I am thinking of buying a metronome. There are some models with an accent beat that sounds different from the other “regular” beats. Does this beat signal the start of each bar?
Also, when playing music, is the start of each bar supposed to get a slight emphasis - like an accent beat?
Yes, the metronome generally will “accent” the first beat of the bar. Some will accent any beat you want. The all around best metronome is probably Dr. Beat.
As far as accents in music, the first beat usually gets the accent. So in a jig you’ll have 123 _1_23…
Cheers,
Aaron
Thanks Aaron!!! So then, in playing music, only the first beat is accented. I noticed that you italicized the second “1” though.
Is music played:
123123123123
or is there a subtle accent at the start of every bar such as
123_1_23_1_23
I recommend you buy one of the old antique style metronomes, in the wooden case with the lead weight on a stick, that you wind up underneath and they look like some sort of strange pyramid thing.
'Coz you’re only going to play along with it a coupla times - then you’ll get fed up and go back to tapping your feet to keep time, or you’ll let the bodhran player back in so long as he behaves himself and doesn’t keep going on about goats again.
Of course the really old ones don’t go 1,2,3,4, they go I, II, III, IV, and they won’t be A=440 but at least it’ll look nice on top of the bookcase or the tv or whatever.
Much better than one of those little plastic ones that looks like an oven timer or maybe a pedometer.
Wow, one of those small ones would make a great pedometer, wouldn’t it? Clip it on your belt and go for a walk round the nearest shopping mall, but you have to walk in time to the clicks! All the while smiling in a creepy fashion at the security men. Or change it to 3/4 time and drag one leg.
Try it. You’ll like it.
I know I did.
J.I.
I feel so much better now… 
I italicized that one because the first note usually gets a little bit more accent than the other notes though the first beat gets more. Even when playing a tune round you don’t want all of your notes dead even. So maybe I should have written **1**23 _1_23…
Because I play GHB in pipe bands the first beat is always on the left foot when marching. So the left foot will have more accent than the right. And the first beat of a phrase (most tunes have 2 bar phrases) will have a bit more accent than the first beat of the second bar in the same phrase.
So try 123 _1_23, 123 _1_23, [u]1[/u]23 _1_23, **1**23 _1_23… as a way to look at it. To give more expression you want 3 accented a little more than 2 but not as much as 1. The same is true in reels so that 1 is the most accented, then 3 with 2 and 4 being not as accented.
It’s kind of muddled in writing. I hope it makes sense.
Cheers,
Aaron
On the belt?!? No wonder mine stopped working on the first step. 
djm
You can use your computer as a metronome, using metronome software.
There is a wonderful program called The Weird Metronome (link),
which lets you program all kinds of rhythms, with programmable sounds,
all very simple to use, and it is free. It uses the midi facilities of the PC.
Ok, I’ll give it a try but I don’t think I’ll be able to walk far with my pc clipped to my belt!
J.I.
Of course on the belt - what were you thinking of? Otherwise you’d need two, one for each foot!
j.i.