I don't count no more - can't while constantly singing and playing and doing the pedal dance. I just follow the kickdrum. But I used to count by moving my jaw sideways a little so that the teeth clicked - could basically play a beat riff with them - till my dentist suggested I chew in my sleep and maybe need a plastic tooth guard thingy for sleeping...

I find playing the acoustic, I mean real strong rhytm playing, really improves time and playing groove. I had no acoustic for several years and I really started losing my right hand chops bad...got an acoustic and realized I had almost lost the skillz from the right hand...now I sometimes watch players and guess who also plays acoustic...our live band guitarist doesn't and his rhythm playing is satanically bad.