Re: [Harp-L] solid time

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Slim says he prefers a metronome to a drum track because it's harder, which is true, but you certainly get more of a feel for playing against a groove from using a drum track.  I tightened my own timing up considerably in the early 1980s by working with a drum machine.  In 2014 any computer has the software necessary to play MIDI or audio drum loops and tracks, so if you're reading this you have access to what is in effect a drum machine.

Drum tracks in both audio (mp3, aiff, wav) and MIDI format are widely available on the internet for free, and if you're willing to pay a little, companies like Groove Monkee and Smart Loops offer MIDI and audio tracks and loops in a wide range of styles.  (A loop is a short piece of audio or MIDI, usually 1-4 bars in length, that is intended to be repeated without breaks; a track is something more like a complete song performance.)

If you're ever planning to include a drum track or loop in a recording, the stuff you pay for gives you more to work with, but for practice the free stuff works fine.  

This post on Yahoo has a lot of useful links to drum loops and tracks in it:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100608145303AAFYErW

There is of course no question that playing to some sort of rhythm track, straight click or otherwise, is better for tightening your time than playing to the rhythm in your head, at least early on in your musical life.  if all else fails, play along with a record.  Always tape practice sessions, and listen afterwards, to hear what's working and what isn't.  You hear yourself in an entirely different way on a recording than you do in the act.

Regards, Richard Hunter

author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
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