I've never known a person who actually practises with a metronome to slag them off.

To be a musician you need an ear for pitch and an ear for rhythm.

To be a good musician, Both need to be trained.

Time waits for no man ... but doesn't hurry him either.

If my cake is ready in 20 minutes, I don't want my timer going off in 15 minutes or half an hour.

Check out james brown or any other "soul" icons (as opposed to soulless contraptions) and note the absolute crisp tightness of the bands timing.

Each musicain can trust 100% themselves and their colleagues to be on the nail with every nuance.

That takes practice.

Muscle memory dictates that the way you practice is the way you will play.

There are thousands of musicians around who believe they have good timing - just as there are thousands who beieve they have the X factor.

If you practice by playing one phrase fast, then slow down for the next etc, you will do the same thing live.

If you want to train yourself to carry your own time that you can consciously choose to speed up or slow down as appropriate, then you need to work to achieve that.

There isn't a single renouned instrumentalist on the face of the earth who hasn't put the work in on both their tone quality and their timing.

This is a tip I am passing on that I have learned from considerable experience as a working musician who has played numerous contrasting styles of music on numerous instruments, ranging from west african polyrhythms to jazz to Irish melodies on numerous instruments.

I know my shit - you can take it or leave it - its no skin off my nose either way.

Whatever you do - I hope it does it for you.