musician

musical equipment

musical instruments

Good steady tempo is critical to music. This is another fundamental that is abused frequently. Many individual musicians and groups as well, fluctuate tempo greatly while doing a song. This is hard to dance to, play along with, and even harder to listen to from the crowd's standpoint.

Practicing with a metronome, drum machine or even a record can often give you an idea of how good or bad your sense of tempo is. With a metronome like sound, you never have to guess who's gotten off tempo, because the machine is likely to be perfect.

A musician that can't hold time is like a curse to a band. Maintaining a constant, even tempo is critical to being a good musician.