicing. Simply put, if you can't play in time, you need to practice until you can, and then practice some more.

You should always practice to a metronome/drum machine/(solid) drummer/etc otherwise you're just encouraging the development of bad habits and poor timing.

 

[Fragle]

i had a similar problem when i went from more 80s styled heavy metal to thrash/death metal; during those typical "thrash" things (you know, kick-snare-kick-snare) i'd always center on the snare (which are the & and not the actual beat). simple reason: the snare can be heared no matter what, but especially when using earplugs the kickdrum tends to be drowned out first and foremost.
solution: hours and hours of me and my drummer sitting in the rehearsal space and getting used to each other's playing style basically. once i figured out how to focus on the DRUMS rather than the other guitar it all went smooth as silk from there on....

 

[Torniojaws]

Try tapping your leg to the beat in difficult parts, especially if the drums are playing some tricky things during it and it would be difficult to follow the beat to stay in time. In the parts where the snare is on the backbeat, try to follow the cymbals - especially hihat.

Oh, and practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice We rehearse with my bands at least three times a week (total), unless there's no gigs coming anytime soon.

 

[Nebulous]

Try tapping your leg to the beat in difficult parts, especially if the drums are playing some tricky things during it and it would be difficult to follow the beat to stay in time.

This has helped me alot.
What I also found helped me imensely with timing, was to keep timing of music that I listen to, so it's become less of an unatural thing.

 

[sparkyness]

It's pretty easy to program beats if you're having trouble with playing against complex rhythm. Program a similar type of beat into a drum machine/software and loop that sucker and practice to it. It would save you trying to find a drummer to practice with.

 

[STINNETT]

I've got alot of experience trying to get guys to play in time. It seems like almost everybody I have recorded has had problems of some kind in that area.
What I usually do first of all is get them to just listen to the rhythm section and get their foot tapping or their head nodding so that they can feel the beat with their whole body. I think you've got to feel the movement of the rhythm without just focusing in on one thing like the snare drum or whatever. Sometimes that might work, but some times it will just screw you up. When I play I am always nodding my head or something. I'm feeling the movement of the song and my playing follows that. Of course, after you're pretty comfortable with your music it becomes alot easier and you don't even think about it. I don't even think about it so sometimes it's hard to describe to somebody how you keep time. But if you're struggling at all you've got to concentrate on feeling the rhythm first.
Don't think about playing notes, just think about the rhythm of your playing. Tap your foot or nod your head with the beat and once you're feeling connected with it start tapping out the guitar rhythms with your fingers. Eventually you'll start to get a better feel for how they lay over each other...hopefully anyway, and you'll start to play songs in time a little better.

Beyond that it's all about practice, bro!

 

[Bloodsoaked666]

i had a similar problem when i went from more 80s styled heavy metal to thrash/death metal; during those typical "thrash" things (you know, kick-snare-kick-snare) i'd always center on the snare (which are the & and not the actual beat). simple reason: the snare can be heared no matter what, but especially when using earplugs the kickdrum tends to be drowned out first and foremost.
solution: hours and hours of me and my drummer sitting in the rehearsal space and getting used to each other's playing style basically. once i figured out how to focus on the DRUMS rather than the other guitar it all went smooth as silk from there on....

Thanks allot dude, that sound exactly like me and looks like I just need lots of practice with a drummer to get my timing down unlike a click track.

 

[musickey]

One thing that has helped me with my timing long before i had a PC was the good ol Boss DR-5 drum machine, for years i constantly played along with beats i sequenced using that machine and it tightened my timing like a pentecostils pussy!

 

[Noumenon]

I have this problem with 2/4-feel. if it's kick then snare I always turn everything around so the snare is my 1 and the kick is my 2. I guess it because the snare is much more obvious to hear than the kick.

 

[MrLee]

I did have that problem before and still a little bit if the snare is really loud in fast blastbeats. Skank beat (kick and snare in fourth notes and hi hat in eight notes) is no prob any longer. I just tapped my hand to any song that used skank beat, just to get used to it. Also I think it is smart to first program a skank beat with a loud kick, when you have that, try to just follow the hihat, then program a skank with the kick in sixteenth notes. Try to "feel the beat" and not listen only the kick or hihat, but the beat as a whole.
Blast beat is much the same only twice as "fast", kick and snare in eigth notes, hihat in eightnotes also. Try to program this beat and follow it by just playing downstrokes eightnotes on all the kicks eight notes. then follow the hihat and then the beat as a whole.. After a while all this becomes natural, you just keep the time and really dont think about the drum beat that much...