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Practice guide · 15–20 minutes

Keeping good time when the click drops out.

The subdivision tree gave me the best results. Start there, then use gap training and a displaced click to test the time it builds.

By Matt · GigClick developer and drummer

Why I changed how I practised

I could play with a click. Without it, my time still moved.

I used to practise with a metronome and assume that meant my time was getting better. Then I would turn the click off, or play with other musicians, and find that I was still pushing, dragging, and depending on the click to pull me back into place.

The problem was not that I needed more hours with a metronome. I needed to use it differently.

All three exercises helped, but the subdivision tree made the biggest difference to my time. It taught me to hear the space between notes instead of waiting for the click to place them. I would spend most of a session there, then use gaps and a displaced click to find out whether that internal pulse held up.

The aim is not to get good at playing along with a click. It is to stay in control of your own time.

Slow tempo · six subdivisions

Use a subdivision tree to learn the space inside the beat.

This is the exercise that gave me the best results, and it is where I would spend most of the session. At 50 BPM, there is enough space between clicks to expose whether each subdivision is settled. By the last note of one subdivision, you should already be hearing the next one. The first interval after the change should land without correction.

Quarter notes
12
Quarter-note triplets
1triplet
Eighth notes
1&2&
Eighth-note triplets
1triplet2triplet
Sixteenth notes
1e&a2e&a
Sixteenth-note triplets
1triplet&triplet2triplet&triplet
Each row covers two quarter-note beats. The pulse stays fixed while the note rate changes.

Slower is harder. This is not a speed-building exercise. First shorten the time spent on each subdivision. Only lower the click once you can move through the whole tree one note at a time.

How to practise it

Set

Start between 45 and 55 BPM. Use 4/4 with a quarter-note click. Keep this tempo while you work through all three progressions.

Progressions

  1. 01

    Two bars per subdivision. Play the full tree from quarter notes to sixteenth-note triplets, then come back down without stopping.

  2. 02

    One bar per subdivision. Repeat the same journey up and down the tree, changing subdivision after every bar.

  3. 03

    One note per subdivision. Change rate after every note. Hear the next subdivision before you leave the current one, so the first new interval lands without correction.

The final boss

−5 BPM

Once Progression 03 is clean in both directions, lower the tempo by 5 BPM. Go back to Progression 01 and work through the sequence again.

Sound, then silence

Use gaps to find out whether you are carrying the pulse.

A continuous click can hide small corrections. You drift, hear the next click, and move back without noticing. A gap removes that correction. When the click returns, you hear where your time actually went.

1CLICK
2CLICK
3CLICK
4CLICK
5YOU
6YOU
Start with four bars of click and two bars of silence. Keep playing through all six.

How to practise it

  1. 01

    Choose a comfortable tempo and something familiar to play. The exercise should test your time, not your memory.

  2. 02

    Set Gap training to play four bars and mute two. Keep counting or feeling the subdivision during the silent bars.

  3. 03

    When the click returns, listen before you adjust. If it arrives ahead of you, you slowed down. If it arrives behind you, you sped up.

  4. 04

    Once the return is consistently close, try two bars on and two off, then one bar on and three off.

Quarter-note click · displaced in your count

Move the click away from the downbeat.

Leave the metronome on quarter notes, but stop hearing each click as the beat. Start by hearing it as the “&” between beats. Once that feels settled, move it to the “e”, then the “a”. The click never changes; only where you hear it in the bar does.

Level 1Click on “&”
1beat &click 2beat &click
Level 2Click on “e”
1beat eclick & a 2beat eclick & a
Level 3Click on “a”
1beat e & aclick 2beat e & aclick
The metronome still plays quarter notes. You are changing where those clicks sit in the count.

How to practise it

  1. 01

    Set 4/4 with a slow quarter-note click. Use a simple groove or pattern, tap on a table, or work without making a sound.

  2. 02

    Count “1 & 2 &” and hear every click as “&”. The numbered beats now sit halfway between the clicks. Hold that placement for eight bars.

  3. 03

    Count sixteenth notes and hear every click as “e”. Keep the downbeat in place even though the click now lands just after it.

  4. 04

    Then hear every click as “a”. The next numbered beat should land one sixteenth after each click.

  5. 05

    If you lose the placement, hear the click on the downbeat again, settle the pulse, then shift it. These three positions are a progression, not a limit; you can eventually try any consistent subdivision.

Foundation first

A 20-minute practice block

Give most of the block to the subdivision tree. Use the other two exercises as shorter checks on whether you can carry that time through silence and away from the downbeat.

  1. 10 minSubdivision treeTwo bars, one bar, then one note per subdivision; lower by 5 BPM and restart
  2. 5 minGap trainingFour bars on, two off; shorten the “on” time when ready
  3. 5 minMove the clickStart on “&”, then move to “e” and “a”; eight bars at a time

Use the click differently

Reassurance, not reliance.

Subdivision controls, Gap training and a clear count display are built into GigClick. For the displaced-click exercise, leave the click on quarter notes and change where you hear it.

Coming soon to Google Play