Title says it all. I have incredible difficulty playing in tempo doing an outloud count of the tempo, in addition to playing the note and reading the sheet to know what note it is. For example, count of 4, with notes of 2 quarters, followed by a half, i would end up playing 4 quarters instead, following my outloud count instead of what the sheet says to play despite several hours of practice at this, and still cant get the simple ones right consistently. So I ask how do you all do it, as clearly your not counting out loud anymore when playing.

(If anyone cares, its for violin)

So you mean saying the count and playing at the same time? What kind of spartan teacher do you have?!

I am my own teacher following a bunch of violin for beginner books where basically every book says to count and play.

Normally, one would count the phrase out loud in time, after that attempt to sing it in time, and then sightread it; all mutually exclusive from one another.

Well, you're going to need to overcome normal human multitasking, as most people can actively only think of three +/- two things at once -- of which, they can memorize five +/- two of those activites, allowing a minimum of four things to twelve for things practiced. If you're just learning how to play, then you might just be trying to do too much at once.


I guess the best thing you can do is try to train yourself to do many things at once. One mental drill you can do is try to do two math problems at the same time (such as 8/128 and 4/84 doing one step for one problem, then changing to the other problem and doing one step, until you've mentally solved both problems). This will teach you how to sequence and multitask better. Outside of this, I'm not quite sure if there's a good drill other than to simply keep trying what you're currently doing.

I played violin for over 15 years, and I can't say I've ever heard of counting beats out loud while you're playing.
If you're just beginning and you need to read the sheet music for simple passages, I wouldn't even worry about that.

Just focus on playing the notes correctly, then try playing with a metronome.

There are tricks on how to "count" while you're playing, but if you're just beginning with violin you won't be needing them anytime soon.

Well the thing is I know the notes, its just I'm inconsistent in my playing the length of the note from quarters to eights and halfs and so on. So guess using a metronome is the way instead of counting?

Yeah, just use a metronome, and the rest will take care of itself. Over time you'll begin to notice yourself playing in tempo without needing a metronome at all. At that point, you'll find yourself counting in your head.

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I don't really count at all...I just think of all the notes in relationship to each other. "Ah, this one's a dotted quarter, so it's gonna get held three times longer than those eight notes I just played..."
Sometimes I tap my foot or sway/dance a bit to help keep time, but I haven't counted out loud (or in my head) in forever...
Pianist on and off for about ten years, lol.

Clapping the rhythm of the notes is a good way of learning tempo and timing, especially when dealing with syncopation. Also, knowing how time signatures work is essential. Here's a quick lesson: The top number denotes how many beats there are in a measure, the bottom number denotes the value of each beat.
As far as the bottom number goes:
1 = whole note (very rare to see this in a time signature, I don't think I ever have).
2 = half note
4 = quarter note
8 = eighth note
16 = sixteenth note

So, 4/4 time. Four beats, quarter note gets the beat.
6/8 time: six beats, eighth note gets the beat.

It sometimes helps to separate beats in half when counting. Instead of counting a 4/4 measure: 1, 2, 3, 4; count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. And last tip: Count a lead in measure aloud, or tap a lead in measure with your foot, and make sure your playing is consistent with your count in.

Metronomes are very useful as well, as others have pointed out.