Speed help

[homers]

Hi
I have been looking at Billy Sheehan playing his solos. I was wondering if anyone could tell me an effective way to really speed up my plying on my right hand? Thanks.

Also, anyone know if there are Niacin bass tab books you can buy?

[VanillaO]

Practice. Get a program to slow things down so you can play along, and learn to play that fast, and then when you've got it down, speed it up, etc etc.

[tZer]

#1 tool for improving speed = metronome and practicing slow. It requires self-discipline, patience and a focus on the goal, but it work almost 100% of the time.

You wanna go faster? Play it slow - really slow until you get it perfect - then notch up that metronome a BPM or 5 and do it again. Lather, rinse, repeat until desired results are achieved.

[homers]

Hi, I have been looing at metronomes. What one do you think I should download?

[thewanderer24]

Originally Posted by homers

Hi, I have been looing at metronomes. What one do you think I should download?

Any metronome is fine as long as it meets three criteria:

1. You can hear it over your own playing (perhaps to the point of annoyance when you are getting used to playing with a 'nome). If not, you will be missing the point.

2. You can easily adjust to whatever tempo's you want.

3. It can be used easily in your normal practice location.

Any other features are not essential.

[homers]

Hi
I downloaded Desktop Metronome. Is this good? Also I am learning Teen Town by Jaco Pastorious, what bpm roughly should I det it for slow practise?

[thewanderer24]

Originally Posted by homers

Hi
I downloaded Desktop Metronome. Is this good? Also I am learning Teen Town by Jaco Pastorious, what bpm roughly should I det it for slow practise?

if it meets my 3 criteria above, it is good.

You should slow it to whatever speed you can play it cleanly at. Get comfortable, then bump it up a few BPM until you can play cleanly there. Rinse and repeat until you are at the tempo you want to be.

[tr68gt]

I downloaded one called "Weird Metronome", it's free, and pretty versatile. You may want to play around with it a while to check out some of the features, but it's pretty simple.

[tZer]

Originally Posted by homers

Hi
I downloaded Desktop Metronome. Is this good? Also I am learning Teen Town by Jaco Pastorious, what bpm roughly should I det it for slow practise?

SLOW! Set it as slow as you can tollerate, then cut it back 5 bpm. Start running your exercise and be ultra critical of your technique. If you flub or falter, DO NOT increase the speed. Do it until you can play the part without errors, flubs, falters, NO "ok - I missed that one note, but otherwise..." - nothing. When you get it at that pace, increase your nome a few (5 or 10 bpm) and start over.

The rule is DO NOT INCREASE UNTIL YOU NAIL IT AT THE CURRENT SPEED. Anyone can cheat and anyone can "permit themselves a miss here or there" but if you really want to nail it, be your own harshest critic.

ALSO - I would recommend getting a little, battery powered metronome you can keep in your case. That way you don't have top be near your computer to practice properly.

Finally - if you are working on exercises like scales, arpeggios or Teen Town - always use your metronome.