metronome- cant do it!

[Haldo]

i'm currently about halfway through the NLG beginner section and im now on the section that introduces working with the metronome. and to be honest i just cant do it!

im doing the chord progression C-Am-Em-G using strum pattern d-d-u-u-d-u

setting the metronome to 100BPM. tapping my foot to the beat throughout.

i can do the chord progression fine with just a single strum per chord, but when i start doing the strum pattern i just find myself drifting off the beat and when i stop strumming i realise how much my foot is now tapping out of sync with the metronome, its making me want to crash my guitar off the wall, it's so frustrating.

how long does it take to get your rythm right with using a metronome, id be tempted to just skip it but David Taub ranks it as one of the most important things you can learn so im sticking with it.

[ToadLC]

100 bpm is pretty fast. Slow it down to 60 - 70 and practice at that speed until you can do it well. Then increase your speed a little and do that. Pretty soon you'll be up to speed. It takes a while to get used to staying in time with the metronome.

[barockeva]

I've had a problem with metronomes too. You just need to not overthink it. Just let your body flow, and over time your mind will self correct itself to sync up with the metronome.

At least that's what worked for me, not sure if it'll be the same for you.

[ez-one]

I agree with Toad, slow it down to 60 or 80 and start there.

[VG_StratGuy]

I try not to concentrate on the metronome for every beat. Have it playing and use it to keep checking if your playing to fast or too slow. It's a reference point.

[august west]

H,
I am in the same place you are and it is nice to know someone else out there is struggling. 60 BPM feels so slow but when I get up around 100 I get lost. Oh well I guess I am not going to be SRV by sun up. As Davis says it is part of the journey right. I suppose my journey will be moving at a blistering 60-80 BPM for now. Keep at it brother.

[dereklovessublime]

i'm a beginner too but i've played drums in the past so i've got rhytmn down. some pointers, as mentioned above, slow it down a bit, not so slow where you get bored but slower. take the guitar out of the mix completely. try holding one hand a few inches above a table and tapping on the table for the downstrum and back up to your other hand for the upstrum just to focus on the down up pattern and keep time.

[yinx84]

I just arrived at the metronome section like you, and it's throwing me off big time.

I'm taking it slowly now, and I notice that I start to associate upstrums with pulling my knee up, just like I associate a tap of the foot with a downstrum. It seems to help loads. Is this an okay way of doing it? Or will it result in a bad habbit?