tap

Watching your foot while playing is helpful. If you find your foot stall, then you don't own that particular passage. This is what I said a couple of tips ago. Now let's make sure you REALLY are in time. Set your metronome to the desired tempo of the song you're working on and place it next to your foot. This will help you to stay in time with your metronome by giving you a visual confirmation of the tapping of your foot. As you develop your awareness of what your foot is doing this won't be necessary, but this is a good way to get started.

Once you can tap your foot in time while playing (this takes practice in your formative years), it can be the best indicator of when your rhythm gets off. If your foot stutters or stalls, this indicates a part of the song you don't own the rhythm of yet. Practice this part of the song in isolation until you can comfortably play the passage without your foot hesitating.

P.S., it doesn't matter whether you tap the front of your foot (ball), back (heel), alternate between the two or tap both feet alternately... as long as something is tapping consistently.

Have a great weekend everyone!

If your foot stops or stalls while playing a passage of music, it’s a great indicator that your rhythm is off. Use it as the canary in the coalmine—when your foot dies, something’s wrong.