Coordination between two hands

[Macher]

Hello,

i realized lately that i really need to improve my hand coordination. Especially (but not only) on fast tunes, i loose coordination and my right hand strikes before the left is totally in place. The results suck. I loose my sound and the overall playing isn't clear at all.....

My teacher told me to practice hammer-ons and pull-offs to improve my coordination but admits that he doesn't have a lot of exercices to give me.

Do you guys have the same kind of problem? what do you do about it?

Thanks!

[HomeBrewTJ]

practice.

[JazzDude]

Originally Posted by Macher

Hello,

i realized lately that i really need to improve my hand coordination. Especially (but not only) on fast tunes, i loose coordination and my right hand strikes before the left is totally in place. The results suck. I loose my sound and the overall playing isn't clear at all.....

My teacher told me to practice hammer-ons and pull-offs to improve my coordination but admits that he doesn't have a lot of exercices to give me.

Do you guys have the same kind of problem? what do you do about it?

Thanks!

Sounds to me like you're playing beyond yourself. If you're sloppy when you play fast, you're probably sloppy when you play slowly. You need to slow things down until you can play it cleanly. For any passage, there is a tempo at which you can play it cleanly.

Pick a tune or exercise you're having problems with, and isolate it in 1, 2, or 4-bar sections. Find that tempo where you can play it cleanly - even if it means turning 16th's to quarters at 60bpm.

I had a sax teacher who said you should be able to play something 5 times in a row with no mistakes and no slop. Once you can do that at a particular tempo, bump the metronome up. One thing I've learned is you can bump up several increments at a time if you feel good, but if it gets sloppy, immediately drop back to the original setting, play it, and then move more conservatively.

To tell the truth, the 5x rule is a pain in the ass. I cheat and make it 3x when things get excruciating, especially on long passages.

[Sam Sherry]

Originally Posted by Macher

My teacher told me to practice hammer-ons and pull-offs to improve my coordination but admits that he doesn't have a lot of exercices to give me.

Don't overlook the obvious: Practice pulling-off each note with each finger. Like

{Pluck}Bb 1 {Pull to} G {Pluck}B 2 {Pull to} G {Pluck}C 4 {Pull to} G {Pluck}B 2 {Pull to} G {Pluck}B 2 {Pull to} G

over and over and over. Da-ga da-ga da-ga da-ga da-ga da-ga da-ga until it's time for dinner. Then after dinner start on B and go to Db.

The goal is to enable you to pull off, in time, at any tempo, with any finger, theoretically on any string, any time the music benefits.

[Marc Piane]

Originally Posted by JazzDude

I had a sax teacher who said you should be able to play something 5 times in a row with no mistakes and no slop. Once you can do that at a particular tempo, bump the metronome up. One thing I've learned is you can bump up several increments at a time if you feel good, but if it gets sloppy, immediately drop back to the original setting, play it, and then move more conservatively.

This is the exact method I use with my students. It takes patience. I have my students keep a journal. Keep track of your metronome speed in you practice journal. Over time you will see that metronome marking get bigger and see your progress.

[Tbeers]

I don't see what hammer-ons and pull-offs have to do with this.

Set aside an hour to practice, and pay careful attention to what each hand is doing and in what sequence. Ideally you should use each hand efficiently, and pluck with your right hand as soon as the note is fully stopped with the left. This makes sense. Sometimes things get messed up when you're shifting or crossing strings, because that takes extra time for your left hand. This also makes sense. Just spend time practicing and pay careful attention to what your fingers are doing. Take nothing for granted! It could be that you are using your left hand inefficiently. Let's say you have a note stopped with your second finger. Where are your third and fourth fingers? Are they close to the string and ready, or are they hovering somewhere far away from the fingerboard? If they're far away, then you're wasting time and energy. This will slow you down and lead to sloppiness.

In point of fact there could be a thousand reasons why you get tripped up when you try to play fast lines. Find a teacher who will watch you play and mercilessly pick apart your every movement. And mercilessly pick apart your own playing when you're practicing! There's no substitute for persistent and harsh scrutiny in practice/lessons. Obviously the goal is that you don't have to think about this stuff when you're on a gig.

[Ed Fuqua]

Playing fast isn't just about physical approach, it's about hearing fast too. It's FAR easier to play stuff you know faster than stuff you don't know. Likewise if you hear a line at that tempo and know what specific pitches you're going for ( and not just this wash of sound), you're going to have a better chance of nailing the note with both hands.

[Tanglehead]

Macher -

While I don't have any specific exercises for this, one thing I'd suggest to keep in mind would be that while you're practicing anything - scales/arpeggios, walking, solos - think about going slowly at first and sustaining each note you play as long as possible. This will force you to get to and close the next note as quickly as possible to keep it in time. It may seem counterintuitive at first, but eventually you should become much more aware of an increased precision in your LH approach, whether you're playing fast or slow. (If you play everything with a separation between notes, you may be giving your left hand more time to find and close a note than you really have in the context of the music you're playing, which would tend to throw off your R to L coordination.)

Along the same lines is the concept of pre-visualizing where your LF needs to be to close the next note (not to mention hearing it in your head before you get there...) Take things very slowly and imagine in your minds eye and ear the next note you need to play.

After you're worked on a sustained attack for whatever you're practicing, do the same excercise with varied levels of sustain, from long tones to staccato notes with rests in between.

Just another thought on how to possibly improve coordination, anyway... seems to work for many of my students.

- Tanglehead

[Jeff Guevin]

I had a little bit of coordination trouble when I came back to DB after some time off. Turns out I was squeezing with my left hand too much. The exercise of playing with the bass perfectly upright and using the bass's weight to pull the strings into my fingers, with no thumb pressure at all, did the trick for me after about a week. It also did great things for my shifting into the upper registers and my stamina.

In other words, your left hand can have trouble keeping up if you're using it too much like a clamp. I think all the exercises people have suggested will really help, but if you in fact have a specific physical approach issue like mine, correcting that might make a lot happen for you very quickly.

HTH.

-Jeff

[Macher]

I might have dramatized a bit my problem but i do feel i need to improve my coordination. I practice a lot (about 30-35 hours a week) but i just want to be shure that i practice the good stuff.

Like you guys said, there can be a lot things that make you sound sloppy. In my case, i don't think it is a problem about hearing the notes I want to play. I feel like it is a physical problem; how i play what i hear in my head. It is really frustrating not to be able to play what you hear!! I'll try everything you guys told me. I feel that i will get trough my problem by practicing slowly, keeping my fingers close to the fb and just being aware of what my body is doing!

comme on dit par chez nous; Un problème bien défini est un problème à moitié résolu. (A well defined problem is half solved)

Thanks and if you have other suggestions, i always keep my ears open!

Jérôme

[Ed Fuqua]

Originally Posted by Macher

In my case, i don't think it is a problem about hearing the notes I want to play...It is really frustrating not to be able to play what you hear!!
Jérôme

Well certainly do what you want, I have NOT found this to be the problem. Without fail, anytime that I have been unable to execute a line (either playing or singing) it's because I don't hear it with enough clarity. If I hear the note, hear it where it is placed rhythmically then lining up my left and right hands is not an issue. It's when I DON'T hear it that the left hand and right hand have problems.

[Don Higdon]

Originally Posted by Macher

My teacher told me to practice hammer-ons and pull-offs to improve my coordination but admits that he doesn't have a lot of exercices to give me.

"Each faculty acquires fitness for its function by performing its function; and if its function is performed for it by a substituted agency, none of the required adjustment of Nature takes place; but the Nature becomes deformed to fit the artificial arrangements instead of the natural arrangements." - Herbert Spencer
Herbie didn't play bass. He was a 19th century philosopher. He would like your teacher.
I believe you would benefit from the Alexander Technique, which is not an exercise or a thing to do, but a thinking skill one applies to all behaviors.
One of my students, studying trumpet at Manhattan School of Music, has found himself easing past old performance plateaus. Another student reports getting an entirely different sound out of his piano.

[hdiddy]

There you go again with that AT Mumbo Jumbo again DONO. JK! I've been neglecting to contact those references you gave me, and your post just wants me to do it soon.