Consistent Groove

By Sidney Joseph

One of the most important factors that all great drummers have, is consistency. Consistent tone, touch, technique, and especially consistent time and tempo. If you think about your favorite drummers, consistency is always a factor that draws our ear to them, and makes us aspire to be better players ourselves.

While playing along with a metronome in your practice does help, by reminding you of where consistent tempo is, it doesn’t actually completely change our internal sense of time. This is because the metronome is providing that consistency for us, we are not having to produce it ourselves. How we play without a metronome is actually a better indication of where our internal clock is really at. The reason that Backbeater is a great tool in developing consistency, is that it shows us what our actual playing tempo is, in real time. This allows us to have an honest assessment of whether or not we are playing consistently. It also allows us to be in control of the tempo and feel that we are wanting to produce, at any given moment in a song or groove. To me this is Backbeater’s greatest strength, and the reason that it is such a useful product.

In order to be able to play consistently with AND without a metronome, then the first thing you have to do, is get an honest assessment of where your timing is really at. Using Backbeater live while you play, as well as recording yourself to listen back after the fact, is one of the quickest ways that you can both get an honest assessment of your timing, and make progress towards greater consistency in your playing. That way you are getting live feedback in real time, and are able to assess your playing afterwards, more objectively. This is how many of the world’s greatest performers, whether in music or sports, are able to constantly improve their performance at a rapid rate.

So, if you really want to make progress, and really want to be more consistent in your tempos, make sure that you don’t only think about it, but do something to work towards it everyday. And use every tool available to you in this modern era, including Backbeater!

 Sidney Joseph is an international session drummer who has worked and performed with Gungor, Lacey Sturm, Dave Weckl and Richie Gajate-Garcia, among many others

Backbeater is a tempo monitor first, and a metronome second. By seeing the actual tempo being played, consistency can be learned easily. Buy Backbeater now!