I have often heard mention of a "click track" when people discuss performances, such as "I believe he was playing to a click track". Not being a musician myself, I've often wondered what exactly a click track is, other than what I imagine it would be which is a recording with a beat (or click) to play along to, ala a metronome.

Thanks in advance.

Your initial impression is correct!

Got it in one. Drummers sometimes have them playing through headphones so that they can keep better timing. It is quite common but doesn't necessarily mean they are not as good as drummers who don't use them.

T

True.

I believe Neil Peart(RUSH) does this live during "RED SECTOR A". He always has headphones on during the times I've seen him play this song.

To be more specific most of the time if a band is using a click trak it is because there is a sequencer with background parts programed in. Rush is a perfect example. On songs where Geddy plays the bass, the synh parts are coming from a sequencer. So Peart will kick off the sequencer and in his headphones is a click and change points so he can keep time with it. My old band used to use a sequencer a lot. We had background vocals, guitar parts, syth, all kinds of stuff programmed in. In addition to that we had 9 guys on stage so it made for a very full sounding band. The down side is you can't deviate from what you are doing unless you shut off the sequencer track...and depending on what you have in it, can make a pretty big hole.

And no, using a click doesn't mean someone is or isn't a good drummer or musician. Most bands use them in recording (or should at least) to keep things together. It's especially helpful when overdubbing parts. I don't think most people realize just how much bands speed up and slow down unconsciously when playing live, even if it's only fractional. Recording to a click will help keep everything solid and make it easier to layer things in.

Couple of anecdotes, one possibly apocryphal (although I'd like it confirmed)

1. I heard once that the engineers at Abbey Road used to love Ringo, because he played every song at the same tempo every time. Because of that they could splice different takes of the same song together without there being a noticeable change. If it's true, I don't think there could be higher praise for a drummer.

2. This one band I played with a few years ago had a super steady drummer. One day we recorded one of our practices. We did four takes of the first song we worked on. I took the recordings home and converted them to .wav format. The four takes were, respectively, 3:11, 3:12, 3:13, and 3:12. Pretty damn steady I'd say. (We didn't use a click-track...)

I believe kvrdave hands them out at Halloween.

Yeah I have played with some rock steady drummers over the years. There was never any speeding up or slowing down during live shows...and that was without a click track.