I am trying to learn part of a solo and it's rather fast and I'm struggling.(for the record it's the beginning of the wah part of the Sweet Child solo)
slowly I can nail it easily. I spent about 3 hours last night playing it over and over and over and I don't see any improvement as soon as I try it slightly quicker it goes wrong.
do I carry on like this and it will come later? Often when I struggle with something the next day I am better so let's see this afternoon. It's weird guitar magic that gives me skills over night. it's also the same magic that steals my picks.
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Your brain can only absorb so much at a time. A key practicing thing to learn, is being able to realise the point at which you've stopped improving. If you keep going until you're starting to make mistakes and/or get tired, then your brain is less likely to remember the good practice, so progress will be slower.
There is a lot to said for little and often. When I'm working on something new, I'll spend some time memorising it, then practise it for a short period whenever I can, even if it's just a quick 5 minutes.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
If I'm doing a riff with a learner I'll start as close to half the tempo as I can and go up in tempo once they've got the rhythm right.
I practice things in short, discrete chunks and I do it slowly and deliberately.
This is how we were taught to practice at music school at it absolutely works.
Try this- 20 repetitions of something slowly and deliberately for 20 days.
You can start to accelerate the tempo as it becomes more automatic but that process is slower than most people think it is.
Hitting something little and often is much more efficient than grinding it out for hours at a time.
I've done the mega-long 10 hour a day practice sessions for weeks on end and it is clear to me that they are ultimately less fruitful than short but concentrated sessions. Your hands will thank you too.
Practicing slowly and deliberately is much harder mentally because you have to fight your natural tendency to speed up.
Thinking of it as a test of character is a good was to absorb that extra stress.
Another thing to do is to mentally run through what you are about to do before you do it- using your brain to practice something mentally is extremely effective and it gets you out of playing things 'your way' and instead playing how they are written.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
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Also I won't spend more than 30 minutes on one thing, partly due to the hitting the wall and not progressing any more thing and partly due to boredom. Go play something you know to start and finish your practise time, so you start and finish on a "I can play that" high.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
I find this often gets missed. So whatever it is you are practicing, make sure you engage your ears as much as your fingers.
A good test is being able to sing it (not at pitch) and slow helps with that.
Then everything else already said about efficiency, right technique and practice routines.
According to some learning theories, pushing beyond one's capability is an effective way that stimulates growth so once you get the pattern down (ears and fingers) every once in a while you can break the slow routine and overstretch even if it sounds bad.
then back to slow and building speed up.
I think this is not new
And then rather than working up incrementally from there, jump to twice as fast or all the way to speed or even faster, depending on what works.
Sometimes though, you're just not hearing something and it might just take you some time of working on something else to get your.... "listening chops" up to it.
As an example, it took me about 6 months to get the pre-chorus bit from Unchained by Van Halen, and even then I had to print it out and write out the timings on it in pen, bold for accents (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + and so on).
Yngwie says "slow is relaxed, relaxed is controlled, controlled is fast, therefore slow is fast", however I find that slow can actually be incredibly stiff because you tense up to try and force control, so slow is only relaxed if you really pay attention to it being relaxed, and once you ARE relaxed, coming up to speed suddenly seems easy.
Part of why this is hard is because you can generally attain SOME degree of speed by forcing it with a lot of tension, but eventually you hit a hard limit.
in reference to your original question, yes it does help. I think of it as programming the notes, the strings, the picking into your body. if you can play it slow, you'll be able to play to speed. I remember learning SCoM (which is on my youtube channel) and it did take time to get the notes and feel right.
If you're playing a part of a tune it helps to get an app that will slow it down for you. The most important rule is keeping in time throughout the practice regardless of the tempo. A metronome will help as well.
In most cases people try to accelerate the pace too quickly.
When I learned Donna Lee it was mostly at 50bpm.
I eventually got it up to 200bpm.
If you need a rough (and alterable) roadmap for tempo acceleration then try this.
Week 1: 25% of target tempo
Week 2: 50% of target tempo
Week 3: 75% of target tempo
Week 4: 90% of target tempo
Week 5: At target tempo.
Clearly this depends on what you are playing, how much of a stretch it is for you and the available time you have to practice.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
I sometimes find things, such as sweep picking lines, harder to play slowly than fast. But I feel I'm on shaky ground if I can't play a phrase in a controlled manner at speeds below actual tempo, and there's a risk it might fall apart.
Don't worry about getting it clean or fucking up. Just go extra fast.
Then try playing it at the record speed. It'll feel easier.