I've realised that my practice over the last 6-9 months has been about learning and really memorising a bunch of tunes so I can play them despite any distractions. It seems to be working as I now have a few favourites that I can play without having to think too hard. However when I listen to some of these tunes played for dances I notice they're slightly faster. Using a metronome to discover the difference my playing seems to be consistently at a setting around 100bpm. A steady dance tempo appears to be more like 120-125bpm.
As eventually I would like to play for dancers I want to use the metronome to nail my rhythm and crank my playing speed up the 20 or so bpm. Any tips or techniques on how to use a metronome to best effect to achieve this?