Tutorial #40: Metronomes | YOU Can Beatbox

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Alem's Metronome Video:    • ALEM WITH THE METRONOME  

Welcome back to YOU Can Beatbox. On today’s episode we’re learning a technique that can really help overall beatboxing and is fundamental to becoming great. I’m talking about using a metronome. Now, just so you know, I don’t think using a metronome is necessary to become great. But it can help in 2 key areas: timing and practice. And you might be saying that you don’t own a metronome, but there are plenty of apps for iOS and Android devices as well as basic websites that have free metronomes. And beatboxing along with music can achieve the same results. Let’s look at timing and practice one at a time to explore how using a timekeeping device like a metronome can revolutionize your beatboxing.
With beatboxing, if you don’t have rhythm, you wont sound good. That’s a fundamental part of music. As someone who’s been beatboxing for around 8 years and playing music since I was a kid, I cannot overstate how important timing is. For example, if someone beatboxes with bad timing like this [demo], I don’t care how fast or technical they are. I’d rather hear something with flow and rhythm than someone with technical skill but no soul. Metronomes help you practice your timing. All you have to do is set them at a tempo that’s around how fast you want your beat to be and keep beatboxing in time with them. Then keep doing this until your technique is well timed and not choppy or disjointed. By forcing yourself to keep time with something external to your beatboxing, you are making sure your beats sound their best and widening your skill set. This can help you when you’re jamming with other people, beatboxing with singers and acapella groups and with your overall musicality. So when it comes to timing, metronomes are a great tool.
In terms of practice, metronomes are great to ensure that your timing is spot on but they can also help you speed up a technique. For instance, say you can do inward drag successfully at 100 beats per minute [demo] and that’s as fast as you can go. If you set the metronome to 105 beats per minute or any amount slightly faster than you can do it and then try the technique, you might find yourself tripping over the beat. But keep that up! If you continue practicing with the metronome at a speed a little too fast, you WILL eventually catch up. This is what psychologists and high performers call deliberate or intentional practice. You’re forcing yourself to get better and it will happen. And the metronome is what makes this possible.
One final way that metronomes can be a great tool is for creativity. The best example is a video that Alem posted where he uses the metronome as a tool to freestyle at different speeds, like this. I’ll include his video in the description below because it blows my technique out of the water. But the metronome can be a great tool to inspire creativity in beatboxing.
Well, that’s what I’ve got in terms of metronomes. What ways would you suggest? Leave a comment below with questions and ideas and subscribe to the channel for more content. And give this video a thumbs up to help out the channel. Thanks for watching YOU Can Beatbox, next time we’ll be learning the hollow clop whistle [demo].