Sometimes I want to practice where I don’t have internet access so I thought a portable metronome might come in handy. I don’t need all the bells and whistles but get lost looking at all the models available on Amazon.
Any recommendations? Specific models?? Thanks for the help.
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Hi @expat48
I use two different metronome apps for Android and they do not require internet access. They are:
Name: Metronome
Source code: GitHub - thetwom/toc2: Metronome app
Price: free
The next is somewhat older:
Name: Metronome
Source code: wael/Metronome: Metronome App - NotABug.org: Free code hosting
Price: free
Both are available from F-Droid – the first one seems to be also available via Google Play.
Regards,
– Slim 
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Please forgive my ignorance, but how does a metronome help? How do you know what ‘tempo’ (is that even the right word) to adjust it to and how does that help to play the harmonica better?
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A metronome keeps your tempo regular. Keeps the beat. Its more about keeping a constant same tempo than a particular one. So your playing doesn’t speedup or slow down during a piece. It can also be used to get a particular tempo if you need to play with others so you can practise separately, then come together and play as one. Luke talks about ‘up to tempo’ meaning at the speed of the original recording. So if you want to practise for your debut on the foreshore you can ask them how many BPM beats per minute, they play a particular piece at. Set your metronome at that speed and practise.
Hope this helps.
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Hello @PapaCurly,
If you don’t know the BPM of a song, play the song and clap along to the beat. You do this for 15 seconds, multiply the value by four and you get the BPM.
To be sure, do this two or three times. You then adopt the value for your metronome or in the app recommended here.
Regards from Astrid 
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Thank You Toog and Astrid.
So, there must be a subconscious connection that’s made between the metronome and the pace that you play at, to somehow keep in time.
If I play some fast-paced rock & roll in my car, I tend to drive faster. Particularly as a young man, it earned me a couple of speeding tickets. Does that sound about right?
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I use a Korg TM-60 - this model includes a guitar tuner. And a simpler Korg model the MA-2.
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Thanks all! Jeff, thanks for the recommendation. That model is in my price range and seems to have what I’ll need. Anyone else use this one??
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I like this mechanical windup one. It looks cool. Its made in Germany. The tick is a nice real sound. About $100au at my local music store. Probably cheaper online.
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Going deeper I also use a simple Korg drum machine - the KR Mini Korg Rhythm. Sells for £69.
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[quote=“expat48, post:1, topic:17021, full:true”]
Sometimes I want to practice where I don’t have internet access so I thought a portable metronome might come in handy. I don’t need all the bells and whistles but get lost looking at all the models available on Amazon.
Unless you are determined to have a dedicated metronome, you might want to consider a metronome app for your phone. One app that has minimal bells and whistles, I downloaded free from the Apple App Store It is called ‘everbeat’. I suspect that a search in any app store will yield something similar. Good luck.
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@expat48 I used to have one of those Korg’s it’s great. A metronome is a simple tool so it’s mostly about what’s cheapest, though I must say I use the TAP feature ALL THE TIME and find it indispensable (which the Korg DOES HAVE.)
These days I use apps on my iPhone for it and I have 2 that I use. My go-to that I use most often is Time Trainer:
I think I paid a few bucks for that one?
And then Pro Metronome which I think I’m using the free version:
The one down-side to Time Trainer is it only goes to 260 BPM and some fast Bluegrass tunes are as fast as 320. You can always half it (use 160 to play at 320) but sometimes I wanna hear the true quarter note pulse and that’s when I usually use Pro Metronome instead.
Other than that I find Time Trainer a little easier to use personally.
One feature I love about both of these metronomes is the Timer. I have mine set to 5m so it turns of every 5m. I find that helpful because it’s magic to practice something for 5m/day. And it reminds me to take breaks which is also good for accelerating growth.
I don’t think the Korg has a timer built in like that? Of course you can set a timer, but I find I won’t, whereas it’s set by default in my app so I can trick myself into taking breaks / changing what I’m practicing.
The DOWN side to the a phone app is if you only have your phone and you wanna record yourself playing to a metronome you can’t do both with the same device. So here’s where I sometimes wish I had something like the KORG. But I’ll use my metronome on my phone and record myself on the computer or vice-versa.
More metronome pro tips here:
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WOW! Scatch that. @ManicCinema just taught me how to do both at the same time using the camera!
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