Overview

What's in Store

Count aloud while playing! Learning to speak and play in time will work wonders on your overall sense and control of timing. In the beginning, focus on just one of those. Don't jump straight into playing after you start the metronome up. Listen for several measures, then count aloud. Just counting in time and on beat consistently and for an extended time is a challenge for most people. This is what practice is for. If you get off beat, stop and listen. Once you feel like you are hearing or tapping your toe in sync with the metronome, then start trying to count aloud in time with it again. count silently by thought alone. I see time and time again that students who try and do this get off time and don't realize it. Counting aloud increases your awareness of good timing, until that foundation is established do not count silently. Clapping while counting aloud is another way to try and get your rhythm steady before playing.

Before jumping to the next lesson practice counting aloud and clapping. Do not move on to the next lesson until you can do these for 1-2 minutes steadily! Use the Tunefox player below or your own metronome at home. Whenever playing with a metronome, the volume of the click should be louder than the noise you are making. So whether you are counting aloud, clapping or playing your banjo, you will either need to count, clap, or play at a quieter volume than the metronome, or you will need to have a metronome with a volume you can adjust to be louder than you are. If you can't hear it, you won't know if you are playing in time with it. Remember, if using the Tunefox player you can adjust the volume of the metronome, band, and lead instrument in the playback tab.

Here, we will be counting to 4 repeatedly. Count aloud and clap. This will develop your internal sense of timing and speed regulation. Master speaking and playing in time before using your banjo with the metronome or player in the next lesson.

In the next lesson we'll use the steady beat awareness and foundation we've built by counting and clapping to play the square roll