Music teachers are always trying to get students to slow down. Maybe they should tell them playing extremely slow is the Jedi-knight secret to playing fast.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but if you practice slowly and carefully, you’ll be able to play tunes faster and learn them in less time.
But don’t let speed be your goal. Focus instead on good sound, timing, and listening.
Challenge yourself to see how slow you can play something with a beat. Use a metronome to work on tunes, scales and exercises at different speeds. It’s easiest to start at a medium speed. Then progressively slow it down. At a certain point, this becomes very difficult!
By playing something at an extremely slow tempo with a beat, you give your fingers a chance to map out the tune. You’ll have a much better mental picture of that tune and will be able to play it faster. This strong mental picture of the tune also means that you will memorize it sooner and that you are more likely to remember it later.
Playing slowly brings out a whole different emotional quality. Just listen to the difference between Swallowtail Jig played slow and then fast…
I’m not saying to never play things fast, for that has some benefits too, especially if you work right at your edge. If you play something faster, it’s a good way to see the whole picture. Playing faster will also show you what’s hard for you, what you need to work on. Then you can focus on those hard parts, slow them down until you can do them easily and then speed them back up again.
Another way to apply The Magical Art of Slowing Down: don’t learn too many tunes too fast. Otherwise, learning tunes can become like cramming for a test: the information doesn’t stick and it makes you anxious. If you learn a tune (or anything) thoroughly then it will be easier to learn the next tune because you’ll have a better understanding of how the process works. You will also figure out technical problems that wouldn’t get worked out if you moved on from the tune too quickly.
I’d suggest learning no more than one new tune a week. You may think you’ve got it after a day or too, but there’s so much more you can do with it. Let the tune take you on a journey. Let it show you where you are weak and where you are strong. If you’re in a hurry to move on, you may not be able to hear what the tune is trying to tell you…
wow! That was beautiful! is this song in the library? I’m going to look 🙂
Great lesson! Just what I needed to hear right now. Why rush? Enjoy the challenge and improve. Metronome is the foundation to build on. Great idea!!
Thank you Obi-Wan Jason!
Brett
You’re welcome Brett. It’s a lesson I’m still learning in various aspects of life.
Hi Jason,
Really enjoying your brilliant lessons, you play all the tunes so sweetly I am impatient and want to learn everything at once ,so I will try to take your advice to slow down and concentrate on tone and tuning.
Many Thanks,
Sam
Hey @[email protected]
It’s such a cliché music teacher thing to say: slow down. But it’s what all beginners need to here…
I have backed off a bit from learning tunes to work on technique,bow controll etc. To slow down is challenging to say the least. Makes for a good practice session!!!!!
I-I-I-I-I-I-I R-r-r-r-r-e-e-e-a-a-a-a-l-l-l-l-l-l-y-y-y-y-y L-L-L-Ll-i-i-i-i-k-k-k-k-k-t-t-t-t-t th-th-th-th-th-th-i-i-i-i-i-s-s-s-s-s-s w-w-w-w-w-o-o-o-o-o-n-n-n-n……… ;D
Aaawwewsomme!!!
This is ne of the things that has really helped my playing. When I learned to play as a kid it was here is the tune, piece, what have you that you need to learn to play by next week.
No one ever taught me how to learn a piece.
I use a metronome app to force myself to play slower. Once I’ve learned a tune are the slow speed I gradually increase the speed. If I start struggling then I need to slow back down.
This is a great lesson.
Thank you very much! Slowing down is a challenge sometimes when you get excited by what you’re playing, which is easy to do!
Technology can be a useful tool when it comes to learning to play an instrument. We’re glad you are enjoying the process of fiddling!
Jas’n loved your fusion of east and west in the jig, as a scot, I’m used to scandi-scots-Irish, but this is new to me,blown away,more please
I’m gonna meditate now.
LOVE THE RAGA! For intermediates gunning for advanced… any tips or maybe even a separate blog post for intermediates who do practice slow (not sure how to define slow – guessing it is where you can deliberately think about each note – or say put the tune to half time and stay on it perfect at half time)… but the thing is, after learning it slow and going for speed to liven it up, I can be surprised at how the bowing feels: completely different (have to lighten up for one). Seems you have to go in circles (and do lots of simpler bowing drills on related patterns at speed)? Signed: going in circles.
When I was learning Scruggs’ Style 5-string banjo, “the slow down to play fast” rule really applied! Good advice along with “play it clean”!
Hi Jason,
I was practicing with my metronome last night and decided to take your advice and play slow, I am learning Wildwood Flower this week. I noticed that when I practiced with the metronome at 50 I sounded terrible, it was too slow and my bow was not making the connection I needed it to, for some odd reason. then I put it up to 60 and I did better.Yes, practicing slow definitely helped me learn the note sequence better.
Thank You
Mar
Nice, thanks for trying that. Extremely slow is extremely hard; something you have to work towards.
I thought at first I was listening to Ravi Shankar! Interesting rendition of Swallowtail. Thanks!
Quite a high compliment. Thanks 🙂
I agree, this really sounded like you were playing a sitar, beautiful. now I cant wait to learn the swallowtail jig lol.