Find and listen to Jamie Oldaker playing "Wonderful Tonight" with Clapton. His hi-hat tells how to divide each beat and play REALLLLY SLOW in perfect time.
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any tips for slow playing technique
- Thread starter Malva kid
- Start date
not sure about the 'austerity' part (??? not sure it means what you think, or I just don't get it), but it's got all to do with patience
Patience and perseverance. Practice, keep at it, and... it'll happen. I promise 
Play the entire note. Not 5/8ths of it while spending the rest shifting up the neck. The full length of the note... Also, know the melody/lyrics. And don’t step on it. Have a pleasing tone that’s appropriate for the tune...
and stop trying to impress anyone with notes or licks. Impress everybody with how deep, spiritual and vital your line is... And if no one notices now, have faith that the right person, eventually will.
and stop trying to impress anyone with notes or licks. Impress everybody with how deep, spiritual and vital your line is... And if no one notices now, have faith that the right person, eventually will.
Ed Friedland showed me an exercise decades ago and I believe it's in one of his books. It's useful for working on playing fast as well as playing slow by helping you internalize tempos.
You need a electronic metronome that can go really slow, like down to 10, 20, 30 bpm. A cell phone or computer app will probably go that slow. If you can't find one, programming a drum machine to play a rimshot on the 1 of every bar will work, too.
Take a phrase you can play in your sleep, a major scale is a good choice. The idea is to focus on the time, not the notes you are playing, so the fingering has to be on cruise control.
Start the metronome using the click for the 1 and the other beats silent, so click-2-3-4-click-2-3-4, etc. So with the metoronome at 10 bpm, the actual tempo is 40 bpm, at 20 it's really 80, at 30 it's really 120. When using the drum machine/rimshot method, set it to the actual tempo. Try starting at an actual tempo of 40 bpm.
As you play quarter notes, make sure that every fourth note lands dead center on the click. Play at that tempo for as long as you can stand it, up to 5 minutes.
Now use the click as the 2, then the 3, then the 4 so:
1-click-3-4-1-click-3-4
1-2-click-4-1-2-click-4
1-2-3-click-1-2-3-click
Do each for 5 minutes if you can. Of the 4 patterns, you will find some really uncomfortable at first, for me the click on the 4 is the hardest.
Customize this exercise as needed by changing from playing quarter notes to eights, triplets, sixteenths, half notes, whole notes, then patterns with rests, patterns with syncopations, etc.
For getting comfortable with slow tempos, keep the metronome tempo way down. Try reducing the tempo further to see how slow you can go and still be accurate.
For getting comfortable with fast tempos, start with slow tempos and keep increasing the tempo every 5 minutes until you can't play without mistakes. If you do the exercise regularly you will find that maximum tempo will be higher over time until you reach your physical limits (not everybody can play quarter notes at 300bpm).
The other thing needed to play at slow tempos...relax! Take deep breaths, close your eyes and listen.
Good records to listen to for feeling slow tempos are Ray Charles recordings from the 50s into the early 60s, his band could play at tempos slower than most people who are still breathing could.
Here's a classic one and they hold that slooooow tempo for 7 minutes! Notice the stops, hits and backing singers are all perfectly smooth, not speeding up or slowing down.
You need a electronic metronome that can go really slow, like down to 10, 20, 30 bpm. A cell phone or computer app will probably go that slow. If you can't find one, programming a drum machine to play a rimshot on the 1 of every bar will work, too.
Take a phrase you can play in your sleep, a major scale is a good choice. The idea is to focus on the time, not the notes you are playing, so the fingering has to be on cruise control.
Start the metronome using the click for the 1 and the other beats silent, so click-2-3-4-click-2-3-4, etc. So with the metoronome at 10 bpm, the actual tempo is 40 bpm, at 20 it's really 80, at 30 it's really 120. When using the drum machine/rimshot method, set it to the actual tempo. Try starting at an actual tempo of 40 bpm.
As you play quarter notes, make sure that every fourth note lands dead center on the click. Play at that tempo for as long as you can stand it, up to 5 minutes.
Now use the click as the 2, then the 3, then the 4 so:
1-click-3-4-1-click-3-4
1-2-click-4-1-2-click-4
1-2-3-click-1-2-3-click
Do each for 5 minutes if you can. Of the 4 patterns, you will find some really uncomfortable at first, for me the click on the 4 is the hardest.
Customize this exercise as needed by changing from playing quarter notes to eights, triplets, sixteenths, half notes, whole notes, then patterns with rests, patterns with syncopations, etc.
For getting comfortable with slow tempos, keep the metronome tempo way down. Try reducing the tempo further to see how slow you can go and still be accurate.
For getting comfortable with fast tempos, start with slow tempos and keep increasing the tempo every 5 minutes until you can't play without mistakes. If you do the exercise regularly you will find that maximum tempo will be higher over time until you reach your physical limits (not everybody can play quarter notes at 300bpm).
The other thing needed to play at slow tempos...relax! Take deep breaths, close your eyes and listen.
Good records to listen to for feeling slow tempos are Ray Charles recordings from the 50s into the early 60s, his band could play at tempos slower than most people who are still breathing could.
Here's a classic one and they hold that slooooow tempo for 7 minutes! Notice the stops, hits and backing singers are all perfectly smooth, not speeding up or slowing down.
My first bass gigs were playing in acoustic duo, with no drums, so I was the clock. A really effective way to get inside the tempo and space of slower songs, IME, is to play the actual tune of the song on your bass, at tempo and phrased as a vocalist would phrase it, whilst imagining your bass part in your head. Not to be played with the group, but as an exercise in musicianship. YMMV
I wondered about that too ... but one of the definitions is:
- extreme plainness and simplicity of style or appearance.
This is something I also have a hard time with. I've got a bad habit of speeding up when I make a mistake, but I'm making mistakes because I'm trying to go slow...
What seems to work best for me is thinking "horizontally" instead of hyper-focusing on the downbeat. If I try to sing out the line in my head and keep my attention a bar or so forward, I seem to hit the downbeat with more precision than if I was locked on the metronome. Practicing with a metronome is a good time, but I like to turn it off and on so I don't get tunnel vision (hearing?).
What seems to work best for me is thinking "horizontally" instead of hyper-focusing on the downbeat. If I try to sing out the line in my head and keep my attention a bar or so forward, I seem to hit the downbeat with more precision than if I was locked on the metronome. Practicing with a metronome is a good time, but I like to turn it off and on so I don't get tunnel vision (hearing?).
Yes, but I still don't get it in the context of the OP. Never mind, it really doesn't matter
Record while practicing. Listen. Adjust. Repeat until it sounds and feels right, then do it a couple of more times. And then when it's actually time to play it, stop thinking!
+3. QFT.
Doing any exercises where you learn to play slightly behind the beat will do wonders.
For One More Night, I would Set a metronome to click on the 1 and 3, with the tempo quite a bit slower than the song. If I’m remembering the song correctly, the chorus has bump right before the word “night.”
One more night. ...
1e&uh 2e&UH 3e&uh 4e&uh
Then just for practice I would add stuff that isn’t there in the bass line, like accents on all the upbeats after the bump, to exaggerate the feel.
1e&uh 2e&UH 3e&uh 4e&uh (I may be counting 4 where others would count 8).
Actually now listening to the song Phil sings this pattern “I’ve been wait - ing here so long...” all upbeats in the verse. I’m not saying play this in performance, just in practice to get the feel. Never hurts to play along with the melody for practice.
In some ways the pattern of string of upbeats accents after a string of downbeat accents is like songs that turn the beat around, or songs that are in 7 for example.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.
Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean: play around inside open spaces and see what “feels” might be implied elsewhere in the song.
One more night. ...
1e&uh 2e&UH 3e&uh 4e&uh
Then just for practice I would add stuff that isn’t there in the bass line, like accents on all the upbeats after the bump, to exaggerate the feel.
1e&uh 2e&UH 3e&uh 4e&uh (I may be counting 4 where others would count 8).
Actually now listening to the song Phil sings this pattern “I’ve been wait - ing here so long...” all upbeats in the verse. I’m not saying play this in performance, just in practice to get the feel. Never hurts to play along with the melody for practice.
In some ways the pattern of string of upbeats accents after a string of downbeat accents is like songs that turn the beat around, or songs that are in 7 for example.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.
Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean: play around inside open spaces and see what “feels” might be implied elsewhere in the song.
+1. I’d just add one thing: record yourself. Listening to yourself after the fact will give you a much better idea of how accurate your playing is.
What's the drummer doing? A lot of times they'll be playing quiet eighth or 16th notes on a closed hat. Those are valuable clues you should be using to stay focused. Depending on the feel of the song, counting in subdivisions as was suggested is helpful. Count triplets if it's a 12/8 blues, for example, but for other time signatures you can just do "1-and-2-and" or something similar to stay focused, and break it down as small as you need. It can be "1-and-and-and-2" if that's more helpful. You don't need to actually count audibly in your head, foot taps are usually all I need.
By FAR for me the most important and difficult part of this is to stay focused. It is an exercise in mindfulness to remain present with the music and not let your mind wander off. It's also important to not let yourself get excited in turnarounds or more interesting parts of the song so that you speed up. Those, for me, are the areas that are critical if I want to put in my best performance and the places I sometimes find myself messing up when I am recorded.
By FAR for me the most important and difficult part of this is to stay focused. It is an exercise in mindfulness to remain present with the music and not let your mind wander off. It's also important to not let yourself get excited in turnarounds or more interesting parts of the song so that you speed up. Those, for me, are the areas that are critical if I want to put in my best performance and the places I sometimes find myself messing up when I am recorded.
No, no, it's good, it means the same in English (I am actually Spanish!
) I just didn't get your meaning on the original post, but it's probably more a reflection of my attention span and retention at the time (warm day, lots of cold beers... 
)
Just practice it really fast with a metronome, like 230 BPM or so. Then go slower 5 BPM at a time until you reach 50 BPM
I dont know what Lagado is going to say, but for slow, very precise quarter notes or qtr note rests in ensemble or big band, I used triplets sometimes as well. Half notes, I go two triplets = sextuplets.
It's more subdivisions than eighth notes and less than 16ths and it feels right for me.
It works for me as long as there are no other note values in the path.
Drummer reminded me of this for sight reading.
Also, putting the clock on the &, which forces you to control the time.
