Fast fingers

Nooboy · #1 03-21-2008, 03:55 AM

Hi all,Don't know if this has been posted before but ya, i'll ask it anyways. I've been trying to play a certain bass riff that is @ 120 BPM in semi-quavers.All notes are straight, meaning on the 1 e + a. I've been using a metronome to train but i keep getting stuck at 88 BPM mark. I find that i cant progress from there. Any of you dudes have suggestion of how i can fix this?

The BurgerMeister · #2 03-21-2008, 04:12 AM

turn the dial on the metronome to 92 BPM?

when i practice with a metronome, i always take a moment to get into the "groove" of the metronome's beat before playing a note. like, i'll just listen to the beat and bop my head along with it, imagine a drummer playing a solid groove, imagine a song, whatever... but i wait until i'm feeling the tempo before jumping into trying to play the tempo.

basically, i try to remember that the point is to make music, not just to exercise, so i try to create a very musical context for myself to practice in.

Nooboy · #3 03-21-2008, 04:18 AM

hey,thanks lots for your reply. At 88 Bpm , i start screwing up, like my fingers start to miss notes and stuff, i force my fingeres to go faster and they cramp. I noticed that as the BPM goes up and i force my fingers to go faster(or harder?) my fingers take pretty big strides, and reminding my self to keep the gap close works sometimes, but still, at the 88 BPM mark i still keep screwing up. Any suggestions?
thanks

The BurgerMeister · #4 03-21-2008, 04:40 AM

my first thought is that you should slow down. it sounds like you're losing your accuracy when raising the tempo. i'd start slow... achingly slow, actually... and work on your accuracy. make sure all your notes are in time and sound good and fat, and work your muscles up.

it may be annoying at first, but you'll find it takes much less time to achieve the desired result if you start slow and take it one step at a time.

The BurgerMeister · #5 03-21-2008, 04:42 AM

make sure you can play the line at 60bpm. once you can get through it, say, four times with no mistakes, move the metronome to 63bpm and repeat the process.

you'll be at 120bpm much sooner than you'd have thought, and your hands will thank you for it.

pedroims · #6 03-21-2008, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The BurgerMeister

make sure you can play the line at 60bpm. once you can get through it, say, four times with no mistakes, move the metronome to 63bpm and repeat the process.

you'll be at 120bpm much sooner than you'd have thought, and your hands will thank you for it.

+ 1

I remeber when 60bpm was hell to fast for me, but helped alot to improve my accuracy, I am still practice the same way, when I learn a song I play it really slow and gradually speed it up.

D.Don · #7 03-21-2008, 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nooboy

hey,thanks lots for your reply. At 88 Bpm , i start screwing up, like my fingers start to miss notes and stuff, i force my fingeres to go faster and they cramp. I noticed that as the BPM goes up and i force my fingers to go faster(or harder?) my fingers take pretty big strides, and reminding my self to keep the gap close works sometimes, but still, at the 88 BPM mark i still keep screwing up. Any suggestions?
thanks

Go back to about 60-65 somewhere, and take it from there, have a look at how your fingers are set on the fretboard, if there's a way to improve that, do that, and then just practice stepwise and increase tempo with 3-5 bpm per step starting on like 60-65 as mentioned.

D.Don