I think so! And I fleshed it out to learn all your scales in a very short amount of time. Check it out: Learn All Your Scales in 24 Hours! th-cam.com/video/7aMJmXa_WKk/w-d-xo.html
@@BradHarrison really really thanks. I will keep practicing and your efforts are very much appreciated. Keep uploading. The support is great. From us and also from you.
I mean no disrespect to you, sir, but smooth is not the same as fast. Smooth may be a prerequisite, but that's it. Your statement literally means SLOW = FAST. This video seems like it is trying to convince us that there is some "hack" to playing fast. There isn't. Hours in the woodshed, friend. HOURS. That's what it takes. Starting slow is a great idea--have to give him credit there. But 10 minutes? Common, that's a warmup session.
@@BradHarrison could not agree more. Fast, consistent, and clean follows slow, consistent, and clean. Fast, inconsistent, and messy May seem easier at some level, but no one really wants or needs to hear that!
@@BradHarrison I also disagree with this. To play fast you need to practice playing fast. Just the way you build muscle memory to play “slow and smooth” you also need to build muscle memory to play fast. Prior to playing fast your mind and hands have no experience with moving the fingers quickly while also recalling notes on the fly.
One addition: go to sleep every once in a while. Sleep is when the brain processes new things learned over the last period of awakeness. This is when muscle memory is truly 'burned into' your muscles. If younstart getting stuck, take a break, get a good night's sleep, and continue the next day!
No, no you're obviously wrong. It says in the title, only 10 minutes. The video is 8:52 long, giving you 1 minute 8 seconds to crank out that 3000% speed increase. Let me try, I just plug in my guitar...fire up ableton, create a little 4/4 beat, right now...oh times up.
@@michael1 I think the 10 minutes is for the C major scale. Each scale away from C major gets an extra 10 minutes of study for each newly added flat or sharp. When you have 4 flats you have 40 minutes of extra study.
As a fledgling bassoonist of 4 years, I used this technique to learn the Bolero solo ( my go to technique for all my other woodwinds, professional musician of 30 years) It took me 4 months. I started with half notes, quarter notes, for note connections, tuning and physical positioning, and then I did roughly 50 speeds a day , digitally going up 1 number at a time. It pays to do the basics :) That took about 45-60 min a day. 3x's without mistakes helps you decide when to move up a level. And yes, I played the solo and was happy :)
This video has had a massively positive impact on my playing. I've gone from feeling like my technique was stagnant and never really got better to feeling a substantial improvement after every single practice session. It's so true that, even if we've all heard that you gotta start slow, we never start slowly enough. At first when I saw this video saying that you should start doing whole notes at 50bpm, I thought it was absurd, that felt way too slow, but after trying it it makes a lot of sense. I've been working on my legato playing by practicing trills with this method, and by the time you get to quarter notes you're already in full control of every single aspect of your movement. It's insane how useful this is. I can't thank you enough! I can't believe advice this good can be found freely available on the internet.
You are a genius. I have realised the the moment I started with 60 and I can see my muscle memory driving my playing after few rounds of practice. Thank you very much for making me realise why the fingering wasnt working out before.
This has produced a paradigm shift in my thinking. Not that I didn't already know about muscle memory, but the importance of playing every single note flawlessly is reinforced. This will definitely help me in situations where very often there's no sheet music for me to go on.
As a music teacher and musician I endorse this approach with a couple of addendums. Memorization of the sound of the music is essential but should go hand in hand with the development of technique AND more importantly, its not necessary to play at any tempo or it is possible to play with a 'flexible' tempo similar to the idea of playing rubato or without a distinct pulse while laying down the foundations. The more you play error free the quicker you can go. Final one. You need to synchronize your ears and brain to the speed of the music. If you can't hear it fast you won't be able to play it fast. By that I mean, be able to follow and hear the details of the music at speed. I find that it's just as useful to play one or two notes fast and then add another note at tempo and then another and then another making sure that each addition to the phrase is preceded by being able to play it error free up to that point. We are basically training our ears and brains too. So listen fast to play fast.
Yeah but this is video is scale and this method probably only works on scale, but playing slowly at first is something us musicians have to do anyways. When i learn songs i dont slow it down since i dont have anything to slow it down, and i wish i can since it’s really hard for me to play with 100% accuracy. Not that i never play anything slow i have and it was really ez after a few minutes
@@MrAflac_1 You have to internalize the song and once you have the music in your head you can start to manipulate the tempo. You don't necessarily need a program. However, there are a couple of online browser apps for transcribing and changing tempo. Easy is relative, depends on the complexity of the music.
I just stumbled upon your tutorial. I am a professional studio musician. I am 70 years old and have been playing the Saxophone for over 50 years. I use this method every practice session and this method works for learning anything new or for a refresher. Scales, arpeggios, licks, it doesn't matter... It is the only way to do it. Like you said you must use a metronome. If you are a woodwind or horn player it is an excellent workout for your embrouchure. Do not kid yourself, you must be patient and put the work into it. The hardwork really pays off though. When I was young I was inpatient and would try to rush through it. Believe me your brain can either learn it with mistakes or without. It doesn't know the difference when you practice with this method so slow down and learn it correctly. There is no easy way to learn it. This is the only way to do it. Put the work in and you will feel that great feeling of accomplishment and confidence. Confidence is everything.
This is the first thing I teach my children while playing chord switches only I start them at 60bpm whole notes 3x without mistakes, then move to 70bmp without mistakes until you reach 120, then go back and do half notes at 60 and repeat until the desired tempo is reached. It's also how I practice basically everything.
As someone who actually learns piano on an advanced level, I have to add that there are some caveats to this technique which in general is sound: 1st: The movements you do at a fast tempo are different then the movements you do at a slow tempo, you have to know what kind of fingerings and movements are required for fast tempo and mimic them at slow tempo, that takes a lot of experience. 2nd: “Muscle memory” does not happen instantly, the biggest improvements happen between practice session (PPP - post practice progress), that’s why working on more than one phrase at a time might save you time. The technique shown in the video is only necessary for super hard passages in vast majority of cases increasing the tempo by a large amount and then go back to slow tempo works better, is less dreary and more efficient.
Would tend to agree, Martin. I've discovered the same on guitar. As speed increases to 'shredding' speeds, things like pick angles (in multiple directions) becomes increasingly important in order to not become 'trapped' between strings, jumping over strings ("string skipping"), etc.
Came to the comments to find this. I think that most of the time you have to do exactly the OPPOSITE to what the video says, unless you already know very well the movements required to play something fast, as you said.
Correct technique is assumed. Fast playing requires specific technique, but that technique has to usually be practiced slowly at first too. You can play the piano with your nose at a slow enough tempo but clearly there’s a limit o that. When you need to adjust your technique, do so, then get back to working your tempo up at what lever speed you can do it perfectly. Whatever you do, don’t practice mistakes because you might learn them.
1 is a good add, a good analogy is that it is like running. You don't learn to run by walking faster, same thing with guitar or piano, sometimes you need to simply run. And the process to do that technique wise is different that what you use to walk. Picking on the guitar is a perfect example, it's totally different when you're going fast vs slow, you can ascertain this by listening to the Steve Vai videos or anyone like that, that will explain that they are different techniques according to speed
But you generally toddle and walk before you run. If you skip that step you’ll trip and make a mess. Sometimes tripping is educational but sometimes you just have to slow down and pay attention to what you’re doing.
This technique is what I needed. I am a beginner and my instructor challenged me with playing the Clark Study with low F sharps, low Gs, low As. I had a hard time even recognizing the notes so many lines below the staff. I was befuddled, intimidated and disappointed with my lack of skill. Now I played it as whole notes and it started becoming so much better! Thanks, Sir.
I'm intrigued... and I happen to being studying an elaborate 8-bar jazz arpeggio: 16 notes for each bar in a 4/4 tempo (128 notes) with a recommended metronome of 80. I finished memorising the right hand (it's a piano piece) yesterday evening and currently I'm slow and I make mistakes (there are several difficulties, a couple of them pretty remarkable...) so I will try your method, effective tomorrow or the day after tomorrow (today is new year's eve...) and I will be back 😊. A happy new year to you and to everybody 😊.
That’s the perfect thing to apply this to! You can modify the process to suit the task at hand. Maybe you don’t need to make the whole thing so excruciatingly slow, but a couple of the trickiest/awkwardest passages will certainly benefit. Good luck!
@@BradHarrison Dear Brad I owed you a reply and here I am: let's say that I'm definitively conquered by your method... it forced me to a number of repetitions I wasn't used before: much greater than usual. And that was good! Extremely good (😊)! I found out that my brain was much happier to learn the part at a slow pace (and constantly feel relaxed and confident) instead of having to hurry its way through bars I actually didn't remember as well as I should... so I currently feel stupid (for not having realised it earlier, on my own...) and grateful 😊😊😊. A nice week end to you and to everybody who love music (as we do 😊).
"How to practice" is one of the hardest things to teach sometimes. Thanks for the great video, makes perfect sense and I will try this practice technique on my students in the new year.
I use this technique a lot playing heavy metal guitar. And classical guitar can have some speedy parts too. I remember the first song I had to use this technique on, Take No Prisoners, Megadeth. After learning that song, and then the rest of the Rust in Peace album, I felt pretty good about taking on any song that tickled my ear bone.
That album is so good; I think it's their best release. The band lineup is the most cohesive with Marty and Nick, and the production highlights how tight and clear all the parts are. The songs capture the identity of Megadeth's sound better than any other album, being the perfect mix of aggression and technical complexity
This is very very true. I used to practice 3-5 hours a day 4-5 times a week playing too fast during my 1st-5th year as a beginner adult student. The school would have us work on one simple piece (ex Bach BWV 114) for 6 months to a year. All all that practice playing too fast, I had developed bad muscle memory in sections I would always mess up. Even after a year playing that same old piece, I still felt that I really didn’t know the piece well. It was basically playing by memory and would still make the same errors that I had made from the start of learning the piece. I luckily found a new Russian teacher who said I was playing too many measures too fast. Slooooooooow down the tempo when practicing smaller measures. It’s very difficult and boring to play slow slow slow, but you are absolutely right! It really works.
Damn! I have wanted to do music for forever and this channel is just a lifesaver... Thank you very much. I'll keep this gem in mind to share it with anyone else I find in the same spot as me.
Wow, I think this will actually help! I have a “solo” in a few days for a concert with my entire flute section and it’s in sixteenth notes, that I can’t play at the tempo my director wants.
@@BradHarrison Concert update: It went amazing! The solo sounded amazing, and we blew everything out of the water. This video really helped, so thank you 😊
Great video man! I really appreicate the easy to understand breakdown. I'm definitely guilty of starting in the mid tempos and incresing tempo too quickly. This was a refreshing perspective on the whole thing!
Marvellous breakdown! I have done similar things with language learning: saying a new difficult phrase SLOWLY until my tongue could wrap itself around the new sounds easily! YMANY, MANY THANKS! This is super good for chord changes too! 😀 👍👍👍
I agree, to a point. Certain instruments such as thick strings instruments need strength too. So without that speed won't happen. One comment also mentioned about being relaxed, otherwise tension builds up and that too restricts playing. There is no one way to play fast but multiple approaches. One way only is too restrictive. Also finger shapes, length larger or smaller can also make a difference.
yep. As a bass player i can say that this video only works if you're slightly past beginner. If you're just starting out, it's better to first relax and learn where your notes are, get a feel for the instrument itself, and once again r e l a x then this technique will work like a charm
So many elements to subdividing a practice, as we have already learned by other posters, hand angles and so forth. We, musicians love to learn things very quickly. For myself, I tried to learn patience and that was a difficult thing for me. When I resolved in my thinking, that is gonna hard until it becomes easy. So my first focused efforts were to get really good at knowing the fretboard. I learned all the fret notes up and down the neck. After I had that in my muscle memory. I learned were all pentatonic boxes were, major and minor. I could just look at the fretboard and see how familiar it was and where all the notes lived. Now this took quite a long time to get too that point. I would listen intently to a specific solo and figure it out much easier. I think in my reasoning my fretboard was so familiar that over a little time nothing would escape me. However, some solos took a lot of work to be included in my muscle memory. But that is always gonna be a challenge. In my own opinion, such familiar feelings I have with my fretboard above all else, at least, gives me certain amount of confidence.
@@coolnamedude7559 you shouldn't be squeezing the neck but rather "pinching" with your thumb and whatever finger you're using, those two things u mentioned sound like it would make everything much harder for no real reason
Thank you so much for uploading this. I have recently gotten into the Dominican Güira, popular in merengue music, which is very commonly played at very high speeds, sometimes well over 200 beats per minute. I finally have a structured approach to learning basic rhythms as well as fills at very high speeds. I feel like with a couple of months of dedicated and organized practice sessions with this approach, I'll be able to play at those speeds. Thank you for sharing these tips to help!!!
I’ve applied this approach to my practice on the guitar, which is pretty intense anyway. After about a week I can truly say that there is a definite increase in speed and fluidity. Thank you for the posting. MC.
Holy this opened up my mind a lot. I’m a beginner guitarist and right now I’m trying to learn how to play fast. I’ve been practicing too fast so I make mistakes. Thx for the video!! Ima learn all the arpeggios and scales I can
A lot of people try to run ( play fast ) before they can even walk ( play slow ). That's the issue. Playing slow is boring but very worth it in the long term.
This video made me realize that the old tradicional practices are important, start slow is important. Just today I've noticed that when I play slow something I was struggling with, then it suddenly gets easier and I can "feel the flow" of it while playing and "relax", while if I try to do it fast I can't feel it the same way and I'm more focused and also tense, trying not to make a mistake. When we really learn something we can play it fast and relaxed, flowing with it, if we don't, we should practice slow to learn it first, it's so obvious but for some reason we wanna runaway from this and start fast... Thanks for this amazing video.
There is another technique to study a difficult part based on those principles. This technique is applied to "finger passages" where all the notes have the same duration. Start playing as fast as you can, but in groups of 2 notes. Each group, leggato. That is, you try to transition between notes within the group as quickly as possible. After each group you practice the next group and then the next ... you don't stop playing until the end, but while you are playing the last note of each group, take all your time and think about the next group. You focus your mind on the next group and are aware of how to play the next 2 notes correctly and quickly. The key is to be aware of the next group. After all, if you make mistakes, repeat, otherwise continue. Once you finish the whole scale or study having started the group with the first note, let's start the study with the second note and apply the same in groups of 2 notes. After that, start the same technique with groups of 3 notes starting at the first note, then starting at the second, and then starting at the third. After that in groups of 4 notes and so on ... until the group of notes is the entire passage and you finish doing everything super fast. It is not possible to learn a difficult part in a day because memory is blocked, it is necessary to practice this technique throughout the days to overcome a difficult passage.
I’ve never found this method works very well for me. It always comes with some sloppiness that I don’t like. I’d much rather do something like the method in this video but instead of playing whole notes and holding out the note (because that’s a different motion than what it would be up to tempo), i mimic the motion I’d use in the faster, just slowed down.
I saw a friend of mine, a professional flamenco guitarists, practice his right hand various finger picking patterns super slow. Like 40bpm or something. I said "you can play way faster than that" his answer was "slow is the new speed". Never understand it up until I tried to find Eric Clapton's Layla acoustic solo. Played it note per note. After 3 days of flat out reps, I'm up to speed. These things work!
I can second that! Practice slowly, helps a lot! Last week I made the stupid mistake of trying to learn a new piece fast when my teacher asked to to play a piece I had already practiced for few weeks faster. Wasted one whole week and it was embarrassing in the class 😢. I came back after feeling embark and practiced it slowly, viola, in less than 30 minutes I was playing it comfortably without mistakes slowly. I didn’t try your approach, I’ll give it a shot with this week’s homework.
I’m playing in a production of high school musical. As cheesy as it is, there’s some ball ache (and pretty bad ass) lead guitar lines that have been kicking my ass. Hey Brad. Thanks for the reminder to exercise patience and not increase tempo too quickly. The second problem you mentioned was EXACTLY what I was doing wrong. Great video.
Hey Ben! Honestly, you’d think after so many years (and even a “proper” musical education) that we’d know these things better. But I still occasionally find myself playing nonsense for a few minutes before I catch myself and start going through the process. And a few minutes later I’ve got it pretty solid.
I am felt encouraged.. I am learning to play 🎻 violin. And I'm slow.. And this video made me feel that slow isn't that bad. But consistent effort and practice is needed.. I'll carry it on.
Bass clarinetist here- Coming from someone who had a S&E performance, and the piece chosen was at allegro vivo with basically all triplets and 16th notes- THIS WORKS. To start out, I was struggling with the “just play it a bunch of times and it’ll be fine” method, and I was ready to quit, but then I tried this method; within DAYS I was able to play these passages up to speed! It’s almost like that how you’re supposed to practice or something😳👌
Excellent! To this day, I do this do. I’ll play a section a bunch of times and finally realize it isn’t happening and I have to use the method. I tend to come to these realizations faster these days though. All the best!
This is nice and well put together; however, this is pretty common advice that I don't think paints a whole picture. My real speed breakthroughs in my own playing really came from varying my time from very slow and way too fast. The fact is, it is possible to kid oneself that the motion they are performing is actually the muscle memory one wants in performing. A lot of things change as one begins to play at faster tempi and just like the deep end of a pool, the only way to know how it feels to play fast is to go to areas that are uncomfortable. If one pays attention to what parts of the movement begin to breakdown once the pressure cookers on, they can then focus on those movements at the slower tempos. Things like "burst" exercises, where you play significantly faster but in small doses are useful and known tools, but are so rarely talked about amongst a lot of music educators I've interacted with. The problem with "never go faster than you can do perfectly" is you end up with a bunch of people fearful of faster tempi. It's not that this method doesn't have its place, but it is too often taught as the only tool for increasing tempo and that's simply not the case.
Excellent advice and tips, thanks a lot for sharing ! Altought I’m beginner I can confirm that taking lessons from the jumping into the “deeper pool” are absolute necessary as the “slower and safer” approach. Doing just one of them is not good enough but doing them combined are priceless.
@@michaldante9797 problem is, that if you play too fast in the learning process you will make mistakes. those will burn into your program code in the brain and will randomly appear later and will be hard to get rid of. This is the reason to focus on doing absolutely NO mistakes and going up in speed in small increments. The speed comes from alone but you will be able to play without mistakes because your brain code is clean.
@@CodyHazelleMusic sure. So an example of this would be take a Scale or fragment of the scale. Play it in eighth notes say 3 or so times, then do one round of the same in 16th notes. Then repeat it until you are comfortable. Then do two rounds of eighths and 2 rounds of 16ths etc. Over time Try to spend more and more time in the faster tempo, while still revisting the smoothness that comes from the slower one. I can't speak totally for other instruments, but as a guitarist this kind of exercise shows up in a lot of method books.
I agree that result of the practice should be without the mistakes. I prefer doing both ways of slow and fast practice in one practice session. I have better results in this way in other hobbies as well. There are times when there is needed more of slower practice and times where there is need for of fast practice and they differ in their fundamentals. It´s not exactly the same technique. It´s my opinion and it’s adding informations but the point for me is: slow yes but also practice fast. Because if one wish using technique of slow practice into the most fast of he is capable it would be hindering. Slower leads to faster: yes. But by me it´s not sufficient to the fastest. Muscles differ, technique differ, brain work differ at the point of two extremities. The more experienced in this field like the author of the comment on which I reacted should be able to answer better. I’m just sharing my opinion and personal experience in which I’m not an expert. I appreciate and agree with the video, just adding one technique up and fast technique by me should be also included into practice with the slow technique and of course their betweens (faster, slower changing)
I just discovered this video. What an eye opener! I’ve been having trouble playing sixteenth- and thirty-second-note runs as well as quick sextuplets/septuples in my music for the past few months and never fully understood why. I now found the problem: I haven’t been dedicating enough time to these runs SLOWLY. I’ll now have to go back to basics and practise each of these runs slowly until they become intuitive. Muscle memory is a powerful tool. Thanks for the useful tips! (-:
The music playing is no different from any other acquired high skill. So one can take clues from other activities (if he or she does participate in any). In one post above, someone says that when you play fast parts, the technique somewhat changes. I absolutely agree with that. I have this experience not only with playing keys but when I taught hockey skating. Where other Coaches struggled with players using various, so called effective but very boring methods, I designed methods that actually originated from the above stated idea in music playing that I have been taught by an excellent Russian piano teacher. There are some aspects of dynamics within any activity where you actually must skip the slow approach and go to fast one, and I used that in practicing music, teaching hockey skating, etc . In fact, some of the skills are impossible to learn while going slow. Without going into detail, what's most important in any activity if we hope to achieve progress, is the posture, or proper body position. You can practice all day long with the system described here and if your body position is not what it should be, you will start failing when going into higher speeds. So recognizing the flaws within the structure of our body position in relation to what we do goes hand in hand with the speed we can accomplish without failing. If I play slow but I sit slouched, with my spine not straight, with shoulders hung down, with elbows too close or too far away from my body, and other details, those mistakes will cause me to fail in higher speeds. Yes, there are some skills we have to attain by doing precisely what this video prescribes. But there are other skills that must be practiced in high speeds only - all while paying attention to fundamentals in regards to our body position and form. BTW, I love this board debate..
I love this exercise. I first heard of this only a few months ago on Max Dible's channel, and he posted his back in 2013! When I saw your title I was like, "yeah yeah yeah, I'm not falling for this" But lo and behold, it's an extremely important exercise for tone, accuracy, and speed.
Wow. I just tried this method on a scale in 3rds on the piano I have been struggling with for weeks. By the ends of the practice session I was doing it at twice the speed I could manage before, and accurately. Thank you!
Well done. One of the best “how to practice videos” I’ve seen. Addressing how to balance the disciplined approach in this video with motivating and fun topics would be a good topic for you. I teach mostly beginner guitarists. They have to have fun things to do. Plus. I’d love to see how you organize that into a video. You’re organization and curriculum is concise, complete thorough and convincing. I am impressed. I make videos at The Halls of Music on TH-cam. My goals are similar yours in that manner except mine are catered for beginning guitarists and I’m trying to cover an age range that can speak to people as young as 9 and 10.
Thanks very much for this. I found it extremely effective. A lot of people in the comments seem keen to split hairs or miss the point but this approach led to a massive improvement over a few days. Can't wait to see the progress over months. Thanks again.
Thanks, Brad. I definitely noticed an increase in speed & I generally do the Day 4 routine modified: eighth notes keep increasing by 10 bpm until I can’t do it right. For 1/16 I still can’t get 100 bpm consistently, but it will either come or I’ll know my “speed limit.” Also, I find whole notes at 60 hard because it’s so slow & my mind wanders (but a great way to learn patience & spacing). Again, thanks: got me to at least use the metronome!
Thank you - I'm having trouble too starting this slow, because I keep losing my place. I'm going to try to find the sweet spot starting place that's slow enough to be easily flawless, but not so slow that I forget where I am.
@@BradHarrison I don't think that was the problem. I was working on Tubular Bells - a 30-note sequence (3 x 7/8 + a 9/8 measure) ... and the time intervals were so long that my mind would wander and I'd forget where I was in the sequence. I'd already practiced in chunks and could do the sequence at a faster pace. I'll try a speed that's a bit less mind-numbingly slow, where I'm not falling asleep between notes! I can see this working for scales, where the notes are in order and where you are in the sequence is more obvious. TB has a lot of the same notes in different places, and you can forget which one you're on!
That’s a neat piece! Yeah, you want to pick an appropriate tempo. Not everything needs to go down all the way down to whole notes. For me the key is don’t practice mistakes, but play slow enough to be able to absolutely nail the passage and increase from there. And don’t be afraid to jump around tempos either. Good luck!
I heard an adage once is a western. A gunfighter was trying to teach a woman the quick draw. As she made mistakes, he said to her 'First comes right, then comes fast'. This video epitomises this idea!
this is the thing untrained musicians always miss when i say use a metronome to practice they look at me funny and say ill just tap my foot not realizing all the problems this creates especially if they have poor timing. i am nobody special but i approve this message great video :D
Thank you very much! I did the C Major Scale Exercise as presented while pausing the video as needed. At certain points I noticed my sticking points and fixed them before proceeding. This included making the movements in both hands smaller. It also included playing groups of five sixteenth notes, from the beginning of one beat to just the beginning of the next beat, but with a proper articulation and accent. Then to groups of nine, etc. Isolating the direction change from ascending to descending, bla bla bla. What a great way to speed up not only playing, but also self-analysis and auto-regulation. Thank you. Trust the math!
I used to hate playing scales, especially slowly. Then I hung this quote on my wall right above my piano where I have to look right at it when I'm looking straight ahead: “I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'" -Muhammad Ali I may not be trying out for any kind of piano championships, but the point remains the same: sometimes you have to endure the tedious and boring parts of training in order to achieve greatness. Suffer now and enjoy the fruits of your labor in the future!
True! Do the work now so you future self and reap the benefits. You could also think of it as upgrading your character in a video game. You’re just adding abilities when you practice.
Slow Practice. Superb Advice. This is the Gospel according to St. Metronome, the Patron Saint of Technique. There is absolutely no doubt that playing slower will ultimately lead you to play faster. I wish I had embraced this method as a young man. (I’m in my 70’s and play clarinet). But young students, to their detriment, want to do everything in a hurry, And so they hurry into bad habits and mistakes that are difficult to correct. Even now, I sometimes have to remind myself to slow it down. Slow down to get there faster. And now (………cue the organ…….) Let Us Play.
Thanks for posting this ‘tip’. First time through this exercise, on the left hand, I got to 16th notes at 70bpm, before things started falling apart. Should be interesting to see how I progress.
@@BradHarrison 2 things I’d add to this video: Finger Stretching, and a ‘cool down’ phase: slow down the tempo and do a few runs, so the last thing played wasn’t a series of accident(al)s Lol.
Of course! Every instrument and musician will be a bit different. I play trumpet and 10 minutes *non-stop* playing can be tough. But pianists can just go for it.
@@BradHarrison è relativamente vero. Anche i cantanti affermano ciò. Io nella mia esperienza come insegnante pianista da 24 anni e sassofonista ti posso confermare che anche 10 minuti di seguito al pianoforte comportano affaticamento ai tendini e ai muscoli della mano , dell avambraccio, indolenzimento ai gomiti... etc. È un luogo comune che si racconta come leggenda metropolitana. L acquisizione dell imboccatura è dell elasticità al labbro la si conquista con piccole dosi di lavoro. Uguale il bilanciamento delle braccia , rilassatezza del metacarpo e articolazione rilassata delle dita per i pianisti che non sono per niente più facilitati, per giunta hanno uno strumento neutro che non da gratificazione perché non partecipano ATTIVAMENTE alla creazione durata allungamento e dinamica del singolo suono. Buona musica, e grazie per aver commentato con intelligenza e sensibilità, volevo comunicarti la mia ESPERIENZA.
Me has a finger style guitarist I’ve been one for 47 years and to me speed comes natural don’t try to see how fast you can go just to be a show off all these people are all about Panakanick and all about speed and that is so unnecessary why because it comes natural it takes time I’ve been playing for mini mini mini years longer than some people have been alive can you play guitar for as many years as I have you really become to understand the instrument and know what it’s made out of and speed comes natural it’s not an overnight success it’s a lot of been diligent hard work so quit encouraging people to rush this is why people quit playing guitar because they’re not fast enough it’s not about speed it’s about accuracy seeing how clean and how beautiful a person can play that’s what it’s all about and not being a show off thanks for the video have a great day🎶🎼🎸
A lot of people like to show off when I apply I know a lot of guys like that he gets him nowhere I am not bragging but I am a Fingerstyle Chad Atkins guitarist been one for many years sometimes people look at me with amazement I’m glad they do but I don’t show off I can teach people and I can be taught myself that’s where the humility lies yes are you teachable or are you a show off it’s really something to think about I think I’m glad you enjoyed my comment have a great day🎸🎼🎶😁
For real, I've been playing for almost 3 years now and I still have yet to really master this, I often forget to do this and just increase speed while ignoring minor mistakes
This is probably the most fantastic video and so helpful. Thank you so much. I showed this to my students and they have taken it so well. And the fruits are there to behold.
Very useful tips you gave. Thanks. I have experienced the improvement in performing with perfection in notes played. Patience to do a thing without mistakes in slower tempo allways give very good result in achieving perfection. Great input.
This is simply brilliant for learning any passage. Nearly all music can be chunked in phrases and repeated motifs that can be simplified to start. The review part is mandatory. I can play and sing, then fire off a triplet run…but struggle with a simple 16th note run without a mic near me, simply because I’ve skipped out on the latter as of late.
It’s so effective! Review is definitely key. And start way slower today than you finished yesterday. You’ve got to warmup that muscle memory before it gets super ingrained.
Another helpful tip: don't start too slow and don't get stuck on too slow because you will develop weird habits that will only make your playing more dirty once you start going fast
@@stevenj9970 l The spelling "inernet" looks like a simple typo to me. I am a retired public school teacher. Plenty of home schoolers are superior to their public school counterparts in spelling, reading, writing, math, etc. Don't kid yourself.
@@xanthus798 I agree however - proof reading should be standard after typing or writing anything. Points were deducted on my school tests for spelling errors whether from ignorance or being careless.
This is awesome! Thank you. I think this practicing techniques are the difference between a productive practice session and a non-productive practice session.
I kept thinking this video was gonna turn into a troll at any moment, but when he was like "a metronome, in case you're unfamiliar..." and then actually went on to explain what it is instead of "that device your teacher keeps telling you to use but you've literally never touched in your life NOW GO PRACTICE" is when I realized that it's just wholesome.
Ha! Wholesome is a nice word. Yeah, I don’t assume much in my videos. I define almost everything because you just don’t know what people know or don’t.
This is one of the best tips I've ever heard Brad, good stuff!!👍👍 I didn't know you started a YT channel that's excellent. I guess that means I have to like and subscribe 🤔🙄😃. Happy holidays.
@@BradHarrison Ya really good stuff! Don't forget: Fish Can Gobble Down All Extra Bait Hopefully we'll have a chance to hang with Dan in the near future
🙏This has to be THE most valuable lesson of all time. It all makes perfect sense. I can now see that this is where I have been going wrong since I started to teach myself to play the harp. I’m not very good at reading sheet music, so when I initially buy a piece of sheet music of a tune I really like I have to play the notes very slowly, at the speed I can read the notes. Doing this I quickly learn the first page and get so excited that I speed it all up. And yes, I make those mistakes and my playing gradually gets worse or at least gets no better no matter how many times I repeat it. I could never understand why I could play it perfectly one minute and get it so wrong the next. It’s so frustrating. After watching this video I can see why and I hope to find that patience to work in the way you explain. Thank you so much for this insight. An absolutely brilliant tutorial and one I shall be writing down in my notebook so that I can follow your formula. 🤗
Excellent! Yeah, most people understand that playing slow is good and they can do that. But then they skip right to medium tempos. But there’s a whole range from slow to medium. It’s so tempting to skip the middle steps(me included sometimes). All the best!
I play mandolin. Old time fiddle tunes are my thing. If I can, I work from tablature notation. Typically, I will take each two measure phrase and play it slowly, looping the passages as many times as necessary to get them under my left hand fingers. Then I will try the next two phrases. When I think I have them, by looping, I will start from the beginning and try the first half of the tune. The next phrases or measures I will tackle the same way. When I have played all 16 measures -- usually the entire tune, I will loop it several times, gradually increasing the tempo, using my metronome. I can go for hours on one tune. A great satisfaction.
This is amazing, just did it. I managed to do 120bpm 4th notes on right hand(started making mistakes here) and ~70 bpm 4th notes on left hand, afterwards i did both hands together and I went to 80-90bpm 4th notes(I guess practicing separate hands made it easier to go above 70bpm) Definitely going to do this every day from now on...This works great.
He forgets/doesn't know about a very important thing: Relaxation! If you play e.g. piano or guitar lots of people tense up without knowing it. This hinders progress. You can't play fast with tense hands. ONLY use the force needed! No more
So true! If you are a pianist: Are you sitting at the right height in reference to the keyboard? Are you too close or away from it? Are you using the rotation of the hand? Are your arms, shoulders, and forearm relaxed? These things introduce tension. No matter how slow you practice you will not be able to increase speed if you have the wrong technique. Nevertheless, this is great advice for any musician with great technique. Thank you for the wonderful video! Well done!
Of course! Playing with good technique is kind of assumed here. Just like already knowing your fingerings and note naming and being able to actually play in time with a metronome. This practice technique is very narrowly about building the muscle memory of playing the notes you mean to and building speed and how small increases can add up much quicker than you might think.
@Strat Abuser Playing tensely does work very well… up to a point. Try playing jumping eighth note octaves at 160 bpm for more than a minute, if you don’t know how to relax your arms, you will never be able to play for more than a minute. I learned this the hard way when I started studying Liszt’s HR2. I simply could not play past a certain point because my forearms were tanking all of the effort.
@Strat Abuser Perhaps there is a disconnect between guitar and piano that makes arguing about this futile for both of us, but my main point here is that if you learn to find places in pieces of music to let your arms breathe, you will increase your stamina substantially. I know the guitar is more “musical” and less “virtuosic,” so that might be why you don’t see the point in learning to relax, but much of the piano repertoire requires fast and tiresome technique for extended periods of time. Consider Etudes from Chopin, Liszt, Godowsky, Bartok, and Alkan; piano concertos from Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Rautavaara; or other assorted difficult pieces. These pieces from these composers, especially if played consecutively for one concert, can require incredibly difficult technique for 10s of minutes at a time without a decent breath. The point is not to eradicate tension, but to minimize it as best you can.
When you practice SLOW your brain has bandwith left to watch it self and learn from mistakes. When you go FAST your brain is maxed out. That view helped me stick to SLOW practice.
This is not bad advice, BUT I’d suggest looking into open loop learning vs closed loop learning as discussed by the phenomenal guitarist Martin Miller. Simply starting slow and speeding things up WILL NOT work when there are mechanical motion issues that are usually unnoticed at slow tempos. I find the method in this video works well for maybe a new piece where there’s a tricky rhythm etc…Can also checkout Troy Grady videos on this topic. I wish it was all as simple as this video but it’s not :)
@@Weily_Alcequiez I propose playing certain things that are already under your fingers at a moderate tempo where you can play it reliably and then speed up from there and at times just try to blast through it even if it’s sloppy and try to pay attention to areas where you mess up. Recording yourself with video is a great way to do this. Often times record yourself playing fast in slow mode on iPhone to isolate problems. As Michael Angelo Batio says: “You need to feel what speed feels like.” This has Revolutionized my own playin and that of my students of all levels
@@Weily_Alcequiez here’s a good video that explains the importance of “randomized” practice when it comes to motor learning skills. The beginner in this video gets tremolo picking FAR faster than if they simply just practiced slowly and sped things up as this video suggests th-cam.com/video/1AjhewUYKAs/w-d-xo.html
Well presented concepts, video makes alot sense. I had begun to realize how playing a song slowly seems to help on difficult pieces. This takes it one step further.
I watched this video, picked up my guitar and starting learning the sweet child o mine solo, this immediately worked and I found I am playing it incredibly smoothly. I also found that if I was struggling with the muscle memory side of it, just sitting back and taking a sip of my drink helped me remember without even having to think!
You’re not wrong. But a lot of people need the reminder that if you start slow, you can get fast in a relatively short time even if it feels like you’re not making much progress. It really really adds up much faster than you think.
Wou, you made my day! When I saw your title I thought, i know this Idee, does not work with me...but luckily I watched your video until the end. And wou, I just made it to the next level of playing!!! Thanks so much for sharing!
This technique is really promising.
I think so! And I fleshed it out to learn all your scales in a very short amount of time. Check it out: Learn All Your Scales in 24 Hours!
th-cam.com/video/7aMJmXa_WKk/w-d-xo.html
@@BradHarrison really really thanks. I will keep practicing and your efforts are very much appreciated. Keep uploading. The support is great. From us and also from you.
I like it.
SLOW IS SMOOTH AND SMOOTH IS FAST. Your knowledge of music is impressive and your ability to convey it clearly and concisely is brilliant.
I mean no disrespect to you, sir, but smooth is not the same as fast. Smooth may be a prerequisite, but that's it. Your statement literally means SLOW = FAST. This video seems like it is trying to convince us that there is some "hack" to playing fast. There isn't. Hours in the woodshed, friend. HOURS. That's what it takes. Starting slow is a great idea--have to give him credit there. But 10 minutes? Common, that's a warmup session.
What we’re looking for is accuracy and muscle memory. Slow does equal fast, if you do it correctly.
@@BradHarrison could not agree more.
Fast, consistent, and clean follows slow, consistent, and clean.
Fast, inconsistent, and messy May seem easier at some level, but no one really wants or needs to hear that!
@@BradHarrison so you are meaning that if you can play it slowly,you can play it quickly which is a statement presented as a joke in twoset violin
@@BradHarrison I also disagree with this. To play fast you need to practice playing fast. Just the way you build muscle memory to play “slow and smooth” you also need to build muscle memory to play fast. Prior to playing fast your mind and hands have no experience with moving the fingers quickly while also recalling notes on the fly.
As someone once said “If you can play it slowly, you can play it quickly.”
i was looking for the twoset in this video lmaooo
@@msruag same
Are u ling ling?
I never got why Twoset picked on that one, because it is somewhat true.
SACRELIGIOUS!!!! Also you should've said "as a wise man once said" as a sarcastic
One addition: go to sleep every once in a while. Sleep is when the brain processes new things learned over the last period of awakeness. This is when muscle memory is truly 'burned into' your muscles. If younstart getting stuck, take a break, get a good night's sleep, and continue the next day!
once in a while hahaha
This process is called memory consolidation :)
@@saladman9610 Very true, good addition!
we're musicians, we don't sleep
@@ivadea1513 4-5 hours AHAHAHAAH
This requires patience. There is no shortcut. As a clarinet player, this is essential!
No, no you're obviously wrong. It says in the title, only 10 minutes. The video is 8:52 long, giving you 1 minute 8 seconds to crank out that 3000% speed increase. Let me try, I just plug in my guitar...fire up ableton, create a little 4/4 beat, right now...oh times up.
@@michael1 Haha! Forty years later, and I'm still learning.
For a classical pianist not less than 20 years.
@@michael1 I think the 10 minutes is for the C major scale. Each scale away from C major gets an extra 10 minutes of study for each newly added flat or sharp. When you have 4 flats you have 40 minutes of extra study.
@@DougMcDave Skill issue
As a fledgling bassoonist of 4 years, I used this technique to learn the Bolero solo ( my go to technique for all my other woodwinds, professional musician of 30 years) It took me 4 months. I started with half notes, quarter notes, for note connections, tuning and physical positioning, and then I did roughly 50 speeds a day , digitally going up 1 number at a time. It pays to do the basics :) That took about 45-60 min a day. 3x's without mistakes helps you decide when to move up a level. And yes, I played the solo and was happy :)
This video has had a massively positive impact on my playing. I've gone from feeling like my technique was stagnant and never really got better to feeling a substantial improvement after every single practice session. It's so true that, even if we've all heard that you gotta start slow, we never start slowly enough. At first when I saw this video saying that you should start doing whole notes at 50bpm, I thought it was absurd, that felt way too slow, but after trying it it makes a lot of sense. I've been working on my legato playing by practicing trills with this method, and by the time you get to quarter notes you're already in full control of every single aspect of your movement. It's insane how useful this is. I can't thank you enough! I can't believe advice this good can be found freely available on the internet.
You are a genius. I have realised the the moment I started with 60 and I can see my muscle memory driving my playing after few rounds of practice. Thank you very much for making me realise why the fingering wasnt working out before.
Excellent!
That's what she said
@@cristo_crosta_gesu2910 ya beat me to it
This has produced a paradigm shift in my thinking. Not that I didn't already know about muscle memory, but the importance of playing every single note flawlessly is reinforced. This will definitely help me in situations where very often there's no sheet music for me to go on.
As a music teacher and musician I endorse this approach with a couple of addendums.
Memorization of the sound of the music is essential but should go hand in hand with the development of technique
AND more importantly, its not necessary to play at any tempo or it is possible to play with a 'flexible' tempo similar to the idea of playing rubato or without a distinct pulse while laying down the foundations. The more you play error free the quicker you can go.
Final one. You need to synchronize your ears and brain to the speed of the music. If you can't hear it fast you won't be able to play it fast. By that I mean, be able to follow and hear the details of the music at speed.
I find that it's just as useful to play one or two notes fast and then add another note at tempo and then another and then another making sure that each addition to the phrase is preceded by being able to play it error free up to that point.
We are basically training our ears and brains too. So listen fast to play fast.
Yeah but this is video is scale and this method probably only works on scale, but playing slowly at first is something us musicians have to do anyways. When i learn songs i dont slow it down since i dont have anything to slow it down, and i wish i can since it’s really hard for me to play with 100% accuracy. Not that i never play anything slow i have and it was really ez after a few minutes
@@MrAflac_1 You have to internalize the song and once you have the music in your head you can start to manipulate the tempo. You don't necessarily need a program. However, there are a couple of online browser apps for transcribing and changing tempo. Easy is relative, depends on the complexity of the music.
@@MrAflac_1 Have you checked out Musescore?
@@MrAflac_1 It doesn’t matter what you’re practising. The principle is the same: Start slow and gradually pick up the tempo. (-:
@Zeth This method works on anything, not just scales. Some patterns do need a more gradual change in tempo.
I just stumbled upon your tutorial. I am a professional studio musician. I am 70 years old and have been playing the Saxophone for over 50 years. I use this method every practice session and this method works for learning anything new or for a refresher. Scales, arpeggios, licks, it doesn't matter... It is the only way to do it. Like you said you must use a metronome. If you are a woodwind or horn player it is an excellent workout for your embrouchure. Do not kid yourself, you must be patient and put the work into it. The hardwork really pays off though. When I was young I was inpatient and would try to rush through it. Believe me your brain can either learn it with mistakes or without. It doesn't know the difference when you practice with this method so slow down and learn it correctly. There is no easy way to learn it. This is the only way to do it. Put the work in and you will feel that great feeling of accomplishment and confidence. Confidence is everything.
This is the first thing I teach my children while playing chord switches only I start them at 60bpm whole notes 3x without mistakes, then move to 70bmp without mistakes until you reach 120, then go back and do half notes at 60 and repeat until the desired tempo is reached. It's also how I practice basically everything.
As someone who actually learns piano on an advanced level, I have to add that there are some caveats to this technique which in general is sound: 1st: The movements you do at a fast tempo are different then the movements you do at a slow tempo, you have to know what kind of fingerings and movements are required for fast tempo and mimic them at slow tempo, that takes a lot of experience. 2nd: “Muscle memory” does not happen instantly, the biggest improvements happen between practice session (PPP - post practice progress), that’s why working on more than one phrase at a time might save you time. The technique shown in the video is only necessary for super hard passages in vast majority of cases increasing the tempo by a large amount and then go back to slow tempo works better, is less dreary and more efficient.
Would tend to agree, Martin. I've discovered the same on guitar. As speed increases to 'shredding' speeds, things like pick angles (in multiple directions) becomes increasingly important in order to not become 'trapped' between strings, jumping over strings ("string skipping"), etc.
Came to the comments to find this. I think that most of the time you have to do exactly the OPPOSITE to what the video says, unless you already know very well the movements required to play something fast, as you said.
Correct technique is assumed. Fast playing requires specific technique, but that technique has to usually be practiced slowly at first too. You can play the piano with your nose at a slow enough tempo but clearly there’s a limit o that. When you need to adjust your technique, do so, then get back to working your tempo up at what lever speed you can do it perfectly. Whatever you do, don’t practice mistakes because you might learn them.
1 is a good add, a good analogy is that it is like running. You don't learn to run by walking faster, same thing with guitar or piano, sometimes you need to simply run. And the process to do that technique wise is different that what you use to walk. Picking on the guitar is a perfect example, it's totally different when you're going fast vs slow, you can ascertain this by listening to the Steve Vai videos or anyone like that, that will explain that they are different techniques according to speed
But you generally toddle and walk before you run. If you skip that step you’ll trip and make a mess. Sometimes tripping is educational but sometimes you just have to slow down and pay attention to what you’re doing.
This technique is what I needed. I am a beginner and my instructor challenged me with playing the Clark Study with low F sharps, low Gs, low As. I had a hard time even recognizing the notes so many lines below the staff. I was befuddled, intimidated and disappointed with my lack of skill.
Now I played it as whole notes and it started becoming so much better!
Thanks, Sir.
I remember suffering through those studies! They’re so awkward at first! This technique is perfect for those. Good luck!
I'm intrigued... and I happen to being studying an elaborate 8-bar jazz arpeggio: 16 notes for each bar in a 4/4 tempo (128 notes) with a recommended metronome of 80. I finished memorising the right hand (it's a piano piece) yesterday evening and currently I'm slow and I make mistakes (there are several difficulties, a couple of them pretty remarkable...) so I will try your method, effective tomorrow or the day after tomorrow (today is new year's eve...) and I will be back 😊. A happy new year to you and to everybody 😊.
That’s the perfect thing to apply this to! You can modify the process to suit the task at hand. Maybe you don’t need to make the whole thing so excruciatingly slow, but a couple of the trickiest/awkwardest passages will certainly benefit. Good luck!
@@BradHarrison Dear Brad I owed you a reply and here I am: let's say that I'm definitively conquered by your method... it forced me to a number of repetitions I wasn't used before: much greater than usual. And that was good! Extremely good (😊)! I found out that my brain was much happier to learn the part at a slow pace (and constantly feel relaxed and confident) instead of having to hurry its way through bars I actually didn't remember as well as I should... so I currently feel stupid (for not having realised it earlier, on my own...) and grateful 😊😊😊. A nice week end to you and to everybody who love music (as we do 😊).
That’s fantastic! Thanks so much for updating and congratulations on the progress!
*sigh* i have to do it...
if you can play it slowly, you can play it quickly
i CaN pLaY fLiGhT oF tHe BuMbLe BeE aT 325 bPm
Twosetters are everywhere lmao
😂
"How to practice" is one of the hardest things to teach sometimes. Thanks for the great video, makes perfect sense and I will try this practice technique on my students in the new year.
I use this technique a lot playing heavy metal guitar. And classical guitar can have some speedy parts too. I remember the first song I had to use this technique on, Take No Prisoners, Megadeth. After learning that song, and then the rest of the Rust in Peace album, I felt pretty good about taking on any song that tickled my ear bone.
That album is so good; I think it's their best release. The band lineup is the most cohesive with Marty and Nick, and the production highlights how tight and clear all the parts are. The songs capture the identity of Megadeth's sound better than any other album, being the perfect mix of aggression and technical complexity
Amazing album
This is very very true. I used to practice 3-5 hours a day 4-5 times a week playing too fast during my 1st-5th year as a beginner adult student. The school would have us work on one simple piece (ex Bach BWV 114) for 6 months to a year. All all that practice playing too fast, I had developed bad muscle memory in sections I would always mess up. Even after a year playing that same old piece, I still felt that I really didn’t know the piece well. It was basically playing by memory and would still make the same errors that I had made from the start of learning the piece. I luckily found a new Russian teacher who said I was playing too many measures too fast. Slooooooooow down the tempo when practicing smaller measures. It’s very difficult and boring to play slow slow slow, but you are absolutely right! It really works.
Damn! I have wanted to do music for forever and this channel is just a lifesaver... Thank you very much. I'll keep this gem in mind to share it with anyone else I find in the same spot as me.
Wow, I think this will actually help! I have a “solo” in a few days for a concert with my entire flute section and it’s in sixteenth notes, that I can’t play at the tempo my director wants.
Excellent! Good luck on the performance! Let me know how it goes!
@@BradHarrison Concert update: It went amazing! The solo sounded amazing, and we blew everything out of the water. This video really helped, so thank you 😊
Congratulations! Glad to hear it went so well. Thanks for the update!
Great video man! I really appreicate the easy to understand breakdown. I'm definitely guilty of starting in the mid tempos and incresing tempo too quickly. This was a refreshing perspective on the whole thing!
Marvellous breakdown! I have done similar things with language learning: saying a new difficult phrase SLOWLY until my tongue could wrap itself around the new sounds easily!
YMANY, MANY THANKS!
This is super good for chord changes too! 😀 👍👍👍
I agree, to a point. Certain instruments such as thick strings instruments need strength too. So without that speed won't happen. One comment also mentioned about being relaxed, otherwise tension builds up and that too restricts playing. There is no one way to play fast but multiple approaches. One way only is too restrictive. Also finger shapes, length larger or smaller can also make a difference.
yep. As a bass player i can say that this video only works if you're slightly past beginner. If you're just starting out, it's better to first relax and learn where your notes are, get a feel for the instrument itself, and once again r e l a x
then this technique will work like a charm
So many elements to subdividing a practice, as we have already learned by other posters, hand angles and so forth. We, musicians love to learn things very quickly. For myself, I tried to learn patience and that was a difficult thing for me. When I resolved in my thinking, that is gonna hard until it becomes easy. So my first focused efforts were to get really good at knowing the fretboard. I learned all the fret notes up and down the neck. After I had that in my muscle memory. I learned were all pentatonic boxes were, major and minor. I could just look at the fretboard and see how familiar it was and where all the notes lived. Now this took quite a long time to get too that point. I would listen intently to a specific solo and figure it out much easier. I think in my reasoning my fretboard was so familiar that over a little time nothing would escape me. However, some solos took a lot of work to be included in my muscle memory.
But that is always gonna be a challenge. In my own opinion, such familiar feelings I have with my fretboard above all else, at least, gives me certain amount of confidence.
@@justyouraveragehumanbeing7411 do you squeeze at the neck or use arm weight with your left hand?
@@coolnamedude7559 wdym?
@@coolnamedude7559 you shouldn't be squeezing the neck but rather "pinching" with your thumb and whatever finger you're using, those two things u mentioned sound like it would make everything much harder for no real reason
Thank you so much for uploading this. I have recently gotten into the Dominican Güira, popular in merengue music, which is very commonly played at very high speeds, sometimes well over 200 beats per minute. I finally have a structured approach to learning basic rhythms as well as fills at very high speeds. I feel like with a couple of months of dedicated and organized practice sessions with this approach, I'll be able to play at those speeds. Thank you for sharing these tips to help!!!
I am forwarding this to every beginner I'll ever meet from now on.
Please do!
so convincing and reassuring to know you have such a method to share!
I’ve applied this approach to my practice on the guitar, which is pretty intense anyway. After about a week I can truly say that there is a definite increase in speed and fluidity. Thank you for the posting. MC.
Excellent!
Holy this opened up my mind a lot. I’m a beginner guitarist and right now I’m trying to learn how to play fast. I’ve been practicing too fast so I make mistakes. Thx for the video!! Ima learn all the arpeggios and scales I can
A lot of people try to run ( play fast ) before they can even walk ( play slow ). That's the issue.
Playing slow is boring but very worth it in the long term.
This video made me realize that the old tradicional practices are important, start slow is important. Just today I've noticed that when I play slow something I was struggling with, then it suddenly gets easier and I can "feel the flow" of it while playing and "relax", while if I try to do it fast I can't feel it the same way and I'm more focused and also tense, trying not to make a mistake.
When we really learn something we can play it fast and relaxed, flowing with it, if we don't, we should practice slow to learn it first, it's so obvious but for some reason we wanna runaway from this and start fast... Thanks for this amazing video.
Well said! Some passages get to that state of flow quickly but others can be much more stubborn.
There is another technique to study a difficult part based on those principles. This technique is applied to "finger passages" where all the notes have the same duration.
Start playing as fast as you can, but in groups of 2 notes. Each group, leggato. That is, you try to transition between notes within the group as quickly as possible. After each group you practice the next group and then the next ... you don't stop playing until the end, but while you are playing the last note of each group, take all your time and think about the next group. You focus your mind on the next group and are aware of how to play the next 2 notes correctly and quickly. The key is to be aware of the next group. After all, if you make mistakes, repeat, otherwise continue.
Once you finish the whole scale or study having started the group with the first note, let's start the study with the second note and apply the same in groups of 2 notes. After that, start the same technique with groups of 3 notes starting at the first note, then starting at the second, and then starting at the third. After that in groups of 4 notes and so on ... until the group of notes is the entire passage and you finish doing everything super fast.
It is not possible to learn a difficult part in a day because memory is blocked, it is necessary to practice this technique throughout the days to overcome a difficult passage.
Oh, yeah! Learned this method from Bernhard on Piano Street ages ago and it's been one of the best tools in my musical arsenal ever since.
I’ve never found this method works very well for me. It always comes with some sloppiness that I don’t like. I’d much rather do something like the method in this video but instead of playing whole notes and holding out the note (because that’s a different motion than what it would be up to tempo), i mimic the motion I’d use in the faster, just slowed down.
I saw a friend of mine, a professional flamenco guitarists, practice his right hand various finger picking patterns super slow. Like 40bpm or something. I said "you can play way faster than that" his answer was "slow is the new speed". Never understand it up until I tried to find Eric Clapton's Layla acoustic solo. Played it note per note. After 3 days of flat out reps, I'm up to speed. These things work!
As I tell my student; "The slower you play it, the sooner you can play it fast." Then I ask them to explain what I just said.
You had me at Darth Plagues the Wise. 😆 Im a guitarist and i do a version of this but now im gonna slowwwww it down. Thanx man.
Excellent! (I do love a Star Wars reference. There are a few scattered around my videos.)
Incorporating Darth Plagueis into this - outstanding.
Perfect reference 😂
I can second that! Practice slowly, helps a lot! Last week I made the stupid mistake of trying to learn a new piece fast when my teacher asked to to play a piece I had already practiced for few weeks faster. Wasted one whole week and it was embarrassing in the class 😢. I came back after feeling embark and practiced it slowly, viola, in less than 30 minutes I was playing it comfortably without mistakes slowly. I didn’t try your approach, I’ll give it a shot with this week’s homework.
Probably the most important music lesson ever. I wish I'd seen it forty years ago. It would have saved me half a lifetime.
I’m playing in a production of high school musical. As cheesy as it is, there’s some ball ache (and pretty bad ass) lead guitar lines that have been kicking my ass. Hey Brad. Thanks for the reminder to exercise patience and not increase tempo too quickly. The second problem you mentioned was EXACTLY what I was doing wrong. Great video.
Hey Ben! Honestly, you’d think after so many years (and even a “proper” musical education) that we’d know these things better. But I still occasionally find myself playing nonsense for a few minutes before I catch myself and start going through the process. And a few minutes later I’ve got it pretty solid.
I am felt encouraged.. I am learning to play 🎻 violin. And I'm slow.. And this video made me feel that slow isn't that bad.
But consistent effort and practice is needed.. I'll carry it on.
Important note: when you play at a slow pace, you should pay attention to the technique, it should be the same as when playing fast.
Bass clarinetist here-
Coming from someone who had a S&E performance, and the piece chosen was at allegro vivo with basically all triplets and 16th notes- THIS WORKS.
To start out, I was struggling with the “just play it a bunch of times and it’ll be fine” method, and I was ready to quit, but then I tried this method; within DAYS I was able to play these passages up to speed! It’s almost like that how you’re supposed to practice or something😳👌
Excellent! To this day, I do this do. I’ll play a section a bunch of times and finally realize it isn’t happening and I have to use the method. I tend to come to these realizations faster these days though. All the best!
This is nice and well put together; however, this is pretty common advice that I don't think paints a whole picture.
My real speed breakthroughs in my own playing really came from varying my time from very slow and way too fast.
The fact is, it is possible to kid oneself that the motion they are performing is actually the muscle memory one wants in performing. A lot of things change as one begins to play at faster tempi and just like the deep end of a pool, the only way to know how it feels to play fast is to go to areas that are uncomfortable. If one pays attention to what parts of the movement begin to breakdown once the pressure cookers on, they can then focus on those movements at the slower tempos.
Things like "burst" exercises, where you play significantly faster but in small doses are useful and known tools, but are so rarely talked about amongst a lot of music educators I've interacted with.
The problem with "never go faster than you can do perfectly" is you end up with a bunch of people fearful of faster tempi. It's not that this method doesn't have its place, but it is too often taught as the only tool for increasing tempo and that's simply not the case.
Excellent advice and tips, thanks a lot for sharing ! Altought I’m beginner I can confirm that taking lessons from the jumping into the “deeper pool” are absolute necessary as the “slower and safer” approach. Doing just one of them is not good enough but doing them combined are priceless.
@@michaldante9797 problem is, that if you play too fast in the learning process you will make mistakes. those will burn into your program code in the brain and will randomly appear later and will be hard to get rid of. This is the reason to focus on doing absolutely NO mistakes and going up in speed in small increments. The speed comes from alone but you will be able to play without mistakes because your brain code is clean.
Burst exercises? Can you elaborate?
@@CodyHazelleMusic sure. So an example of this would be take a Scale or fragment of the scale. Play it in eighth notes say 3 or so times, then do one round of the same in 16th notes. Then repeat it until you are comfortable. Then do two rounds of eighths and 2 rounds of 16ths etc. Over time Try to spend more and more time in the faster tempo, while still revisting the smoothness that comes from the slower one. I can't speak totally for other instruments, but as a guitarist this kind of exercise shows up in a lot of method books.
I agree that result of the practice should be without the mistakes. I prefer doing both ways of slow and fast practice in one practice session. I have better results in this way in other hobbies as well. There are times when there is needed more of slower practice and times where there is need for of fast practice and they differ in their fundamentals. It´s not exactly the same technique. It´s my opinion and it’s adding informations but the point for me is: slow yes but also practice fast. Because if one wish using technique of slow practice into the most fast of he is capable it would be hindering. Slower leads to faster: yes. But by me it´s not sufficient to the fastest. Muscles differ, technique differ, brain work differ at the point of two extremities. The more experienced in this field like the author of the comment on which I reacted should be able to answer better. I’m just sharing my opinion and personal experience in which I’m not an expert. I appreciate and agree with the video, just adding one technique up and fast technique by me should be also included into practice with the slow technique and of course their betweens (faster, slower changing)
I just discovered this video. What an eye opener! I’ve been having trouble playing sixteenth- and thirty-second-note runs as well as quick sextuplets/septuples in my music for the past few months and never fully understood why. I now found the problem: I haven’t been dedicating enough time to these runs SLOWLY.
I’ll now have to go back to basics and practise each of these runs slowly until they become intuitive. Muscle memory is a powerful tool. Thanks for the useful tips! (-:
The music playing is no different from any other acquired high skill.
So one can take clues from other activities (if he or she does participate in any).
In one post above, someone says that when you play fast parts, the technique somewhat changes.
I absolutely agree with that.
I have this experience not only with playing keys but when I taught hockey skating.
Where other Coaches struggled with players using various, so called effective but very boring methods, I designed methods that actually originated from the above stated idea in music playing that I have been taught by an excellent Russian piano teacher.
There are some aspects of dynamics within any activity where you actually must skip the slow approach and go to fast one, and I used that in practicing music, teaching hockey skating, etc .
In fact, some of the skills are impossible to learn while going slow. Without going into detail, what's most important in any activity if we hope to achieve progress, is the posture, or proper body position. You can practice all day long with the system described here and if your body position is not what it should be, you will start failing when going into higher speeds.
So recognizing the flaws within the structure of our body position in relation to what we do goes hand in hand with the speed we can accomplish without failing.
If I play slow but I sit slouched, with my spine not straight, with shoulders hung down, with elbows too close or too far away from my body, and other details, those mistakes will cause me to fail in higher speeds.
Yes, there are some skills we have to attain by doing precisely what this video prescribes.
But there are other skills that must be practiced in high speeds only - all while paying attention to fundamentals in regards to our body position and form.
BTW, I love this board debate..
You've put what I've been thinking during my music practice into a concise video. Thank you! I'll keep this in mind for sure.
No!
ITS BEEN A LOT OF HELP FOR NOT GIVING UP. IM A SLOW LEARNER AND THIS KIND OF CONTENT IS GIVING ME HOPE . THANK YOU
Excellent! Keep at it. It’s a long process but super rewarding.
I listened to this video very slowly and smoothly at first.
You have no idea how helpful this video was. Completely changed my practicing. Thank you!
I love this exercise. I first heard of this only a few months ago on Max Dible's channel, and he posted his back in 2013!
When I saw your title I was like, "yeah yeah yeah, I'm not falling for this"
But lo and behold, it's an extremely important exercise for tone, accuracy, and speed.
Wow. I just tried this method on a scale in 3rds on the piano I have been struggling with for weeks. By the ends of the practice session I was doing it at twice the speed I could manage before, and accurately. Thank you!
Excellent! I’ve used it many times, to this day. Glad it worked out for you!
Well done. One of the best “how to practice videos” I’ve seen. Addressing how to balance the disciplined approach in this video with motivating and fun topics would be a good topic for you. I teach mostly beginner guitarists. They have to have fun things to do. Plus. I’d love to see how you organize that into a video. You’re organization and curriculum is concise, complete thorough and convincing. I am impressed. I make videos at The Halls of Music on TH-cam. My goals are similar yours in that manner except mine are catered for beginning guitarists and I’m trying to cover an age range that can speak to people as young as 9 and 10.
Probably the best advice I’ve ever seen! Going to be putting this into practice straight away! Thanks!
Excellent! Let me know how it goes!
Excellent, I will use my metronome more often.
Thanks very much for this. I found it extremely effective. A lot of people in the comments seem keen to split hairs or miss the point but this approach led to a massive improvement over a few days. Can't wait to see the progress over months. Thanks again.
Great to hear! Yeah, not everyone is really going with the spirit of it but hopefully they get something out of the video anyway. All the best!
Thanks, Brad. I definitely noticed an increase in speed & I generally do the Day 4 routine modified: eighth notes keep increasing by 10 bpm until I can’t do it right. For 1/16 I still can’t get 100 bpm consistently, but it will either come or I’ll know my “speed limit.” Also, I find whole notes at 60 hard because it’s so slow & my mind wanders (but a great way to learn patience & spacing). Again, thanks: got me to at least use the metronome!
Excellent! And in glad you’re adapting the method to you own needs too.
Thank you - I'm having trouble too starting this slow, because I keep losing my place. I'm going to try to find the sweet spot starting place that's slow enough to be easily flawless, but not so slow that I forget where I am.
Maybe try bite sized chunks? Bit by bit. Start with what you can handle and then expand from there.
@@BradHarrison I don't think that was the problem. I was working on Tubular Bells - a 30-note sequence (3 x 7/8 + a 9/8 measure) ... and the time intervals were so long that my mind would wander and I'd forget where I was in the sequence. I'd already practiced in chunks and could do the sequence at a faster pace. I'll try a speed that's a bit less mind-numbingly slow, where I'm not falling asleep between notes! I can see this working for scales, where the notes are in order and where you are in the sequence is more obvious. TB has a lot of the same notes in different places, and you can forget which one you're on!
That’s a neat piece! Yeah, you want to pick an appropriate tempo. Not everything needs to go down all the way down to whole notes. For me the key is don’t practice mistakes, but play slow enough to be able to absolutely nail the passage and increase from there. And don’t be afraid to jump around tempos either. Good luck!
The fact that the video is less than 10 minutes is gold 🤣🤣 that’s how precise he is.
Exactly where i am and what i need , thank you.
I heard an adage once is a western. A gunfighter was trying to teach a woman the quick draw. As she made mistakes, he said to her 'First comes right, then comes fast'. This video epitomises this idea!
I love it!
this is the thing untrained musicians always miss when i say use a metronome to practice they look at me funny and say ill just tap my foot not realizing all the problems this creates especially if they have poor timing.
i am nobody special but i approve this message great video :D
Thank you very much! I did the C Major Scale Exercise as presented while pausing the video as needed. At certain points I noticed my sticking points and fixed them before proceeding. This included making the movements in both hands smaller. It also included playing groups of five sixteenth notes, from the beginning of one beat to just the beginning of the next beat, but with a proper articulation and accent. Then to groups of nine, etc. Isolating the direction change from ascending to descending, bla bla bla. What a great way to speed up not only playing, but also self-analysis and auto-regulation. Thank you. Trust the math!
Excellent! Nice work!
I totally had to favorite this. I'm sure it will come in handy in other skills as well
I used to hate playing scales, especially slowly. Then I hung this quote on my wall right above my piano where I have to look right at it when I'm looking straight ahead: “I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'" -Muhammad Ali
I may not be trying out for any kind of piano championships, but the point remains the same: sometimes you have to endure the tedious and boring parts of training in order to achieve greatness. Suffer now and enjoy the fruits of your labor in the future!
True! Do the work now so you future self and reap the benefits. You could also think of it as upgrading your character in a video game. You’re just adding abilities when you practice.
This is the most effective practice regimen I've ever used--quick, multilayered results. Thank you, Brad!
It is a crying shame, that you only have 42k subscribers, but I'm glad to count myself among them!
Slow Practice. Superb Advice.
This is the Gospel according to St. Metronome, the Patron Saint of Technique.
There is absolutely no doubt that playing slower will ultimately lead you to play faster.
I wish I had embraced this method as a young man. (I’m in my 70’s and play clarinet).
But young students, to their detriment, want to do everything in a hurry, And so they hurry into bad habits and mistakes that are difficult to correct.
Even now, I sometimes have to remind myself to slow it down.
Slow down to get there faster.
And now (………cue the organ…….)
Let Us Play.
I just used this video as a backing track and played a soft jazzy solo to the background music. Nice! Now, to do the exercise...
Good ear training exercise! Pick a new scale with a bunch of alterations. It feels good to invest a few minutes and nail something new.
Thanks for posting this ‘tip’. First time through this exercise, on the left hand, I got to 16th notes at 70bpm, before things started falling apart. Should be interesting to see how I progress.
Excellent! Nice work!
@@BradHarrison 2 things I’d add to this video: Finger Stretching, and a ‘cool down’ phase: slow down the tempo and do a few runs, so the last thing played wasn’t a series of accident(al)s Lol.
Of course! Every instrument and musician will be a bit different. I play trumpet and 10 minutes *non-stop* playing can be tough. But pianists can just go for it.
@@BradHarrison è relativamente vero.
Anche i cantanti affermano ciò.
Io nella mia esperienza come insegnante pianista da 24 anni e sassofonista ti posso confermare che anche 10 minuti di seguito al pianoforte comportano affaticamento ai tendini e ai muscoli della mano , dell avambraccio, indolenzimento ai gomiti... etc. È un luogo comune che si racconta come leggenda metropolitana.
L acquisizione dell imboccatura è dell elasticità al labbro la si conquista con piccole dosi di lavoro.
Uguale il bilanciamento delle braccia , rilassatezza del metacarpo e articolazione rilassata delle dita per i pianisti che non sono per niente più facilitati, per giunta hanno uno strumento neutro che non da gratificazione perché non partecipano ATTIVAMENTE alla creazione durata allungamento e dinamica del singolo suono.
Buona musica, e grazie per aver commentato con intelligenza e sensibilità, volevo comunicarti la mia ESPERIENZA.
Me has a finger style guitarist I’ve been one for 47 years and to me speed comes natural don’t try to see how fast you can go just to be a show off all these people are all about Panakanick and all about speed and that is so unnecessary why because it comes natural it takes time I’ve been playing for mini mini mini years longer than some people have been alive can you play guitar for as many years as I have you really become to understand the instrument and know what it’s made out of and speed comes natural it’s not an overnight success it’s a lot of been diligent hard work so quit encouraging people to rush this is why people quit playing guitar because they’re not fast enough it’s not about speed it’s about accuracy seeing how clean and how beautiful a person can play that’s what it’s all about and not being a show off thanks for the video have a great day🎶🎼🎸
A lot of people like to show off when I apply I know a lot of guys like that he gets him nowhere I am not bragging but I am a Fingerstyle Chad Atkins guitarist been one for many years sometimes people look at me with amazement I’m glad they do but I don’t show off I can teach people and I can be taught myself that’s where the humility lies yes are you teachable or are you a show off it’s really something to think about I think I’m glad you enjoyed my comment have a great day🎸🎼🎶😁
Mannn this video is so encouraging and empowering!
I started learning the piano once New Years came around & I gotta say, super glad I stumbled across your channel. :)
This is all really helpful.
Great video. Must watch for every new Violinist.
For real, I've been playing for almost 3 years now and I still have yet to really master this, I often forget to do this and just increase speed while ignoring minor mistakes
This is probably the most fantastic video and so helpful. Thank you so much. I showed this to my students and they have taken it so well. And the fruits are there to behold.
Very useful tips you gave. Thanks. I have experienced the improvement in performing with perfection in notes played. Patience to do a thing without mistakes in slower tempo allways give very good result in achieving perfection. Great input.
This is simply brilliant for learning any passage. Nearly all music can be chunked in phrases and repeated motifs that can be simplified to start.
The review part is mandatory. I can play and sing, then fire off a triplet run…but struggle with a simple 16th note run without a mic near me, simply because I’ve skipped out on the latter as of late.
It’s so effective! Review is definitely key. And start way slower today than you finished yesterday. You’ve got to warmup that muscle memory before it gets super ingrained.
Another helpful tip: don't start too slow and don't get stuck on too slow because you will develop weird habits that will only make your playing more dirty once you start going fast
This channel was made for me.
Love your work!
The purpose of practicing is not to get it until it’s RIGHT
It’s to practice it until it’s never WRONG.
Leave the internet please
@@user-mo9mt6yu8y
'internet'?
Home school, much??
This is true. I've read “Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.”
@@stevenj9970
l
The spelling "inernet" looks like a simple typo to me.
I am a retired public school teacher. Plenty of home schoolers are superior to their public school counterparts in spelling, reading, writing, math, etc. Don't kid yourself.
@@xanthus798
I agree however - proof reading should be standard after typing or writing anything.
Points were deducted on my school tests for spelling errors whether from ignorance or being careless.
This is awesome! Thank you. I think this practicing techniques are the difference between a productive practice session and a non-productive practice session.
I kept thinking this video was gonna turn into a troll at any moment, but when he was like "a metronome, in case you're unfamiliar..." and then actually went on to explain what it is instead of "that device your teacher keeps telling you to use but you've literally never touched in your life NOW GO PRACTICE" is when I realized that it's just wholesome.
Ha! Wholesome is a nice word.
Yeah, I don’t assume much in my videos. I define almost everything because you just don’t know what people know or don’t.
This lesson blew my mind in such a simple way. Thanks so much for this!
This is one of the best tips I've ever heard Brad, good stuff!!👍👍
I didn't know you started a YT channel that's excellent. I guess that means I have to like and subscribe 🤔🙄😃. Happy holidays.
Hey Carl! Thanks for watching, buddy!
@@BradHarrison Ya really good stuff! Don't forget: Fish Can Gobble Down All Extra Bait
Hopefully we'll have a chance to hang with Dan in the near future
Awesome lesson! The video background alone is so appealing!
🙏This has to be THE most valuable lesson of all time. It all makes perfect sense. I can now see that this is where I have been going wrong since I started to teach myself to play the harp. I’m not very good at reading sheet music, so when I initially buy a piece of sheet music of a tune I really like I have to play the notes very slowly, at the speed I can read the notes. Doing this I quickly learn the first page and get so excited that I speed it all up. And yes, I make those mistakes and my playing gradually gets worse or at least gets no better no matter how many times I repeat it. I could never understand why I could play it perfectly one minute and get it so wrong the next. It’s so frustrating. After watching this video I can see why and I hope to find that patience to work in the way you explain. Thank you so much for this insight. An absolutely brilliant tutorial and one I shall be writing down in my notebook so that I can follow your formula. 🤗
Excellent! Yeah, most people understand that playing slow is good and they can do that. But then they skip right to medium tempos. But there’s a whole range from slow to medium. It’s so tempting to skip the middle steps(me included sometimes). All the best!
I play mandolin. Old time fiddle tunes are my thing. If I can, I work from tablature notation. Typically, I will take each two measure phrase and play it slowly, looping the passages as many times as necessary to get them under my left hand fingers. Then I will try the next two phrases. When I think I have them, by looping, I will start from the beginning and try the first half of the tune. The next phrases or measures I will tackle the same way. When I have played all 16 measures -- usually the entire tune, I will loop it several times, gradually increasing the tempo, using my metronome. I can go for hours on one tune. A great satisfaction.
Nice. Sounds like you've got a pretty solid routine.
I would really like to do this when I first started Piano but I was too young and teachers I had were too ambitious for certificates and awards.
Absolutely love this brilliant explanation. Go slow to go fast just makes my students 😵💫
This is amazing, just did it. I managed to do 120bpm 4th notes on right hand(started making mistakes here) and ~70 bpm 4th notes on left hand, afterwards i did both hands together and I went to 80-90bpm 4th notes(I guess practicing separate hands made it easier to go above 70bpm)
Definitely going to do this every day from now on...This works great.
Excellent! Congratulations!
Well said. I've been inarticulately grunting about this to my students for years.
He forgets/doesn't know about a very important thing: Relaxation! If you play e.g. piano or guitar lots of people tense up without knowing it. This hinders progress. You can't play fast with tense hands. ONLY use the force needed! No more
So true! If you are a pianist: Are you sitting at the right height in reference to the keyboard? Are you too close or away from it? Are you using the rotation of the hand? Are your arms, shoulders, and forearm relaxed? These things introduce tension. No matter how slow you practice you will not be able to increase speed if you have the wrong technique. Nevertheless, this is great advice for any musician with great technique. Thank you for the wonderful video! Well done!
Of course! Playing with good technique is kind of assumed here. Just like already knowing your fingerings and note naming and being able to actually play in time with a metronome. This practice technique is very narrowly about building the muscle memory of playing the notes you mean to and building speed and how small increases can add up much quicker than you might think.
@@BradHarrison Like I said: Love the video! I will be using this technique! Thank you!
@Strat Abuser Playing tensely does work very well… up to a point. Try playing jumping eighth note octaves at 160 bpm for more than a minute, if you don’t know how to relax your arms, you will never be able to play for more than a minute. I learned this the hard way when I started studying Liszt’s HR2. I simply could not play past a certain point because my forearms were tanking all of the effort.
@Strat Abuser Perhaps there is a disconnect between guitar and piano that makes arguing about this futile for both of us, but my main point here is that if you learn to find places in pieces of music to let your arms breathe, you will increase your stamina substantially. I know the guitar is more “musical” and less “virtuosic,” so that might be why you don’t see the point in learning to relax, but much of the piano repertoire requires fast and tiresome technique for extended periods of time. Consider Etudes from Chopin, Liszt, Godowsky, Bartok, and Alkan; piano concertos from Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Rautavaara; or other assorted difficult pieces. These pieces from these composers, especially if played consecutively for one concert, can require incredibly difficult technique for 10s of minutes at a time without a decent breath. The point is not to eradicate tension, but to minimize it as best you can.
When you practice SLOW your brain has bandwith left to watch it self and learn from mistakes. When you go FAST your brain is maxed out. That view helped me stick to SLOW practice.
This is not bad advice, BUT I’d suggest looking into open loop learning vs closed loop learning as discussed by the phenomenal guitarist Martin Miller. Simply starting slow and speeding things up WILL NOT work when there are mechanical motion issues that are usually unnoticed at slow tempos. I find the method in this video works well for maybe a new piece where there’s a tricky rhythm etc…Can also checkout Troy Grady videos on this topic. I wish it was all as simple as this video but it’s not :)
what you propose instead? because some troubles playing fast it's because some people doesn't had correct muscle memory
@@Weily_Alcequiez I propose playing certain things that are already under your fingers at a moderate tempo where you can play it reliably and then speed up from there and at times just try to blast through it even if it’s sloppy and try to pay attention to areas where you mess up. Recording yourself with video is a great way to do this. Often times record yourself playing fast in slow mode on iPhone to isolate problems. As Michael Angelo Batio says: “You need to feel what speed feels like.” This has Revolutionized my own playin and that of my students of all levels
@@Weily_Alcequiez here’s a good video that explains the importance of “randomized” practice when it comes to motor learning skills. The beginner in this video gets tremolo picking FAR faster than if they simply just practiced slowly and sped things up as this video suggests th-cam.com/video/1AjhewUYKAs/w-d-xo.html
@@genehodsdon5261 i saw it but it's for picking.. and your left? 😛
@@genehodsdon5261 agree!
Well presented concepts, video makes alot sense. I had begun to realize how playing a song slowly seems to help on difficult pieces. This takes it one step further.
If you can play it slowly, you can play it quickly
Thank you. No one has ever explained to me the proper practice method to increase speed and accuracy. This was always my problem.
3:40 lmao that emoji with "faster"
I watched this video, picked up my guitar and starting learning the sweet child o mine solo, this immediately worked and I found I am playing it incredibly smoothly. I also found that if I was struggling with the muscle memory side of it, just sitting back and taking a sip of my drink helped me remember without even having to think!
In summary: play the phrase/scale/piece slowly and accurately, then gradually speed up!
I can not understand how such a useful set of instructions can only receive 12K likes in 30 months.
Long story short; It takes a lot of time, be patient, start Ridiculously slow and add up to the tempo gradually DONT RUSH. 😃😃
You’re not wrong. But a lot of people need the reminder that if you start slow, you can get fast in a relatively short time even if it feels like you’re not making much progress. It really really adds up much faster than you think.
Wou, you made my day! When I saw your title I thought, i know this Idee, does not work with me...but luckily I watched your video until the end. And wou, I just made it to the next level of playing!!! Thanks so much for sharing!
Excellent!