a handy practice tip

[Paul_C]

. . or if you're trying to work out a song, perhaps.

I have a band leader/guitarist/singer who has been known to get carried away, so that a song I can play without any difficulty sometimes becomes a roller-coaster ride as it's started way quicker than usual.

I discovered in Audacity that if you open an mp3 and then Ctrl-a, then select Effect -> Change Tempo you can speed up the song without changing the pitch.

Which means I can get some practice in at speeds even faster than he can manage

So if you wanted to nail a busy bass line you could slow it down to give you more chance of picking out the right notes.

[Kongo]

[quote name='Paul_C' post='887926' date='Jul 6 2010, 11:24 PM']So if you wanted to nail a busy bass line you could slow it down to give you more chance of picking out the right notes.[/quote]

Indeed, and the biggest challenge of em all is taking your fast lick, and playing it slow flawless...It's so hard!
Cause you got used to playing it fast you don't really register what it is...slow it down and it's a whole different ball game.

[teen t-shirt]

[quote name='Kongo' post='887933' date='Jul 6 2010, 11:33 PM']Indeed, and the biggest challenge of em all is taking your fast lick, and playing it slow flawless...It's so hard!
Cause you got used to playing it fast you don't really register what it is...slow it down and it's a whole different ball game.[/quote]

+1 to this i've learned difficult riffs and licks before at full speed but then when i slow it down to try and show it to some one to learn i completely balls it up almost instantly...
its stupid how by slowing something difficult down can f*** with our heads so much...

[Kongo]

[quote name='teen t-shirt' post='887984' date='Jul 7 2010, 12:27 AM']+1 to this i've learned difficult riffs and licks before at full speed but then when i slow it down to try and show it to some one to learn i completely balls it up almost instantly...
its stupid how by slowing something difficult down can f*** with our heads so much... [/quote]

That's because it is USING your head, and not muscle memory.
I practice by this factor a lot, breaking things apart to rebuild them, like a car engine but on bass playing instead.
On my Sheehan DVD I got recently (In My Honest Opinion is the title), he takes some age old licks, slows them down and messes up a note or two and jokes about it, then turning it into a lesson.

[dave_bass5]

You can do this in windows Media player as well IIR. For quite a few years now.

I tend to use these sort of things to change keys of songs without shifting the tempo as well.

[Conan]

[quote name='Paul_C' post='887926' date='Jul 6 2010, 11:24 PM']I discovered in Audacity that if you open an mp3 and then Ctrl-a, then select Effect -> Change Tempo you can speed up the song without changing the pitch.[/quote]

You can do the same thing using Windows Media Player... very useful!

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='Conan' post='888118' date='Jul 7 2010, 09:40 AM']You can do the same thing using Windows Media Player... very useful! [/quote]

Ive not heard about that before ;-)

[Conan]

Go to "enhancements" and select "play speed".

[mcgraham]

You can also do this in quicktime. Go to AV controls

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='Conan' post='888149' date='Jul 7 2010, 10:11 AM']Go to "enhancements" and select "play speed".[/quote]

Yeah, like i said in my post above yours, its been there for ages

Edited July 7, 2010 by dave_bass5

[Paul_C]

I'd forgotten about WMP doing that, although with Audacity you can then export the MP3 speeded up and use it anywhere. (this may be true of WMP, I don't know)

[Dood]

I'd like to add to the handy tip for completeness of the exercise.

Yes, slow the track right down and make sure you can play it confidently and cleanly in each increment up to speed. Then, I want you to start incrementing past the speed of the track, but make sure you can still play it cleanly. Go as far as you can and ensure each note sounds properly and you are taking care to ensure you strive for quality.

Now, after you have spent a good hour doing this - you'll find the original speed soooooo easy in comparison. If not - go back and do it again!

[bassicinstinct]

[url="http://www.xs4all.nl/~mp2004/bp/"]BestPractice[/url]

Great phrase trainer download.

Totally free too.

[acidbass]

I use 'Transcribe' - saved me a LOT of time and effort when I had to learn 60 songs in 6 weeks for a new band, most of which we play in vastly different keys to the original tracks.