Follow up to mpman24's question
Hello, David, hope all is well. Mpman24 asked a question in another thread and you answered:
"2) Correct... only full speed. Slower versions are not necessary... you'll want to be able to play the song at full speed with me before attempting to play to a backing track. You can use a program like the Amazing Slow Downer to do this if you wish (there is a lesson in the Equipment > Software section of the site on this)."
My question concerns the your answer that "you'll want to be able to play the song at full speed with me before attempting to play to a backing track". Specifically, is it better practice to learn the whole song along with you, starting slow and then coming up to full speed or, alternatively, learning specific licks, say four or five bars, and then learning to play that along to the study song. I ask because I've been using the second method.
Essentially I'll break down a song by logical licks and learn these sequentially using the Amazing Slowdowner. Once I've got a lick down, then I switch over to Garageband and practice that to the full speed performance track. Once that's done, then I will record to the jam track. Using this system, I essentially learn the song in logical licks over time. Of course, by the time I'm done with the final lick, I may have literally recorded the first lick 1,000 times.
So, in your answer did you mean that students should learn an entire song along with you and only then attempt to play it to a jam track? Is the method I use preferred? Acceptable? Does it matter?
Thanks in advance,
Ace
Interesting. I wonder which of the two is more efficient. This prob would depend on The student, I would suppose. I may give the other technique a whirl.
Give it a try. In the end, both are fine... it’s what works best for you.
Hello Ace. It sounds like you're using the same method I mentioned, just one lick at a time. If it's effective for you, I don't see anything wrong with it at all.
The method most student use is to go lick-by-lick at the slower speed (30% commonly), working through the song until they can play the entire song with me well.
Then they move to 15% slow, working on the problem areas (looping them) until they smoothen out.
Then the same process at full speed, and then. the jam track.
The idea is that by the time you get to the full speed, you know your harp parts well, as well as the sound of the band backing me/you, so aligning it with the jam track is not a jump in challenge.
I can see that you're essentially doing the same thing, just in smaller peaces, so that's fine.