Metronome app review: hone your musical dexterity and improve your timing

Introduction

Exactly as the name would suggest, this is a simple metronome app which contains a few different time signatures, including a 2/4 March, a 3/4 Waltz, and standard 4/4, enabling you to practice your musical skills and learn difficult techniques by starting at a slow tempo and gradually working your way up to full speed.

As a guitarist and musician in general, it’s always humbling when I come across an app like this because it reminds me of just how much I’ve neglected my hard practice sessions over the past few years.

If you want to improve your technical proficiency as a musician then a metronome app such as this is an absolute must-have for pinning down your chops and really adding a polished sound to your playing.

One and Two and Three and Four and...

This metronome app really is about as simple as they come; you’ll see a traditional style metal and wood metronome on the screen when you first start up this app, and to get it going all you need to do is swipe your finger left or right.

The number at the top of the metronome represents to current tempo in beats per minute or BPM, and you can easily adjust this by dragging your finger up or down the metronome accordingly.

I’m a little disappointed that Metronome only includes three time signatures: 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4, but simplicity really is the name of the game here and I’m very pleased that the sound effect is a wood block tapping sound rather than a shrill, annoying beeping as I’ve found in similar apps.

 

Make Sure you Start Slow

For those of you who don’t typically play in more non-standard time signatures, Metronome is going to be more than sufficient to help you improve your musical dexterity. I would recommend practicing as consistently as possible.

When you first start using this app, be sure to start at a tempo that is painfully easy for you; really drill the fingering patterns into your mind by playing over and over while gradually increasing the tempo by only a few BPM each time.

By practicing with diligence and consistency, and by really strengthening your low- and mid-tempo playing, you’ll notice that when you come to knock out some more challenging phrases, you’ll have established far greater muscle memory and you’ll be able to play with a lot more fluidity.

 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Reliable metronome with a basic interface
• Natural wood tapping sound effect rather than an annoying beeping
• Three time signatures are included

 

Cons

• No non-standard time signatures

 

Final Words

I recently got into the band Dream Theater in a big way and if any of you have listened to them, you’ll know that there are some crazy time signatures in there, so this app isn’t particularly ideal for me to nail those more exotic timings.

I will, however, say that this app provides everything you’ll need to start working on fingering exercises and slowing down tricky licks so you can fine-tune them and slowly get your playing up to speed.

This app is definitely a necessity for any serious musician.