Ultimate Metronome – Review
Reviewed By Shawn Bradshaw (Cyberfret.com)
rated (4 1/2 out of 5)

Ultimate Metronome

I often say to my private students; “If you have to choose between playing the right notes, or playing the right rhythms, choose the rhythms.” Rhythm and timing should be a key focus of your musical development, and the one essential tool to help you with this is a metronome. A metronome is a device that creates a sound at regular pace to help develop your timing.

There are a lot of different options out there from cheap barebones metronomes that sound like watch alarms, to expensive multi feature rhythmic stations that look like mission control. Another option is a cool piece of software called Ultimate Metronome that has some unique features not found on other metronomes, but at a barebones price.

Besides the basic function of making a sound at a regular rate, Ultimate Metronome has the ability to accent every 2 to 9 beats. This allows you to work with more complicated time signatures. You also have the ability to choose the sound of both the accented and unaccented beat. Most metronomes do not give you this ability. Ultimate Metronome has 7 high quality sounds for you to choose from; Side Stick, Snare Drum 1, Snare Drum 2, Bass Drum, Cowbell, Wood Block, and High Hat.

One very unique advanced feature is the “Speed Drill” mode. This allows you to add any number of beats at whatever interval you want. So if you want to increase the tempo by 1 BPM (beat per minute) every 2 seconds, you can do that. If you want to increase 5 BPM every 60 seconds, you can do that. This is great for warming up, or trying to push your self to get faster. I have never seen a metronome with this feature, and I have been making use of this myself.

Bonuses

• Ultimate Metronome itself is well worth the price, but the makers of this product have thrown in 6 bonuses that sweeten the pot even more.
  
  
• Learn to Read Music - This is a 9 page ebook on the basics of how to read standard music notation.
  
  
• Learn to Play Classical Guitar - This 65 page ebook is a complete method book on how to read music on the guitar, as well as how to play Classical Guitar.
  
  
• Improving Your Piano Playing - This is a 12 page ebook covering scale exercises, mixed rhythm drills, crossing drills, swing, blues and ragtime.
  
  
• Improving Your Guitar Playing - A 15 page ebook that includes string skipping, sweep picking, pedal point and alternate voice exercises.
  
  
• Easy Chord - A Windows program for looking up guitar chords. This is a pretty handy tool with a ton of chords.
  
  
• Scale Tool - This is another Windows program for looking up scales and arpeggios on the guitar, and the keyboard.

The Downside

A feature I would have liked to have seen in the Ultimate Metronome is subdividing the beat into 8th notes, triplets, and 16th notes. This can be done by speeding up the metronome and setting the accent for every 2, 3, or 4 beats. But then you have to do a little math to determine the actual speed of the beat.

The Bottom Line

I highly recommend the Ultimate Metronome. If you use this tool consistently in your practice you will see dramatic improvements in your timing and speed. My old metronome has been collecting dust since I have been using Ultimate Metronome. The speed drill feature is worth the price itself.

Find more info on the Ultimate Metronome website