One, two, three, four. How do you get even better at playing the piano?

Practice. But practice is more than just sitting down and playing. You have to work at perfecting your practice. Feel the beat. Feel the rhythm. And have more fun creating your music. 

One tool that can greatly enhance your skills is the metronome. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced pianist looking to improve, incorporating the metronome into your practice routine can yield immediate results.

Step 1: Set Your Tempo

Start by selecting a tempo that matches the piece of music you’re practicing or a comfortable pace for your exercises. The metronome allows you to adjust the tempo to your liking, so experiment until you find a speed that challenges you without feeling overwhelming.

Step 2: Focus on Timing

Once you’ve set the tempo, focus on perfectly synchronizing each note or chord with the metronome’s clicks or beats. Pay close attention to maintaining a consistent rhythm throughout your practice session, as this will train your sense of timing and help you develop a steady tempo.

Step 3: Start Slowly

If you’re new to using a metronome, start at a slower tempo and gradually increase the speed as you become more comfortable and confident in your playing. This gradual progression allows you to build muscle memory and accuracy without sacrificing precision.

Step 4: Practice Regularly

Consistency is key to improving your piano skills. Incorporate metronome practice into your daily routine, even if it’s just for a few minutes each day. Over time, you’ll notice significant improvements in your timing, coordination, and overall musicality.

Step 5: Experiment with Different Rhythms

Challenge yourself by experimenting with different rhythms and time signatures. This will not only expand your musical repertoire but also sharpen your ability to adapt to various rhythmic patterns, making you a more versatile and expressive pianist.

Step 6: Listen Critically

As you practice with the metronome, listen critically to your playing and adjust accordingly. Pay attention to any discrepancies between your timing and the metronome’s beats, and strive to correct them with each repetition. The goal is to achieve precision and accuracy in every note you play.

Step 7: Stay Patient and Persistent

Improving your piano skills takes time and patience, so don’t get discouraged if progress initially feels slow. Stay persistent in your practice efforts and celebrate small victories along the way. You’ll gradually notice a significant improvement in your playing with dedication and consistent practice.

We understand that playing the piano is a lifelong commitment. However, playing should be as much about enjoyment as it is about learning. 

Whether you’re practicing scales, exercises, or full-length pieces, the metronome is a valuable tool for refining your skills and becoming a more confident and proficient pianist. 

Whether you need accessories to make your practice sessions better, or a new piano to make the experience more enjoyable, we’re here to help you every step of the way. 

How can we help you?

A metronome is either a mechanical or electronic device that produces short sound bursts at regular intervals of time. Click. Click. Click. It’s designed to help you set a beat and stick with it as you play. 

Metronomes are common instruments used in practice for helping you establish a beat. It’s been used by composers for centuries to help people better understand how the composer designed their songs to be played. 

Every song is created with a specific beats per minute – BPM – to let you know how fast or slow the music should go. BPM is also known as tempo. 

Think about the tick of a second hand on a clock. It moves at a regular beat – 1, 2, 3, 4, – and so on, always remaining at a steady pace. 

BPM is designed to work in a similar way. Some songs may match the natural rhythm of a clock – 1 beat per second. Some songs speed it up, going much faster. Some songs slow it down. 20 BPM isn’t unheard of. 

Why use a metronome? It’s designed to help you gain strength in the way you play. It establishes the way a composer created the song. And it also helps you build up your strength in the way the piece should be played. 

When you sit down to a brand new song, at the top of the page should be a tempo marking. It might be written as BPM (120 bpm) or as a tempo marketing such as “allegro.” Especially as you are learning more about music, it may be difficult to fully appreciate at what level the song should be played. A metronome gives you that sense of rhythm. It can keep the beat for you to follow as you play the song. 

If it’s a fast tempo, it may be hard to begin. Slow it down a bit. Become familiar with the notes and the way the song is played. As your comfort grows, you can increase the beat and pick up the pace until you get it to the desired bpm. 

It’s a way to keep you on track throughout your practice. 

Of course, you can stick with a traditional mechanical metronome. Or invest in an electronic metronome to sit near your practice area. 

Thanks to technology, there are also a variety of apps that can produce the same practice, and allow you to take the technology anywhere. 

What type of metronome do you use during your daily practice?  

Have you ever heard a song that didn’t sound quite right? You couldn’t’ quite put your finger on it, but you knew something was wrong. 

The melody was off. Or maybe it was the harmony. 

Or maybe it was the rhythm. 

When comparing the three, rhythm is by far the one thing that can change the way you play than all the others. 

Why? Sit down and play music with no thought process about rhythm. Just pluck out the notes in a random order. 

Not much of a song, is it? 

Rhythm controls tempo. It sets the speed. It also creates structure. 

Rhythm is the technical part of the song. Have you ever mentally walked through a song, practicing it in your mind before you sit down to play? The best piano players in the world do this continuously in their minds. They see themselves on stage. They hear their music in their minds. And what improves it all is to keep a regular beat. 

A metronome can help you keep that beat. 

Try an experiment. Set the metronome for your desired song. Before you sit down to play it, play it in your mind first, following the beat. See yourself playing it. Hear it in your mind. Hear the rhythm. Feel how you play it. 

Now sit down at the keyboard and play it for real. Do you notice it’s easier?

Also, try using a metronome when you’re first learning a song. Listen to the “tick tick” and adjust your playing to keep up with the beat. Play through difficult passages, playing again and again until you get it right. You can even use the visualization technique with the metronome keeping the beat. 

Do you notice a difference in your playing?