Hello, I am 29/ 109 lessons in and I feel that I am so slow at fingering the frets. It seems like I am not keeping up with the rhythm of the practice songs. Is this normal?
Totally normal. Your brain is probably too busy focusing on the lesson. You can grab a metronome app (the ones with drums are better) and just play a few different at 80bpm until you feel good and then bump it up.
The metronome app I use you can actually have it increase after a certain number of bars so that’s cool too but my drum machine pedal is the best.
then you are doing it right. going slow is really the only way to learn something. be honest, if victor freaking wooten is learning a challenging new song do you think he dives in at 100% speed the first time he plays it, of course not go as slow as you need to to play something correctly for as long as you need to. set the ego aside. speed comes later.
There is no bottom threshold on speed.
IF a metronome device is used (not strictly necessary for newbies), you can set it at whatever slow speed that you can play cleanly. Playing with proper technique is key. Speed comes later.
The idea that Victor Wooten still has to learn gives me a lot of comfort
i was reading an interview with some famous guitar player who was spending time with les paul in the last years of his life. he says that les was playing better than he ever had in his life at that point, and he was in his mid 90s. when he told les about how he was amazed at how good he was playing, les said, well i should be considering how much i’m practicing you never stop learning.
Your going to not only feel, (only the woke care how you feel) but actually be slow until your faster.
What do you Think will make you faster?
Get back to me after another 100 hours…
Also you can train for speed easily, just do it…
The pros say speed will come but it’s better to train for accuracy and clarity…
so I’ve been told.
by playing fast but sloppy you are, in effect, reinforcing bad habits and sloppy techniques by doing it over and over.
This may be one of the times to recognize your progress. It may be helpful to go back to one of those earliest lessons and see how much easier it is now compared to when you first did it.
That may not directly help you with speed on your current lessons, but it may help you mentally to see that you are making progress. It can be really difficult to see the progress while you are going through the learning, especially on something like B2B where everything builds on itself. The recognition of progress can get hidden.
Not written in stone your statement which is actually someone else’s statement.
It makes sense looking at it that way, but looking at it without more experience cannot be the whole picture.
I see the sun rise and set so obviously the sun must circle the earth.
Things are not always what they appear to be.
Just as fast as you can hammer out 200 more hours of playing then another 200 hours and see what you figure out yourself throughout the journey.
500 hours is often an awakening time for many as long as they do this in around a 6 or 7 month time frame.
The questions all new players have in the beginning can be self answered through practice.
Practicing proper technique, regardless of how slowly, will likely benefit a player more than anything else.
Playing a string instrument requires the use of both hands simultaneously, with each hand performing distinctly different actions. Couple this with the need to train the brain to learn, interpret and remember not only what the hands should do but also how to do it at any given moment and…it’s a lot. Giving one’s self — body and brain — permission to assimilate and execute every aspect of playing slowly is the way to improve in the long run.
of course. many have said it, with waayyy more experience and ability than me. so I will defer to them.
Don’t be to defensive. It doesn’t matter to me what you feel at this stage.
You have all ready lost probably 15 minutes of practice time yakking at me.
What’s more important, you telling me how things work or you getting better at bass?
I come to the forum during the take 5 moments to rest my arm and brain during practices.
Good luck.
i wasn’t getting defensive, i was responding to your statement. i really don’t know exactly how you would take it any other way.
20 minutes wasted here at least, you could be practicing. I played these songs since our last bit of yak.
Here’s one of the first songs I learned, I was very familiar with its rhythm so it didn’t take long.
Perhaps you may like it?
again, i have no idea where you are going with this stuff, or why. have a great day.
= more playing time.
Give me a couple of the songs your working on I need the exposure to more recommended tunes…
When you learn, there’s no time. Once you got the notes then you put time in your practice start slow then increase.