How to practise with a metronome
A metronome is not only a speed limit: used well, it builds a steady inner pulse. This routine works for any instrument.
1. Find the clean tempo
Play the passage slowly enough to play it perfectly, every note even and relaxed. Note that tempo.
2. Speed up in small steps
Use the metronome's speed trainer: add 2 to 5 BPM every two or four bars, up to your target. If it falls apart, step back to the last clean tempo.
3. Feel the subdivisions
Switch on eighths or sixteenths so every note has a click to lean on; then go back to the beat alone.
4. Take the click away
Set muted bars (for example two bars on, two off) or random mutes. If you land exactly with the click when it comes back, your time is your own.
5. Move the click
Put the click on beats 2 and 4 only (silence beats 1 and 3 by tapping them), as a drummer's backbeat; or play with a swing setting for a shuffle feel.