My timing is improving, ever so slowly. Here are the things that have worked for me...

1) DANCE to a recording of the song in question. Somehow, my *body* can find the beat when my brain/hands/feet can't.

2) JAM WITH A GOOD BASS PLAYER. When there's a bass player who stays on the beat, I can stay on the beat.

3) Practice things R-E-A-L-L-Y S-L-O-W-L-Y and count the beats. Then gradually bring it up to speed (especially for tunes on whistle).

Now, all these things help, but I still get out of sync sometimes. For those moments, I STOP PLAYING, and try to find the beat again before I start up. Sometimes I never do catch up, and I start, and stop, and start, and stop, and finally just quit and pray that everyone forgives me.

What I STILL haven't got the hang of is coming in at the right time in a song when I'm singing, particularly at the start of choruses and verses. Sometimes I get it right, and sometimes I don't, and I have NO CLUE about how to consistently hit it on the nail.

As I heard a pianist say on NPR this morning, "There's always something to learn..."

V