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Developing speed - my way
- Thread starter sokolasty
- Start date
Lee Sklar used to practice by playing 33 RPMrecords at 45 RPM on his turntable. Thats 136%.
However, if you cant play it clean and accurate at 100% FIRST, then you are wasting your time.
However, if you cant play it clean and accurate at 100% FIRST, then you are wasting your time.
Hmmm i have to disagree a bit.
There is definitely something to shocking your system with a tempo that is too fast and then reducing it. The slower tempo feels much easier after a struggle at a faster tempo.
I would not recommend doing it all the time but I think it's a tool that can be leveraged.
On balance I have to side with @IamGroot on this question. You have to know the thing 100% before first. The only thing to be gained from 'overclocking' before you know the music is to expose, by faltering, the bits you know the least. The benefit is that you quickly discover the place(s) to focus your efforts.
Of course once it is known then there are some 'comfort at tempo' benefits to be had.
There's degrees of cleanliness and accuracy, 100% doesn't mean anything. If you speed things up awhile, then slow down and find it helps, keep doing it.
I agree, I would never use that technique before knowing the song. However, once I know the song but can't get beyond, say, 90% tempo, I find the overclocking technique helps me make tempo gains. Once I get to tempo, I then push on another few % and I find that helps me lock in better at tempo.
Maybe not for everyone but I find it a useful tool personally.
Surely something is accurate or it isn't? There are degrees of cleanliness I guess, but accuracy...? I'd have to pull the pedants card on that one!
Really? You think you can play more accurately than a computer calibrated to hit the notes within 0.0001s? There's degrees of everything, the phrasing "more accurate" wouldn't make sense otherwise right? Two different bassist can sound accurate but if you record and compare, you'll find differences always, subtle though they may be.
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Something is either accurate or its not. If it's not accurate then it's "very close". There are degrees of closeness, but not accuracy IMO.
Let's agree to disagree, no good can come from this discussion.
Yes agreed, considering your first two sentences are in full contradiction of each other it's probably best to think this one over some more.
The original bassist from the punk band Descendents, Tony Lombardo, used to play all down strokes. To get the speed he needed he would duct tape a bunch of fishing line sinkers to his wrist and play. Then, when he took it off he could go faster.
Apologies - from your post where you quoted Groot it looked like you were disagreeing with the 'know it first' part.
Not necessarily. You might want to pause and take a good look at your technique. For example, plucking or fretting with a severely bent wrist will cause that kind of forearm pain, because the muscles (in your forearm) that control the tendons that move your fingers have to work much harder. You should have plenty of strength in those muscles already because you exercise them all day, every day -- every time you move your fingers.
Added later: I just re-read your OP and noticed the part about using a thumb rest to dissipate the energy after plucking the E string. This suggests to me that you are plucking much harder than you need to, so that's a technique thing you might want to work on: It's a lot easier to play fast with a soft touch.
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I have been very focused on my technique for two decades. This is what works best for me. YMMV
If I need to increase speed on a piece, I play it at regular tempo and make everything is "perfect". If it isnt perfect, then I analyze all the things that go into playing the song and/or particualr passage and find out what is wrong - position, fingering plucking, not reading the music right, etc. If I cant play it perfect, I slow it way down to half speed and dissect everything. Then I speed it up gradually.
If you ever had a golf coach, you will understand this.
I find this is the most time efficient path to perfection. I do go to Youtube and play stuff at 1.25 and 1.5x when there is a good reason..
I find that playing stuff fast that I cant play perfect at normal tempo is counterproductive as I have to go unlearn/relearn
If I need to increase speed on a piece, I play it at regular tempo and make everything is "perfect". If it isnt perfect, then I analyze all the things that go into playing the song and/or particualr passage and find out what is wrong - position, fingering plucking, not reading the music right, etc. If I cant play it perfect, I slow it way down to half speed and dissect everything. Then I speed it up gradually.
If you ever had a golf coach, you will understand this.
I find this is the most time efficient path to perfection. I do go to Youtube and play stuff at 1.25 and 1.5x when there is a good reason..
I find that playing stuff fast that I cant play perfect at normal tempo is counterproductive as I have to go unlearn/relearn
Exactly. As they say, it isn't practice that makes perfect -- it's perfect practice that makes perfect. Every time you practice something at a faster tempo than you can play perfectly you are practicing errors.
Some say you’ve got to shake things up a bit to break out of a rut.
I say avoid the rut in the first place.
I say avoid the rut in the first place.
The question when playing fast is not if it's easier to play. The question is if you are playing it cleaner. If you start slow and gradually build up speed, you'll know if you are fluffing the odd note here or there. IE you develop your critical listen skills along with you muscle memory. If you take the sugar rush route of playing fast and a little sloppy, then slowing down to a more comfortable speed, you'll probably find, when your ears catch up, that you've picked up some bad habits along the way. Habits that can get in the way of further progress until you unlearn them.
If you slowly build up speed while making sure your technique stays good, you will develop skills that will work across everything you play. Slowly building up speed way past what the song calls for is a good practice. It means the tune will be deep in your comfort zone. Just jumping in at crazy tempos night make you feel comfortable when you slow it down. But it usually leaves you with some counterproductive techniques.
If you slowly build up speed while making sure your technique stays good, you will develop skills that will work across everything you play. Slowly building up speed way past what the song calls for is a good practice. It means the tune will be deep in your comfort zone. Just jumping in at crazy tempos night make you feel comfortable when you slow it down. But it usually leaves you with some counterproductive techniques.
