just thought of this after I put up pics of my ibanez herd. . .

after typing the last little blurb and thinking of how I spend my money, metronomes came to mind. when you use them they have got to be one of the best things you could ever spend your money on (or you can go here: www.metronomeonline.com . . free in browser metronome) provided you actually stick to using it. I'm guilty of not using it as often as I should personally speaking. . .I get this urge to toss mine out the window at times LOL

this will help you get the most out of your guitar as the biggest thing that will improve your guitar tone is actually playing your guitar and making the effort to sound better. with that being said, here's a sample drill I use: I start playing either a major or minor two octave scale, and go up four notes (with sixteenth notes). then I repeat the pattern from the second degree of the scale, going up another four notes. I keep going until I hit the highest note of the scale. I then repeat the process I did but I'm going down the scale instead of up.

I do this both clean to make sure my execution is spot on (distortion can be used to cover up playing mistakes to a degree), and then I do with with distortion to work on muting techniques so I don't sound like a cloud of mosquitoes by letting strings ring when they shouldn't

so what's frugalguitarist.com's opinion on metronomes? they're certainly not expensive (paid 35 bucks for mine) and when you actually use them to put in some work you get something that will improve everything about your playing that no amount of gear could ever get you IMO

My take, which I guess would be the official FG position , is that a metronome (or a drum machine) is an absolute necessity in a guitarist's practice arsenal. Not necessarily in oder to hit every single note in a 32nd note run at 120 BPM with absolute precision (I know I can't) but to ensure you can play in time well. In my opinion, the biggest sign of an amateur musician, no matter what the instrument, is the inability to keep solid time. I've actually got an article coming up about maximizing practice time and playing with a metronome is an absolute necessity.

Here's a little test for all you: think you've got skills? Take a song you're intimately familiar with. Any song, doesn't matter. Slow down the tempo way, way down and try to play it with a metronome. Are you rushing it? We guitarists concentrate so much on playing fast (especially when younger) that we absolutely neglect really understanding what it means to have good time.

I find that setting a metronome to the base rhythm -- four-to-the-bar, for instance -- locks me down too much, & I have to fight to not hit down on the beat. So when I have a click running, I like to make it double or more. (I blame Led Zep's "Ramble On," where you can hear the click at four to the quarter-note.)