Metronome thru headphones, but sound thru speakers???

[BillC]

I play a PSR-950S keyboard and was hoping someone could tell me if there is any way to have only the metronome play thru the headphones but not through the keyboard's speakers and at the same time have all the over rhythms and sounds go through the keyboard speakers?  I want this so I can keep time without others having to hear it. 

For instance a song has a keyboard solo intro without drums or accompaniment and then the band kicks in after a few measures - of course its all got to have the same timing.  The flashing rhythm light just doesn't seem to register in my brain like a click track would, but using the click track thru the speakers with the keyboard solo is not the effect I'm hoping for.

Thanks in advance.

Bill

[Mjm]

Hi Bill,
I was playing for my nieces wedding a few years ago, and on one of the songs, I needed a click track to stay on tempo. The only way I could figure out how to make it so that only I could here the metronome, was to buy a digital metronome with a headphone jack. I plugged in a set of earbuds, and put one of the buds into my ear, and left the other ear open so I could hear myself playing. It worked out ok, but, I only had to use it on one song. Good luck,  hope this helps. 🙂

-Mark

[BillC]

Thanks Mark.  I never thought of that.  I guess to sync the metronome with the keyboard is easy enough; just make sure they're both set to the same BPM?
What brand of metronome did you use and would you recommend it?

Bill

[rapaz]

I use a metronome app I found on the internet. I put it on my cell phone and listen to it on my Bluetooth headphones. I just sync it to my board by starting the board in time with the metronome. The app is 7metronome.
Have fun!

[mikf]

For some solo players keeping time can be difficult when they are playing a classical piece with no rhythm section. For example a violin player learning a piece with no accompaniment. In those cases using a metronome can be helpful for learning, but as you are just practicing it doesn't matter that others can hear it since there are no others. But when playing with styles, I honestly think this is the wrong approach, and maybe a bit weird. You need to train yourself to keep time without the metronome. Tap your foot, hear the rhythm in your head ... whatever. It should be pretty natural. Playing with a style makes it very easy. After all, why should you be able to hear a metronome better than a drumbeat???.
Mike

[Toril S]

I agree with Mike on this. Listen to the style and practise to play along with it. Not easy to sync an outside metronome with the style!

[BillC]

I know what you're saying about practicing with a metronome until its in my head, but when I'm actually get up in in front of people I lose all my marbles. Ha ha!  Not that that happens a lot - the playing in front of people part, I don't know how many marbles are left in the bag .  Anyway...

So I tried the 7Metronome app. Set both the keyboard and app to the same BPM and then tried to hit them both simultaneously - they were out of sync.  But, when I started the app and began playing the tune when I hit the start for the drum track it was spot on! That is what I'm looking! Thanks Mark.

Then I set my 2nd foot pedal to "tap tempo".  I started playing the tune and in the measure just for the drums kick in I tried to tap the tempo using the foot pedal - hilarious! It's a toe-tapping tune (~160 BPM for I Feel Fine by The Beatles) but not the way I was tapping it ha ha.  It's just a cheap on/off pedal so I don't know if I can shorten the stroke to tap faster.  My left index finger isn't much of a tapper either when my right hand is busy.  Oh well .

I'll just need to find more time to practice and get used to playing in front of people again.  In the meantime the external metronome is working for me.

Thank you all for responding . 

Bill

[Toril S]

As long as it works it is fine

[mikf]

I don't think it's got much to do with playing in front of people. You need to be able to 'feel' the beat. The foot tapping that people do is less about staying on time and more an irresistible  urge because they feel the beat. It comes naturally to most, just watch people dancing, they may be useless dancers, but nearly all stay on the beat. But if it doesn't come naturally you have to develop it.
The first intro is not usually much more than a lead in and should get you started on the beat. I honestly think that all this over complicated messing with metronomes is likely to distract you from learning to 'feel' it.
Mike

[Mjm]

I agree with the people who say that it's better to practice, until you don't need a metronome to stay on the beat. Keep working at it, and I'm sure you will get it. 🙂
I only used the metronome for one song, where I was playing along with a midi file I had recorded. There were no drums, and I didn't have that much time to practice before the wedding. Plus, it was the song my niece was walking down the aisle to, so I definitely didn't want to screw it up! 😅 As a rule though, you are much better off not using a metronome when playing live.

[panos]

Hi Bill,
may I ask why do you need to tap the tempo before the style starts?

All I am saying is that you play your guitar solo riff and then push the start button or play a chord with the sync start button on.The style is going to play at 160 bpm(as long as you have saved a preset style as a new style to play that always play by default at 160 bpm).
The "tap tempo" option will give you a relative right tempo not an accurate and absolutely correct tempo.
Don't forget that this kind of buttons(on the s950) are not that easy to be pressed and sometimes you need to press them twice to take the order. 

Another option that I can think of, is to take the Intro 1 of a style that has those drum sticks a drummer holds and give the rhythm by hitting them together and put them in your style.
They are only one bar long but you can use style creator to add more (empty) bars to the intro before main A comes in.

Another way is if you cannot count in your head at 160 bpm maybe you could count half of it at 80 bpm to keep the right timing? 

And a last thought is that you could play the guitar solo along with a bass or guitar sound that they are in a much lower volume(Copy-paste them from main A to Intro A for some measures) in the background and can give you the rhythm.

By the way the song is this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrAV5EVI4tU
at aprox 180 bpm
https://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm
https://songbpm.com/searches/the-beatles---i-feel-fine

[mikf]

As Panos says, you dont need to tap your feet or count at 160 bpm to keep time. Almost no one does, typically they would tap every second beat so its comfortable.
I dont think this is your problem though. Keeping time comes as a natural thing to most people, like throwing a ball. For most, the foot tapping or general body movement in time is more of an inability to resist the beat, than a way of staying in time. You need to develop that internal feeling of not just being on the beat, but also in time. They are not the one and the same thing. Being in time is more about knowing without thinking or counting when the first beat of the bar is coming. Even when there is no actual obvious beat - like in rubato playing - musicians should still feel that first beat of the bar coming. Thats how people can accompany rubato vocals and still all stay together. Think about how jazz players can stretch, shorten, delay and advance notes and phrases - but still everyone stays together and in time. Obviously they have honed this natural ability to a high degree, but truthfully I found most people can handle it to some extent without thinking.
I am going to bet that you are not much of a dancer, because that is typical of people who have no built in sense of timing. My father was a great example, he had quite a nice singing voice, and stayed on the beat, but could never stay in time. I can hear the same thing with one or two of the people who post vocals on this forum. They typically stay on the beat, but cannot hear the start of the bar coming and wait for it. They plunge in to fill the gap, on the beat but not in time.
People with that built in sense of timing are the exact opposite, they find it almost impossible not to stay in time, and to most, getting out of time sounds like chalk squeaking on a blackboard.
Problem is how to develop this when it doesn't come naturally. My mother was an amazing and very keen ballroom dancer, and it drove her crazy that my father would not dance. He didn't like it, and felt foolish on the dance floor, because his body just had no empathy for the beat of the music. But after much persuasion he went to ballroom dance lessons. It helped a bit. Maybe something you could consider. For a musician it is essential to have that timing feel, and you just need to work on it until it is second nature. 
Mike