A metronome for guitar practice
The chord change and the picking hand fail at predictable moments. The click is what makes those moments visible.
Getting chord changes onto the beat
For most players the weak point is the downbeat of a chord change: the fingers need time to move, the sound gaps, and the bar stretches. A useful drill is one chord per bar where you deliberately do not strum the last beat, using it purely to move the left hand into position.
Once that motion is automatic at a slow tempo, you can start playing through that last beat while still arriving on time. Begin at 60 BPM and stay there until the gap is gone. Only then raise it by five. The goal is not the tempo, it is the disappearance of the gap.
Strumming patterns and subdivisions
Strumming is where the subdivision control earns its keep. With eighth notes clicking, it becomes obvious which click each down and up stroke belongs to. The habit of keeping the strumming hand moving continuously and only touching the strings when needed — ghost strumming — is easiest to build in that state.
For sixteenth-note funk patterns, push the subdivision to sixteenths. Be aware that a very busy click can drown out your own playing, so once the pattern is in the hands, turn it off and confirm the groove without it.
Speed follows accuracy, never the reverse
For scales and alternate picking, hold the rule: three clean passes before raising the tempo by five. Raising it early bakes in an inaccurate motion, and from then on you are rehearsing the flaw rather than the passage.
Near your ceiling the problem is usually tension rather than coordination. Dropping twenty BPM and replaying the same pattern while checking your shoulder and forearm gets you further than pushing through it.
Playing in time without the click
The point of all this is to play in time when nothing is clicking. So the final stage of any piece is to leave the click on the downbeat only and fill in the rest yourself. Eight bars later, if beat 1 still agrees with the click, you have built the clock.
You can go one step further by halving the BPM and leaving subdivisions off, which gives you a click every other bar and considerably less to hold on to.
Frequently asked questions
Which voice cuts through an acoustic guitar?
The wood block sits well with an acoustic while staying distinguishable. For loud strumming, the digital beep is easier to hear.
How often should I raise the tempo?
Only after three clean passes in a row, and only by five. Twenty to twenty-five BPM in one session is a productive day.