Aaron Jaxon argues that train-beat drum tracks beat metronomes for bluegrass flatpicking. The kick marks the downbeat while the snare hits 16th-note subdivisions, giving you more rhythmic context. He demos the difference playing "9 Pound Hammer" and recommends Frog Bots and a master playlist covering 40-180 BPM.
What if I told you that there's a tool that you can use in your flatpicking practice that is not only more effective than a metronome, but way more fun to play with than a metronome?
Well, there absolutely is, and that's what I'm going to be sharing with you today.
Hey there, it's Aaron Jaxon coming to you today. So one of the most important things that you can develop as a bluegrass flatpicking lead guitar player is timing. It is of the utmost importance in this style because most of the time when we're playing with a bluegrass band, sometimes we don't have a drummer, and the guitar, especially the rhythm guitar, fills a very, very important rhythmic role. So when you go from playing rhythm to playing a lead break or a lead solo, a big part of the rhythm falls out. So your timing has got to be really, really solid in this style. So the most common tool that people people use to develop their timing is a metronome. And if you're like most people, you probably hate playing with a metronome. The fact is that a lot of times it feels awkward, it feels clunky, and it feels really robotic. However, having some type of objective tool that helps us stay in time is important, and you want to do that. So that's what I'm here to share with you today. My favorite tool for developing rock-solid timing is a drum track. Specifically a train beat backing track. Now, if you're not sure what a train beat is, it's this. So you've heard that in a whole bunch of songs. If you've ever heard the beginning to Alan Jaxon's Chattahoochee, that's a train beat. Okay, and sometimes you'll hear certain bluegrass bands play with a drummer. Um, you know, back in the day, the New Grass Revival had a drummer. A lot of times if you hear like the Sam Bush Band, he'll play with the drummer. And so in that context, the drummer's doing a lot of train beats. It's that— here's why I love using the train beat to really develop your timing in the context of bluegrass flatpicking lead guitar. You get the kick drum that spells out your downbeat. But then that snare drum is spelling out your 16th note rhythm with an emphasis on the and. 1-e-and-a, 2-e-and-a, 3-e-and-a, 4-e-and-a. It's the ultimate tool for practicing bluegrass flatpicking lead guitar. With the metronome, it typically just clicks on the downbeat, and sometimes people will have it click on the upbeat. Now there are a bunch of different metronome apps that you can get that have multiple clicks and that even have 16th note clicks, but to me it always always sounds really robotic, and that's why I love a train beat drum track. Real quick, what I want to do is I just want to give you a side-by-side comparison of playing along with the metronome and playing along with a train beat drum track. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be playing at 100 beats per minute, and I'm going to go through and I'm going to play some really simple picking exercises. I'm then going to play just the A part of Big Mine, and then I'm going to play Tony Rice's 9 Pound Hammer solo from the Manzanita album. And I'm gonna play all of that along with just a metronome, and then I'm gonna play all of that along with a train beat drum track. And I just want you to hear the difference in the two. So let me go through, and again, I'm gonna do some simple picking exercises, a part of Big Mon, and Tony Rice's 9 Pound Hammer solo from the Manzanita album. And I'm just gonna play it along with a metronome, and that'll sound like this. Okay, so there we have it. I'm sure most of y'all have spent time playing along with the metronome that just clicks on your downbeat. It's a good thing to do, but it is not my favorite. My favorite is playing along with a train beat drum track, and that's going to sound like this. So I hope you can hear how much more effective that is, because again, I've got something to really keep me in time with those 16th note rhythms that I'm playing in my lead solos. and it's just more fun. And especially if you can get like a, you know, if you've got a big Bluetooth speaker or if you've got a headphone, you can put that in and crank it up. I mean, obviously don't blow your hearing out, but crank it up to where you can really hear it. And if you'll do that, it almost, it feels like it forces you to play in time, like it just drags you along and forces you to play in time. As far as where to get these tracks to play along with, right here, this channel. Just have the YouTube Premium subscription, that way I don't have to hear any of the annoying ads and I can practice as much as I want to. Now, my favorite tracks are from this channel right here. I think the name of the channel is called Frog Bots. They've got a bunch of different types of drum beats and drum tracks, but their train beats are excellent. They're so much fun to play with. Again, if you get YouTube Premium, you can practice along with this stuff ad-free as much as you want to. So those tracks are really great for tempos that are kind of at 100 BPM and above. Some other tracks I like are from this channel right here, and these are great for slower tempos. And when I I say slower tempos, I mean slower than 100 because it's a train beat, but the snare drum is playing with brushes and it makes it just a little bit easier to lock in with on those slower tempos. Now, if you would like to get a master playlist that I have put together of my favorite train beat drum tracks to practice bluegrass flatpicking guitar along with, that go from as slow as 40 beats per minute to as fast as 180 beats per minute, I have put that together for you. Check it out down in the video description and in the top pinned comment. So again, whenever I started practicing along with these, my timing got a lot better, my skills got a lot better, I just— my playing got a whole lot better. And I have seen this happen for my students over and over and over and over and over again. I hear this all the time, like, man, Aaron, playing along with these train beats are so much fun. So I want you to get the same results in your playing. So again, practicing along with these train beat drum tracks are not only more effective than a metronome, but they're more fun. Fun than a metronome. And if you will incorporate this into your daily practice, I promise you, you're going to have more fun and you're going to get so much better. Your timing is going to get better, your technique is going to get better, your overall playing is going to get better by practicing along with these drum tracks. I promise you. So again, if you'd like to get my little master playlist for these train beat drum tracks that go from as slow as 40 beats per minute to as fast as 180 beats per minute, check that out in the video description and in the top pinned comment. So as always, I want to thank you for hanging out today, and I'll see you next time.
