How do i use a metronome?

you can play your scale/rythym exercises to a metronome...........

Do any warm-ups with a metronome. Practice at first with it on all 4 beats to a measure. Next subdivide so you can play two notes for every click (8th notes) and 4 notes for each click (16th notes). Then you should practice with the beat on 1 and 3 of each measure. Next 2 and 4 of each measure. That helps keep timing with a real drummer because a real player will never give a snare hit on each beat. Rock is generally emphasized on 1 and 3 whereas jazz is on beats 2 and 4. I hope that makes sense/helps.

+1 on Quam. I use my metronome to do scale warmups and even some writing to determine the actual tempo of the song and to help keep on time when I step certain parts up to double time.

So, do I just put it on like 68 beats and then try and get 1/8ths and 1/16ths in between the notes? How would I aply it to a scale exercise. If you see my Theory strand you'll see that I don't kow much about the scales.

you could start out playing each note of the scale on a metronome click (more or less 1/4 notes)

then move up to playing 2 notes of the scale (ascending or descending or whatever pattern you want) per click.........and just work your way up from there

If you're new to the bass (or any instrument for that matter imho...) I would suggest playing everything you play with a metronome to start, with the exception of when you're trying to work out a new part. However, once you have the bass line, song, scale, arppegio, sweep, whatever... worked out, then practice it with a metronome, at slow tempo first, then slowly bring it up to the proper speed. This is essential to helping you develop a very strong sense of time. So, set the metronome to something like 72 bpm and playing a note with every tock of the metronome, just the same note, don't worry about playing scales yet, just one note for now to get that feeling of time going.

I say this is essential, because the large majority of what makes music work is the proper speed, rhythm and groove, and the electric bass is one half of the rhythm section and thereby has the responsibility of working with the drummer to create and drive the groove of the song. Even in situations where the bass line and drum part are extremely simple, in that maybe it is just whole notes with an occasional half note, creating and driving the groove and feel is important, and actually much harder than playing super fast stuff all the time. Think of ZZ Top or Double Trouble behind SRV... nothing they did was really technically challenging, but getting that groove right on and laying down a solid foundation for the rest of the band to build on is paramount, and therefore developing and honing your sense of timing early on is essential.

I also recommend that once you get fairly comfortable with a metronome, try working on songs, scales, etc. with a simple drum machine.

Thanks.
Kahuna you said that play a song with a metronome by playing on the beats. What if the song has combined sized notes, three eighths followed by 9 sixteenths? Do I squeeze two notes between the click during the sixteenth?

The metronome, when used with a song, is there simply to establish the beat, not tell you where to play. You can infuse any polyrhythm you need to in between the beats if necessary. You will be playing with the beat as opposed to on them (if that makes sense). You would play on the beat - or tock as Kahuna put it - only if you are doing a line or scale with evenly-spaced notes.

Hope this helps. I read it back and my writing confused myself a bit...

Hey Spliff,

Yes, however, what you've asked involves what time signature you will be using. If you're in 6/8 time, then that means there are 6 beats per measure and an eight note gets one beat, so a sixteenth note in that time signature would get a 1/2 beat..... so you would play two notes per beat in that scenario...

I was suggesting to start by playing a single note to each tock (or tick... ) as a way of developing a sense of timing as I inferred that you were new to playing and especially to playing with a metronome, so I wasn't going to suggest trying polyrhythms just yet....

In standard or common time, there are 4 beats per measure and a quarter note gest one beat, a half note two beats, a whole note 4 beats, an eight gets 1/2 beat and a sixteenth note gets 1/4 beat... I would start there.

I would also suggest at this point that you might consider some lessons from a local teacher in person, it will greatly help and speed up your learning process.

I did take lessons Kahuna, but I learned more about theory in this two day old thread than I did in two months of lessons. Plus this is free! I think the problem I had in the lessons I had was that I was such a beginner that I had no prior knowledge to give base to what I was learning. I think I am going to get a book. Any suggestions?
Here's a good one: what's the relationship between a scale and a triad?

I just bought the Hal Leonard Bass Scales book. I'll look through this and see if it helps me.

You can grab any piece of sheet music, there will always be a tempo listed at the top of the sheet. Grab one of a song you know and can play the song on a radio and set the metronome to the tempo required. This just might give you an idea as to how the tempo is set and where a songs beats are within that time. Also, as Kahuna said, its gonna matter what the time signature is, 4/4, 2/4, 3/4, etc. I suggest grabbing a copy of this book if you really want to read music and learn how to play the notes written properly in time. The book is called Basic Music Theory by Jonathan Harnum and is super easy to read and understand. You can also get it at QuestionsInk.com I suggest it to everybody interested in reading, writing and understanding how music is written.

Definately a MUST HAVE! Get one for your drummer too.
Korg makes a very nice one, fits in my case with the tuner.
Play on the beat, off the beat, all around the beat, but don't let it beat you up.
The trick is to JUST RELAX!!
Everyone else is correct.

In the most basic sense, a scale is a progression of 8 notes in any of the key signatures or modes, ending in the octave of the first note played.

A triad is a grouping of 3 notes from any scale or mode (ie: the prefix tri-).

Typically, we refer to each of the notes in the scale by the number in an ascending order. In example, the first note is called the root or the 1st, then the 2nd, the 3rd, and so on.

When playing open notes on your bass in standard tuning, E-A-D-G, each note is a fourth above the one before, etc.

And, again, basically when you see any type of chart that refers to the 7, they're referring to something being done to the 7th note in the scale (flatted, sharped, etc...). This is really very basic, but hopefully you get the idea.

I think I will get that book you suggested bassled. Is it a bass book, or a music in general book? The scale book is not easy to read. The easy instructions to reading scales is not easy, for me anyway. What order do I play the notes in? There is more than one root note on some scales and I don't know what order to play them in. Some scales have like 20 notes in them, but I thought, according to the book, that there are set numbers of notes for each and that is like 7 for a maj etc. Do I just play the notes at random however I like because they are built to match. Anyone remember Granimal clothes? Back in the day my mother used to but me these things called Granimal clothes and on each clothing item was an animal. The idea was a child could pick out his own clothes and match by choosing all the same animal. The giraffe clothes were all supposed to match etc... Are scales like this? Are they all just a part of a matching set that we could use however we choose, leaving some in, taking some out, playing in random order, and adding an octave or fifth here and there? Is that how to use a scale to come up with a line?