Transcript included below…
I remember the first time I did a ride-along with a police officer buddy of mine. It was later in the evening as I rode in the passenger seat for a few hours. We drove through town, making sure the city streets and the neighborhoods were quiet and safe.
My friend had briefed and prepped me for what to do should things get exciting. But we mostly did traffic stops.
One particular speed trap he had discovered was exceptionally strategic – he backed up a steep driveway that merged onto a curved road. The police car we were in was obscured from the road by a hedge, so it was virtually undetectable.
Anyone driving past wouldn’t see us until it was too late. So, we pulled over several drivers. And the recurring theme (as I’m sure you’d expect) was that they didn’t realize how fast they were going over the speed limit.
Most of the drivers were issued a warning, but as you can imagine, people who go over the speed limit will occasionally be recipients of a ticket. I, myself have been given a couple speeding tickets over the years.
Full disclosure – I haven’t just been guilty of going too fast behind the wheel…I’ve also been guilty of playing songs too fast on my guitar.
I’ve blazed past the prescribed tempo, and not only has it affected my fellow collaborators – it has affected the people I either sing to, or lead in singing. And if I’m willing to look closely at these experiences from an objective perspective, my haste with the tempos has compromised the quality of the songs.
Now, some songs have a very wide tempo range, meaning that they can be played within several metronome settings and sound just fine. Others, if they pass a certain tempo mark, can sound frantic, make the lyrics hard to sing, and lead to imprecise playing.
In my experience, we as guitarists tend to err on the side of playing faster, rather than slower, but both are possible.
What causes a variation in tempo? Any number of things, including nerves, a lack of familiarity with the chart, fatigue, and even what I’d call musical peer pressure, where instrumentalists are fighting with each other over what the tempo is.
We can rush the tempo because we’re on edge. We can drag the tempo because we’re trying too hard not to rush the tempo. Any number of factors can lead to a hot mess of a song if we’re not careful.
Are there some strategies to help keep us on track? Yes there are. And I’m about to share several with you.
Purchase A Metronome
The first tip I recommend is to invest in a metronome. There are smartphone apps, of course, but I really like the feel of an actual metronome in my hands.
I recommend the Seiko SQ50-V Quartz Metronome for its durability. This thing has literally taken a lick and kept on ticking. I’ve had my current one for over a decade, and I’ve dropped it hundreds of times. It still works.
Whatever song I’m learning on whichever instrument, having a metronome nearby has been essential for me.
I remember in college watching one of the conductors of our orchestra reference his metronome for starting tempos nearly every time we began a rehearsal or a song.
This guy was a world-class musician, composer, and conductor. And a metronome was one of the main tools in his toolkit. If it was good enough for him, I’d say it’s good enough for me.
Becoming familiar with the settings on a metronome, with the Italian tempos, can be super helpful.
Which settings are allegro? Which are moderato? What does a metronome feel like in 4/4 time as opposed to compound duple (better known as 6/8 time), when the beat is a dotted quarter note, with two pulses per measure?
Can we subdivide and play with twice as many metronome clicks for better precision? Absolutely. This is a strategy I’ve employed for dozens of songs in the recording studio, when the red recording light is on and cash is leaving my wallet by the hour.
Whereas we can get away with quite a lot on stage, nothing escapes the microphone in the recording studio. And although we can do lots of editing to correct things, it’s more efficient and less expensive to get a really good take. So, we really want to record well.
And how do we get to where we can record well? My next tip will not surprise you.
Practice Your Songs
Practicing will only enhance our steadiness as musicians. And if we practice with a metronome, well, we become more and more aligned with the prescribed tempo, whether we’re playing someone else’s song, or one we ourselves have written.
How much do we need to practice? Well, how important is it to us to play well?
I’d say that a quick cursory pass through a song isn’t going to cut it.
If I’m on a worship team and my first time playing through a song (or at least my first time in a while) is to open my guitar case at rehearsal and do a quick run-thru of a verse while other team members are arriving, am I offering my first fruits? Nope.
The diligence that I believe is needed is solo practice during the week leading up to the rehearsal. Linda Collins, an expert in our GuitarSuccess4U experience, has over 30 years of worship leading experience.
When I invited her to help me define the two different settings for preparation for worship music, we landed on 1) the guitarist’s solo practice session, and then 2) the worship team rehearsal. When I asked her how much time she thought was warranted for the guitarist to learn his or her part on their own, versus trying to figure it out during rehearsal, she said this:
“Well, I would say it depends on whether you consider yourself a leader or a follower…and for acoustic guitar players, I hope you consider yourself a leader in the band. And it takes much more time to internalize a song, to learn the whole arc of the song, to just get so comfortable with it, you can get out of the music a little bit. And so, I would say, you know, maybe three half-hour sessions, at least on a new song.”
That is some sage advice, right?
Incidentally, if you don’t have the song learned yet, I don’t recommend introducing the metronome until you do.
Leverage a Click Track
Some worship teams rely heavily on In-Ear Monitors, for which a click track is often provided, keeping everyone aligned with a prescribed tempo as it clicks inside each person’s audio mix. I personally don’t prefer this approach, but I know many musicians who do.
The upside of In-Ear Monitors is that with a click, the band can have greater precision and unity. The downside is that In-Ear Monitors have the potential to create a bit of a sonic barrier between the onstage musician and the people in the congregation/audience.
I feel very far away from the people I’m ministering to when I wear those things.
Even with a mic that captures the sound of the audience, I’ve been less in favor of In-Ears, unless absolutely necessary. I used them every week for an entire year before deciding they were just not for me.
Be as Specific as Possible with Tempos When Recording
In the recording studio, tempos are paramount. Once you’ve decided on a tempo for a song, you’ve created a grid over which all the other instruments will be laid out. For my most recent album, I made the mistake of not really planning the tempos well.
So, when I went into the studio and made scratch recordings for all 11 songs, when I listened back, only one of the songs seemed to be at an appropriate tempo. The rest were just a few notches too fast. My producer graciously agreed to re-record the other 10 scratch tracks with me to get them right.
And it was totally worth it.
As a worship leader, I’ve had many debrief meetings with my leadership teams about how the past Sunday went. Have you heard the term “Honest Monday” or “Honest Tuesday?” Yep. It’s a chance to get everything out on the table in an informal team meeting, with a view to improving our processes.
But at these meetings, most of the people on the team saw things from the administrative realm or the pastoral realm, so only a couple of us were really focused on the music aspect.
Talking about the morning worship experience is good…watching recorded video is better. It’s super helpful to see how we come across visually. But it can also be super humbling, right?
Are we looking down at our music stands because we don’t know our music well? Do we look like we want to be there?
In terms of the audio aspect, is our pitch good? Are the instruments in tune? Are they balanced in volume? Lastly, and related to this discussion, are our tempos on point?
If you’re not in a position to access video recordings of you and your team, I recommend investing in an audio recording device. A portable digital recorder can allow you to capture your rehearsal, or even your morning of worship, or an evening performance, and then to listen back. Even a smartphone voice memo will suffice.
I’ve even been known to use a loop station pedal and play a portion of a song into it, so I could listen back, not just for my tempo, but my musicianship.
Again, a video (or audio) recording of a live worship set can be very revealing and humbling, but if we are desiring to harness and shape our tempos to achieve a greater level of precision, this could be a huge step in the right direction.
I’ll add that playing songs slowly can actually be really, really tough. Some of the most difficult songs I’ve learned to play are at extremely slow tempos. Feeling those beats and holding the tempo steady can be a serious challenge, but it can be overcome.
Tape a Large Note to the Floor
At one point in my touring, I became keenly aware that I was getting overexcited with my tempos, especially in front of young, wiggly audiences at camps, Christian school assemblies, and Vacation Bible School concerts.
I was off to the races and couldn’t seem to slow down. So, I took the simple measure of writing the word “TEMPO” in all caps on a large piece of paper, and I taped it to the floor right in front of me on the stage.
This was far from any sort of technical piece of hardware or software. But each time I caught that piece of paper out of the corner of my eye, I took it as a gentle reminder not to let my tempos get too fast.
And it worked.
Pray
I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility to say that most people don’t pray about their tempos. It may fall under the umbrella of, “Lord, please guide us to a skillful offering for Your glory,” but if tempos are a sticking point, why not commit them to the Lord?
He can quiet our hearts. He can remind us of the rhythmic meter of a song we’ve begun to internalize. And He can unite the band around us. He’s the Creator of the Universe, and I believe He is the true Master of Rhythm.
Think of the rhythm of the spinning of the planets, the turning of the seasons, the beating of our hearts, and the flapping of the wings of a hummingbird. Does the Lord know what it takes to have skillful tempos? I really think He does.
Other Tips
Perhaps we collaborate a lot with our music, and a drummer is one of our collaborators. If the drummer starts a song too fast or accelerates, I will visibly lean back and raise my eyebrows, so that he or she knows we need to slow down a bit.
If I’m strumming too fast, sometimes the drummer will lock in his or her beat and gently help guide me back to tempo.
Remember, tempos played well lead to better musicianship.
Another of our guest experts in GuitarSuccess4U, a seasoned drummer named Jason Edwards, talks about what he has to do when a guitarist is not steady with his or her tempos. Here are a couple of Jason’s thoughts:
“Occasionally if I’m on a gig with a rhythm guitarist that doesn’t have a real good sense of that pulse, then I will kind of have to babysit them a little bit and maybe keep time on the high hat during an intro that you really don't want the drums kind of smackin’ the cymbals and stuff in the background like that. So, yeah, that would be definitely the number one thing is just a good, good foundation sense of the pulse.”
Collaborating with Jason has shown me that my precision leads to greater freedom for both of us, as has been the case with many musicians I’ve collaborated with.
If absolutely necessary (and I’ve seen this done onstage more than a few times), the band leader can stop the song and without making a big deal about it, say something like, “I think we’re going to start this one again.”
Better to stop and start over than to play an entire song through that’s not on track.
Rehearsing as a group is a great way to take a pulse. Even during a song, I’ll ask into my mic, “How’s my tempo?” My band mates will likely look at me with one of two expressions: concern or contentment. And then I can adjust my trajectory if needed.
Remember, this isn’t about perfectionism. It’s about skillful execution. And Psalm 33:3 reminds us to “play skillfully and shout for joy.” Let’s discover or rediscover what it feels like to play skillfully, especially when it comes to our tempos.
Well, I think today’s discussion has given us some excellent things to think about so that the tempo police won’t pull us over in any of their speed traps. And if they do, we’ll probably only get a warning, right?
There are a lot of implications to playing with a solid tempo, and I hope that by experiencing these thoughts today, they’ve given you a better sense for how your musicianship can be enhanced in this way.
Tempos played well lead to a higher level of musicianship for us as guitarists, but also any musicians we collaborate with. And this leads to serious fun.
If you can think of other tempo suggestions, please feel free to provide a comment here. And don’t forget to give this podcast an excellent rating so more people can experience it. Please also consider sharing it with others who might appreciate it.
Thanks for experiencing this episode, and I’ll see you next time.
Don't Get Caught in a Speed Trap