How to Transition Your Band to Using a Click Live

Using a metronome (click) live with your band is a great way to improve your team’s performance. Convincing your team to use a click isn’t the easiest thing to do, but there are things you can do to make that transition as smooth as possible. First, let’s walk through why the transition is so difficult.
Two Types of Musicians
To adapt a John McPhee quote: There are two types of musicians — those who are overtly insecure and those who are covertly insecure. As creative people, musicians (and I include myself here) are a particularly insecure bunch. Making the transition to using a click typically exposes the worst of our insecurities. There’s nothing worse than being the one person on a stage who can’t play in time with the click. You’ll notice that resistance arise as a way to protect against those insecurities.

Following the steps below will allow you to move beyond those insecurities and equip your team with everything they need to succeed.
It’s Not About the Click
Often the resistance to using a click isn’t resistance toward a click itself, but it’s actually the overflow of frustration in other areas of life. As you are someone who is a leader for your church team, this is a chance for you to be a worship “pastor” not just a worship “leader.” How do you do that? By purposefully seeking out time with team members who are struggling with the idea. Talk about peripheral matters. How is their family doing? How’s work going?
You’ll often find in talking with them that there are other issues at play besides the transition to a click. Those issues often materialize in the form of resistance to change in general, or to the click track specifically. Often a few conversations and the implementation of the steps below can help smooth out that transition.
Let’s explore three practical ways we can help ease the transition to using a click.
Cast the Vision by Explaining the Why
If you have any hope of convincing your team to use click live, then you’ve got to cast a vision with regard to how much better things will be after the transition. Let them know how using a click will make their lives easier. I detailed eight different ways it can improve your performance in this article, “Why You Should Use a Metronome When Playing Live,” but I want to focus on just three here.
1. Stay in Sync

As an electric guitar player using a delay pedal in a band without a click, my right foot gets quite a workout. At the start of a song, I’m tapping the tempo and hoping to get it locked in before I have to start the intro. During the song, I’m constantly tapping to stay in sync with the shifting tempo.
When the band is playing to a click, I can pre-program my delays so they’re perfectly in time, or even sync my delay pedal to Ableton so that I never have to tap again.
Now that I’m with the click, song intros are no longer a stressful situation, and during the song I can focus on the performance and not my gear. With everyone on click, timing for specific effects and parts can be locked in perfectly.
2. Improve Transitions
If your band is using in-ears (this article details one of the reasons you should: “How to Use In-ear Monitors to Create a Silent Stage“), then adding in a click will greatly improve your transitions.
Imagine starting a song with just pad, without a need for the drummer to even count off the song. The vocalist can come in and even lead a few verses and choruses without any rhythmic element while staying in time. If you’re starting a song a cappella, you can even add cues and “hints” to your click track that help you start the song on the right pitch.
I worked with a band once that added pitch references to the count off for each song. They were already amazing vocalists in their own right, but the pitch reference allowed them to perform more confidently, especially on a cappella introductions.
3. Freedom

Drummers can find it challenging to chase wildly varying tempos from song to song. “Play this song at 120, and then immediately count off the next song at 85.” It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do. When you’re playing with a click, now everyone has the tempo, and whoever starts the song has the tempo to reference before beginning to play.
Using a click takes some burden off your drummer, allowing for more focus on the groove. It frees up whoever starts the song to know that they are starting at the correct tempo.
After you’ve cast vision to your team and explained why it’s beneficial to them to start using a click, you should make sure you’ve properly equipped them and offered every opportunity for training.
Equip with Resources
Does everyone on your team (including vocalists) have a way to start practicing with a click? If not, encourage them to download a free tempo app on their phones. They can download the free click tracks available here. You can even quickly generate your own click track out of Ableton Live for each song and share it with your team. Want to get vocalists accustomed to practicing with click? Render out the original song with a click added for them to sing along with.
The best way to get comfortable playing with a click is to try it and try it often. Get the reps in, and the comfort will follow.
Share Your Tempos
This may be the fastest, easiest way to equip your team, but start sharing tempos of your songs before rehearsal. If you use Planning Center, add the tempos to the songs beforehand and update them as you create new versions or arrangements of the songs. Ask your team to practice at home with a click at the exact tempo you’ll be using.
Giving them the information they need helps so that no one is caught off guard, and it gives everyone an extra opportunity to get comfortable playing with click.
Set a Timeline and a Deadline

Don’t make the mistake of moving too quickly to performing with the click. If you decide on Monday that you’re going to use click for every song on Sunday, then you can expect to be leading a solo set on Sunday, because your band will quit!
You’ve got to give it time! You’ll have to lay out a clear timeline for your team and attach that to a deadline for when you’ll start playing everything with click.
One of my favorite parts of speaking at the same conferences year after year is getting an update on where attendees are in their transition to using a click or tracks. It may take a year, but I frequently hear, “We finally got in-ears up and going!”
Then the next year, “We just started using a click with every song.”
And the year after that, “We’re finally using stems!”
It reminds me that you should take your time. Transition at a rate that is comfortable for your team.
After establishing your vision, here’s a 4-month timeline that you can adapt to fit your team:

Step 1
Use click on 1 song in rehearsal (4 weeks)

Step 2
Use click on 2 songs in rehearsal (2 weeks)

Step 3
Use click on closing song in service (2 weeks)

Step 4
Use click for every song in rehearsal (2 weeks)

Step 5
Use click on opening and closing songs in service (2 weeks)

Step 6
Use click on opening and closing songs and 1 other song during service (2 weeks)

Step 7
Use click on every song in service (2 weeks)

My guess is the timeline will likely be shorter for your team. I would expect that after a few rehearsals with click, your team will be itching to start using it in service. After a few attempts at using click during service, they’ll be ready to transition fully, and you might choose to cut the timeline short.
Commit to Your Deadline
I can’t overemphasize this point: You have to commit to your deadline. You may find yourself in a situation where, after walking through all these steps, there’s still someone who isn’t onboard.
If this is a decision you’ve made, and your leadership backs you up on it, then stick to it. Reiterate to the wayward team members this is a direction you’ve decided to go, and if they’re going to remain on the team, they must get onboard.
If you can clearly explain the reason why, equip your team well, and give the process time, eventually your team will be begging to use a click! Walking through this process will help make the transition smooth and bring your team onboard with the idea of playing with a click live.
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