I have found over the years that the most obvious problem in a performance to the average listener is with regards to tempo issues. By “tempo issues” I am referring to the tempo changing unintentionally during a song and also to ensemble performers not playing with the same sense of time. Even when compared to all but the most obnoxious chordal clashes, tempo issues seem to be the easiest to hear and feel that something is not quite right in a performance.
In a band setting, one approach to battle tempo issues is to practice as a band along with a click track (and better yet to also record the practice and analyze the results).I warn you that this can be a humbling experience.It is actually quite difficult as a performer to increase dynamics and not increase tempo.For some reason it becomes a natural response when getting excited during a musical passage to speed up.
One of my pet peeves with drummers is when they focus on interesting fills but “lose” the beat.I have played with drummers that played drum fills that would stun Neil Peart (Rush), but could never land on the “one” of the beat at the end of the fill.I liken it to focusing on an amazing dessert but using rotten food for the main coarse.
I am a fan of practicing along with a music track or a metronome.The metronome has been a tool used by musicians since its invention in 1812.The classical composer Beethoven was the first composer to use a metronome to indicate tempo of his compositions.If you don’t have a metronome in your practice room (either a physical one or an app on a smartphone, computer, etc), I recommend you consider getting one.One of my favorite practice routines is to have a chord patch play over a drum beat or metronome and improvise for 15-30 minutes just focusing on different rhythmic accents, note durations, rest durations, etc.I have come up with many bass and guitar parts for songs using this technique.
I have found a metronome indispensable for working on challenging musical passages.What I typically do is focus on the troublesome passage at a tempo slow enough that I can play without error.Then I run through the passage at that tempo marking for a few times before I increase the tempo slightly.I continue this until I can play the passage at the desired speed.This has been particularly effective when learning classical guitar pieces which often have complex fingerings.I learned this from a fantastic classical guitar teacher and have used it to work on many pieces.
