Practicing slow

[Dan Shipway]

I am hitting a brick wall with everything I practice due to the fact that I cant play with the same cleanliness and technique that I can when I play slow and I also find that when I learn new techniques I start from square one and tend to learn shapes as apposed to the technique technique. This has been happening for the past 5 years and I don’t know how to break out of it because it can be demotivating at times. Any advice?

 

[Filip Tomiša]

The thing is the ones who are determined to play painfully slow and slowly increase their speed of playing are the ones who are gonna master the technique and stand out from the others, while others who are just gonna rush everything are gonna remain sloppy forever. It’s just the way it is, if you manage to tell yourself “im gonna play this super slow and i won’t increase my speed after 2 mins of slow playing” it’s gonna pay off in the end.

 

[D K]

When I learn new thing it usually feels like I’m starting from scratch, but the time that is needed to get better at something reduces with time (I hope that makes sense). To get good at something you need to start slowly and gradually build up speed, I know it is tempting to increase the speed, and sometimes it might also be a good practice to play faster than you’re comfortable with, but generally I would say it’s more beneficial to increase the speed very slowly.

 

[idssdi]

It really is playig painfully slow at first and only gradually Increase speed with a metronome(I used do this without a metronome but that’s kind of a bad example). You really really have to force yourself to just go slow at first.
As for practicing shapes. Do you mean that you can only do these shapes and when you have to do different shapes you struggle?

 

[Dan Shipway]

Yes, I can do maybe one or two sweep patterns but when I learn a new one it is like all my progress is reset and I have to start slow again (I haven’t practiced lead to much before so this moght be a completely normal thing).

 

[idssdi]

Having some trouble with new shapes is completely normal! Being comfortable with a shape is simply muscle memory so when you never do a shape it will be difficult to do very quick straight away.

 

[Matt Wildman]

I have this problem too. I like to start out faster than I should. Patience is key

 

[Lauren Morales]

Take your time and don’t rush! Speed will come in time.

 

[Noah Berends]

I can’t remember where I heard it, but I was listening to a musician once and he said “Don’t practice something until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong.” This requires a mindset where you realize that most techniques or riffs are pretty hard (or nye impossible) to play at full speed the first time you learn all the notes. Just as with professional sports, everybody starts at the beginning and it’s the dedication they put in during the slow and tedious periods that results in the expertise they gain down the road. Behind every great solo is years and years of practice and learning. It sucks if you’re like me and not the most patient person in the world, but once you see results you’ll be inspired to continue on.
The problem you want to avoid is with rushing. I will be the first to admit I rushed learning. The first thing I did when I started learning lessons is I told the instructor I wanted to learn Skillet and Van Halen and all the likes and I was really disappointed when he told me “that’s great, but we’re starting with Smoke On the Water and we’re gonna see how you learn and we’re gonna build you up from there”. And that set me on a great foundation for learning but unfortunately when I stopped taking the lessons years back I fell back into rushing and made some bad muscle memory habits which I’m still in the process of fixing. Because of this it’s taking me more time. You just gotta keep working at it and as long as foundations are strong you can build solid up from there. I’ve been playing for 9 ish years now and I can’t even begin to sweep pick for the life of me. And that’s alright with me because I wanna solidify the basics first before moving on. Not to say it’s wrong to learn those early, but I’m pretty self conscious and picky of the little things so I want to progress more evenly.
Sorry for getting sidetracked at the end, I hope this helps as you’re in the exact same situation I often find myself in a lot so I thought I’d share what’s helped me.

 

[Dan Shipway]

Cheers dudes, turns out im not the only one, I often practice faster than I should or pick different patterns to learn but it is easier to stick to one pattern and one speed and increase it when I feel ready, I will try a few weeks at one speed to make sure everything is clean.

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

So many great advice. @dan just keep at it.let your speed grow naturally, even if it takes times, you will be comfortable at higher speeds in future.

 

[Dan Shipway]

Recently I have been slowing doen quite a bit and realised that it is a lot more painful to sweep or to do anything due to the fact I have to think about it so much, I constantly question myself asking myself things like “Is my shoulder too forward or too back and is my arm in the right place but when I play fast I don’t have that, I went back and watched the lesson about how to hold the guitar and that helped but my arm is practically at a right angle so I am not to sure what to do

 

[Ed Seith]

Find the positions that are comfortable for YOU and try to be consistent about them. Noah’s advice is SPOT ON, and being painfully aware of every detail is actually what you want, even though it seems boring and counter-intuitive. I constantly have to re-evaluate my exercises and slow down the metronome again – “nope. You weren’t ready to up the tempo that much yet. Patience.”
It’s frustrating and it blows, but it is what it is.

 

[Dan Shipway]

I currently play a 7/8 body size guitar so would that affect the aches and ease of play as I tried it on my strat and it seemed like there was less pain as the was more room for me to rest my arm, could this be a factor or is it just down to my arm position?

 

[Dan Shipway]

Hey guys, I managed to sort the tension but now I am having a bit of an issue with practicing rhythm v lead, I have been a rhythm player for about 95% of the time but I have recently been practicing lead and my rhythm seems to get a bit weaker so I eas wondering if there was any way to balance the teo while still learning theory on thes side?

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

same thing happened to me. just give equal time to each- lead and rhythm. you will weak at none. If you have lost touch in rhythm, it takes time to get it back. but don’t worry, you will get it back.

 

[Noah Berends]

Learn both the rhythm and the lead parts to a song if it’s one that has both…you can also practice strumming in tempo by setting a soft metronome and just strum to the metronome while watching Netflix or something. Try to maintain the tempo for as long as you physically can. Like Sayonil said, keep it in your practice routine but if you want to practice something else then give it a smaller block of time, but don’t completely drop it. “Use it or you lose it”, even just a little use will go a long wait for maintaining.

 

[Dan Shipway]

Its not to much with the rhythm itseld but with speed but I tend to over do it quite a lot with the riffs I write

 

[Jak Angelescu]

In my personal opinion, you WANT to recognize shapes and patterns in the playing because let’s be honest, the modes overlap each other. If you look at them on on a fretboard photo with the notes marked, you can see how they ‘bleed’ into each other. Recognizing this pattern helps tremendously with transitions. Also, Randy Rhoads was huge on finding patterns and not just “theory”. Make sure you let them intertwine though, because that’s ultimately how you truly learn the neck and the scales and stuff like that.
As far as practicing lead and rhythm and theory and finding the right time to balance (I think that’s what you were saying) Is to apply your theory as you play. Be consciously aware of what you’re doing. If you play a lead lick, find the notes and say to yourself what key you think it’s in. If you modulate or transition, just work out the bugs. However, sometimes you may shoot yourself in the food because you’ll end up with so many accidentals there won’t BE a key signature, and that’s ok too!
To combine the practice of lead and rhythm together: Pick a song you like and play the whole thing through. Rhythm AND the solo. You just have to practice both at the same time and not intermittently because endurance and stamina for lead and rhythm are two different things. And if you just practice one or the other for any length of time, one will lack and your stamina and ability to transition will suffer.

 

[Dan Shipway]

I actually realised something while writings that post and that is that (and this is obvious but like most I am my own worst critic) this is all for fun, all this pressure that I put myself under and all the hate I give myself for the struggle isn’t needed because for me music is just a massive hobby and if I struggle with something I have AGES to work on it.