B15M

Hi Manny,

I have been recording myself at home for about a year now. I think it helped me tremendously.

One problem that I can't solve is; sometimes in fast sections I play just a little behind the beat. I can't tell when I am playing, but when I listen I can hear it. When it gets really bad I catch up in the next couple of beats.

I have tried slowing things down but when it gets fast it's the same.
I don't understand why I can't hear this when I am playing.

Manny Laureano

B15M,

You know, I got Dr. Beat for that very reason! It's the loudest metronome I have and it works great that way. Get one and you won't have that problem or at least find a very loud metronome.

ML

Mikey

If I may add something here..........

I also have the Doctor Beat DB 88, and I use it all the time. One of the things that really helps me is the ability with the DB88 to subdivide the beat. In other words, you can beat the quarter note, eighth, or even the 16th note. (and triplets!) This is a great way to find out what is going on between beats 1 and 4. Here is a great example where being able to beat the 8th note helped me: In the last movement of Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, where the 2nd trumpet starts the solo; set your metronome to beat the 8th note. I had a tendancy to rush the Ab 8th notes.......And get used to subdividing in your head, too........

Also, I have been known to put on headphones, plug them into the DB88 and use the metronome as a click track.........Especially if you can't hear the click over the sound of the horn. I use to do a lot of theater touring, and we played with a partial recorded track. (strings and woodwinds). It's great to have a click track in your ear. Forces you to stay on top of the beat. The hard part is trusting the metronome (or click track). They don't lie...........Unlike a wind-up metronome, the DB88 just gets softer as the batteries run down. I was going through 9 volt batteries like crazy until I went to Radio Shack and bought a 9 volt AC adaptor.

If you can swing it, the DB88 will be the best thing for you....


Mike

trumpetpimp

Does Dr. Beat help if you can't swing it too?

Manny Laureano

Moving right along...

I would only slightly disagree with the headphones idea. The 'phones hide your sound and I feel like that's more isolation than you need in this particular case. Anyways, the Dr. Beat is a great device... many applications as mentioned... along with the nifty little tuner that's part of it.

ML

Mikey

Oops...........I should clarify that. I only use 1 ear, and only have the can partly covering the ear, so I can still hear my sound.......

bulldog

i never tried headphones, but one of those earbud type headphones works great. if you dont like that sort of thing, i had a friend back in my school days who had one of those flat quartz metronomes with the hole in one corner where you can put a pencil and holds the thing upright, anyway, what he did was put a piece of string or ribbon through the hole and tied it around his head so the metronome rested on or near his ear. whenever you walked in on him practicing he was quick to tear it off, but it worked.

MahlerBrass

I have a Tama Rhythm Watch hooked up to a Marshall 12" guitar amp, great for practicing and quintet rehearsals. Another suggestion would be to work on actually subdividing what you're playing, in other words if you have two quarter notes that in a passage, you would play them as sixteenths, (4 sixteenths on each note). This method usually helps me out quite a bit whenever I'm able to do it.

B15M

I went to Dillon and there were three different models.

I can afford them but I don't want to waist my money.

Do I need to get the best one? (DB88)

rjzeller

Any of them, I think, should be fine. The bottom line is the doctor beat can be friggin' LOUD, and you can hook it into an external power source if you wish to beef the volume up even more. I think so long as you can hear the beat itself, you'll know very quickly if you're playing ahead of or behind the beat.

And if you can hear the beat clearly, but are still falling behind, I'm not sure the subdividing or any of the other fancy features in the product will help.

If the COUNTING or RYTHM is slowing you down, go see a good percussion instructor. If you're simply playing behind the beat, then the beat is really all you need to hear (you just need to actually HEAR it).

Then again...this is advice coming from a guy who likes to play everything as close to 240 as possible....