I think one of the most common myths surrounding guitar practice and playing is that playing slowly, over and over, will eventually get you to where you can play at full speed.
Unfortunately, in my experience nothing could be further from the truth.
If you constantly play a piece of music slowly, you’ll get really good at playing it slowly… but if your aim is to someday play it faster, playing it slowly is only part of the puzzle.
Now, it would be very simple for me to just say something like, “… so make sure you play everything fast too or you’ll never get there.” But unfortunately, that also sends a distorted message.
The reality is that slow practice is extremely important for the reason that it lets you have brain power to pay attention to all those details you should be focusing on:
- Am I placing my fingers well (close to the frets?)
- Am I perfectly in time?
- Am I using as little pressure as I can while still getting the notes to ring clearly?
- Am I playing all the right notes (and not a couple that maybe aren’t so right?)
- Am I bending to the right pitch?
- Am I getting clean chords (no clunkers!)
And probably a dozen other details that come to mind (pick hand muting, for instance.)
But, like I said, your fingers will become complacent… and if you don’t show them (by playing full speed) what you expect of them, they won’t get faster on their own.
This is why Blues Guitar Unleashed, (well.. and really every course I have,) has both a slow speed and a full speed version of the examples.
Play the slow one a couple of times and focus on the details, then play the fast one a couple of times and focus on the speed.
Now here’s the key – go back and repeat that process a couple of times.
Notice a spot where you keep messing up when you play full speed? Make a mental note of that when you return to the slow speed version and FOCUS ON IT as you play it through. Listen for what might be tripping you up when you go full speed (hint: it’s likely the beat and not the notes.)
Find a spot where you keep making the same mistake over and over? Turn off the track and play that small section even slower (like… really slow) over and over while counting out loud – take a few seconds to fix the spot and it will save you days and maybe weeks of practice later on.
My Challenge To You – pick one example from whatever course you’re on that you really don’t play that well yet. Practice it like this today and see if you don’t notice it get better in just one day.
And if it works, come back and let us all know in the comments below. It’s one thing for me to tell you, it’s another thing entirely to see other people chime in with their experience too so your feedback really is valuable.
76 replies to "Why Practice Slow?"
Good advice Griff!
Hello Griff,
I’m using the slow/fast technique to help me get thru several areas in The
Thrill is Gone in lesson 11 of the BGU course and find it very helpful… practicing slow gives my old brain a
chance to absorb the info and work on the beat and consistency…then I speed up the tempo and work on
the same things about the same amount of times…I also refer to the video for that lesson to watch and listen to your technique and playing (man you are smooth) and after a bit plugging along I am noticing that I’m am finally
Playing the song more smoothly slow and fast. Thanks for all the great support!
Griff – I took on an ambitious project where the slow-fast technique is a must. Eric Clapton’s Running on Faith (from the Unplugged album). He did it with a slide and Dobro and with open G tuning. I’m doing it with standard tuning on my tele without a slide. I’m doing the intro, solo, and all embellishments (except for the long ending). Lots of listening, plus translating the tab from Open G. And, as I said, your slow-fast is an absolute must. I can now play it through roughly, but far from well. It’s been months. Recommend it to other members. A really good song. Merry Christmas. Brian Burke. Branford CT.
I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR OVER 50 YEARS. IN THE PAST 5 YEARS, YOU TOUGHT ME STUFF THAT I NEVER KNEW HOW TO EXICUTE ON THE GUITAR.
SO NOW, I DO EVERY THING ON THE LIST.
YOU EVEN GAVE ME SOME TIPS IN A VIDEO, THAT WORKED GREAT ON A DELTA STYLE BLUES SONG. SHE’S A CANDY RAPPER. WELL WHEN IN YOUR SINGEL DAYS, THE WOMEN, YOU BUY THEM DRINKS AND THEY TEASE YOU AND THEN AT THE END OF THE NIGTH, ALL YOU END UP WITH IS THE WAPPER. NO CANDY! LOL!
Merry Christmas and best wishes for a great 2019 to everyone. Thanks for the constant support throughout the year Griff. I look forward to your daily emails. On today’s subject, I know, I often overlook the quality of my playing and settle for mediocre. Playing more slowly allows time to pay attention to everything. Thanks.
Spot on. How right you are. Have a great Christmas and New Year
I find that practice makes perfect for me would be better described as
practice makes progression rather than perfect.
Perfect makes me feel that it is the end when in fact we are always learning and never reach an end.
Very thankful for your free teachings, wish I could afford your courses, based on your “free vids” the actual ones have got to be awesome.
The biggest problem for me is impatience. I wish is was just a case of practising the slow part a couple of times. The reality is often more like hundreds of times. What I often do is to use software to find the maximum speed I can play and still keep time and play the notes properly. It’s a question of trying to find that sweet spot to build on.
Merry Christmas Griff, as always, your lessons are spot on. I had been told before, “if you can’t play it slow, you’ll never learn to play it fast”. Thanks for the reminder!
Michael Lunny
Griff,
Thanks for all you do for your guitar community.
Wishing you and your family a very happy Christmas and an excellent New Year.
Tony. (UK).
Griff a Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Thank you for all your efforts to help all of us get better at guitar playing.
I Apreciate it a lot.
Cheers,
Charles
Merry Xmas to you and family; Griff, I also want to say a big thank you for the amazing commitment you have for development of Guitar world. I am one of your numerous fans and I love what you are dishing out almost on daily bases. Believe it or not, there is God’s anointing backing what you are doing. Infact, yours is another level of anointing.
I do follow your free-Guitar lessons and also do purchase your CDs, usually delivered to me here in England. You and Marty Schwartz basically gave me everything that I needed to kick-start my Guitar/Music career in the church. And God had turned me in to a Vessel of honour in His Kingdom
Many thanks
I play in a church band that plays 20% gospel/hymns and the rest contemporary Christian, sometimes learning seven “new” songs a week, talk about stress! I learn mostly by ear, have chord sheets provided to me by the team leader and slow the songs way down, and maybe change the key to what we’ll play a song in. Then I’ll loop the song into parts and practice them at various speeds until I can play it as close to possible to the original. I know all this takes time, but if you have the right software, it takes no time at all to arrange your practice sessions into productive time.
And like the “penny” method, I don’t stop until I have the song right. Then the band gets together Thursday’s to make sure we’re all familiar with the arrangement, key, tempo, etc… record the session and go back and practice to that (after I edit it down to what we’ll be playing). It sounds like work but it is very rewarding! Fortunately, we get to have our chord sheets with notes scribbled all over them onstage. (Something I wouldn’t have done in my previous life in a rock band.) God Bless You All, and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Griff and let it not be too blue. Stick to the Major Pentatonics for a few days.
Hi Griff.
Have a merry Christmas and a joyful 2017
Cheers Helmut
I’m feeling more like selling out down at the Cross Roads I’m hoping that some day I can get the hang of this !
Griff , this is a great lesson , something that should be printed and kept close by . Merry Christmas to you and your family . Also , I just bought the Eric Clapton album , “I still do ” . I used your “4 note ” lesson to play along , very cool . Take care , Mike Z.
Griff
Merry Christmas and thanks for a year of the Blues.
hi Griff
very good advise .I can totally relate to the problem of getting the liks and the cord changes right,and particularly in spots where I am having problems staying on the beet.Thanks again.
Merry Christmas and a great new year.
Willem
Like you say Griff, “I can already play” meaning we can’t, at least not as good as you, so we should listen, up take notice and practise, practise, practise, then practise some more. But, practise the correct way and with purpose.
Merry Christmas everyone, it’s hot here in Oz, as usual for this time of year, but exciting just the same.
Good luck!
Thanks for this Griff. I couldn’t agree more. I have several little licks and rundowns that are a challenge – especially a couple of Joe Bonamassa licks that are particularly tricky. Especially so since I don’t use a pick and try to compensate with strong hammer-ons and pull-offs. You have to strike that balance – starting slow but building up once your fingers develop their own memory. That’s something I ove about your lessons.
A Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to you and all the folks at BGU and all my fellow students! Ian
I would recommend the Pentatonic Scales and Technic Coarse to help develop speed and accuracy.
There are a lot of good points made in playing. One thing to add is to keep in mind the rhythm. What I’ve seen is the face features of people when they play, they are showing the personal touch they are putting into each note. So when you are soloing with a jam track listen to the beat and add your own style and feeling into it
Yep. @Bill45 is right too. I start to learn stuff at 75% speed. This is particularly important if I’m learning something from a performance without tabs and I have to find the notes. Even at 75%, they sometimes go whizzing by. After looping the section I’m learning over and over and over and over, I expand it backwards to the part I’ve already got under my fingers from doing this with earlier segments. The funny thing is that riffs and licks initially seem horribly complex and difficult at first but once I’ve figured out the location on the neck and the fingering, everything gets a whole lot easier. Patience is key.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to Griff and family and all BGUers!
Midnight in Canada
I truly think Griff was some sort of of wiseman in another time,He has shown us all his true wisdom on a daily basis and never fails to reach into or innermost thoughts and lead us down the right path to our goals…. Merry Christmas to all BGU followers……
have a merry christmas,you have help my a lot over the years,thanks for all the great lessons.
Thanks for all you do!
Merry Xmas to you and your family!
Merry Christmas to you and yours Griff and a very Happy New Year. As always your advise is just what the doctor ordered and I have become a much better guitar player thanks to you. I think their is another benefit from following your method and that is the more you do it the less time it takes to accomplish the goal and the tabs are pretty much a thing of the past now and I hear so much more when I’m just listening to music, Thanks for teaching me to use my ears.
Slow is always good for muscle memory and to start making whatever your playing become your own. Thank you for your
dedication to inspiring and teaching us. Excellent. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU SND YOUR FAMILY…YOU ARE WELL LOVED AND APPRECIATED. THE BEST OF EVERYTHING IN THE NEW YEAR…GINNY
Griff..Great advice,Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.Gene
This technique is so true. I used it all the time. It has to do with the capacity of the human brain to learn and absorb. It is simply better at slow speed. Thanks for that
Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year Griff.You are a brilliant Guitarist and a fantastic teacher !!!
Mr. Hamlin,
Thank you for your words of wisdom. I needed to read that because I have been struggling with just that very problem.
I look forward to more Blues lessons in the new year.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
I think I may have posted something like this before, but when learning something new, repetition is essential. So, my contribution comes from Mozart. I know Mozart “did not play no blues” but his method of learning difficult passages and getting then up to speed works every time! This is a bit tedious but here is the process:
1) Find a speed at which you can easily play the passage (lick, phrase, fill, whatever) and note the tempo with a metronome. That tempo may be very slow, but it is essential that you find the tempo where you can execute the lick with no mistakes.
2) When you can play it 10 times in a row “perfectly” (perfectly is a somewhat relative term), increase the metronome tempo about 5% and repeat.To keep track of the number of times you play it perfectly in a row, you can use 5 coins (pennies work just fine) or any other small object. Line up the coins in a row on a flat surface. After one “perfect pass”, slide one coin down below the original line of coins. If the 2nd attempt is perfect, slide another coin down. If you make a mistake on any of the succeeding attempts, slide all the coins back up to the original starting position. When you have done 5 in a row perfectly, repeat the same process until you get 10 in a row perfectly.
3) when you reach a tempo where the passage “falls apart” (you just can’t play it at that speed)
a) reverse the process by lowering the tempo until you reach the initial tempo
b) stop for the day and retry the next day starting again at the original tempo
4) As you get closer to the target tempo, raise the starting tempo some, but continue to practice from a slow tempo to a faster tempo and then gradually return to the original tempo until you believe you now “own the passage”.
When playing slow in the beginning, you are relying on your brain to supply the correct left and right hand technique and the correct timing. As you increase the speed, you are driving that knowledge from your conscious memory into your subconscious memory. When you reverse the process, you are driving that knowledge back into your conscious memory.
Is it tedious? Yes!
Does it take a lot of discipline? Yes!!
Does it work? Yes!!!
Is it worth it? Try it and then you be the judge of that.
You may not need to use that process on every new lick, but when you get one that is particularly difficult, this may be what you need to get over the hump.
Well said Bill45! Works for me!
Recently I asked your advice about increasing my speed to time in a couple of Hendrix solos. You said try 8th notes at 175bpm and 16th notes at 90. If I could play the 8ths but not the 16ths it was my timing, not my fingers. So I started with “The Wind Cries Mary” and “Hey Joe”, both I could play but not the solos. Starting slow and carefully counting, I made great strides! I now have “The Wind Cries Mary” up to speed and am closing the gap on “Hey Joe”. It really brought home the importance of counting over just trying to push it through! Thanks for refocusing my technique and achieving the success that eluded me for so long!
Point well taken. At present, I decided to go back on BGU 2, and play every lesson slow and fast as instructed. I try to play so many pieces, but I keep messing up with the timing which is so important. I came to the conclusion that the more you can play those lessons at least 10-20 times with no mistake, the better I will get with my rhythm. Once you know the rhythm well, memorize it, humming it during the day, then you may be able to sing along. I am sticking with the plan.
You have explained this path before, but the repetition, just as in practicing, is always useful. I find that if I listen to the fast or slow version with audio only on my way to work and back, the melody gets ingrained in my head. This helps me with timing and phrasing. I do this before I ever start a lesson and then do it repeatedly until I can sing or hum the part. Cuts my learning time by a huge amount.
One question. I have a Mac. I don’t seem to be able to loop the individual parts. During complicated sections its really helpful to do that with the videos. Any ideas on how to create a loop straight from your video’s?
Hey Griff, For Tom Green, Your fingers will harden up within a week or so, just keep practicing with both a cold guitar and a Guitar plugged into the AMP. Practicing the 5 Box Blues Scale or Pentatonic Blues Scales will soon do it. Do a few two step bends as well. Griff is the expert ask him in the forum.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2016
Michael-Sydney-Australia
Here again, just would like to mention that in all your courses you always explain how to play and then do a slow version and a faster version. In the BGU v2 the method of being able to follow you and the Tab Sheet green progress line at the slow pace and fast pace is just fantastic. I often pause in the middle to get the fingers correctly on the fret board.
Before each practice, I play for a warm up on things I have so far learnt, then I run through all 5 Boxes speeding up each time and onto practice at my stage in your courses. Slowly but surely getting better all the time.
You said it is 40 F in Corona, well today Sunday 20 Dec 2015 in Sydney it was 40 C.
Have a safe holiday during the festive season for you & family and all BGU members.
Michael-Sydney-Australia
Hey Griff, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2016 to you and your family and our extended family of BGU players.
Great advice which you have mentioned before. I use this method in all your Courses as well as your video Lessons. I also find that by breaking up a solo and practicing each part or by Bar slowly and then bring it up to pace. By practicing slowly, I eventually read the TAB sheet without even looking at my guitar which then helps me to memorise the lick or solo or chords. I archive/ Save some of your video lessons that are not in the direction of what I am currently learning and then revert back to them when I reach that stage. So it would be great if you can keep providing the TAB sheet for the video lessons. All great and How you explain it is the best of all.
Michael Sydney Australia
Some really great advice here Griff. It also helps to hear everyone else sharing their experiences to reinforce the concept. When im stumbling around on a solo and cant seem to get it to sound just like it should i always revert back to this and end up finding out exactly where im tripping up. Thanks for all you do for us out here and have a merry Christmas!
Good advice and very much what a very talented guitarist and teacher called Jamie Andreas has written about and advocated for many years Check her material out if you want to improve everything about your playing no matter what style I have personally found Jamies Tuition along with Griffs to be the best available!
Thanks for info the the problem I have is how long does it take to get your fingers hardern up ? Have a good Christmas and a Happy new year
Thanks Teach for the reminder !!
Its easy to get caught up in one or the other mode. always slow or always less attention to detail and going to quickly, neither is very productive without the other 🙂
Nice refresher tip Griff. I tend to drift away from the concept at times and just try to work new licks at full speed. Doesn’t work that way and I need to learn to be more patient! I’m printing this and putting it up on my wall!
It’s also cool to me that there’s a BIG contingent of us in our 50s, 60s, 70s, even 80s pulling our axes outta the case, taking your lessons and reliving the dream we set aside decades ago. NEVER to old to play Blues or Rock, in spite of what younger people think, right?
Have a blessed Christmas and New Year holiday!
Not only is this the best way to learn a new piece but I find that once I have mastered the proper speed I try and play / practice it a little bit faster. In this way playing it at real speed becomes easier and it also means you are not just playing it but performing it.
Griff I assume you mean switch to fast once you can play it properly slow. Also are you talking about when reading it off the page or have it committed to memory. More of this please.
Great advice as always Griff.Hope you and your family have a great Christmas.
Merry Christmas Griff. Glad to see that other old timers like me ,(73) are getting past there struggles. Getting better with all your help. Thanks
Cheers Griff
Tried your advice practiced the five boxes
And can now play them more fluently so it does work
Griff,
Thanks for all you do. I have had more fun. Even starting at 70 Years old.
wish I had started at 15 years old.
Merry Xmas!
Larry PITTS
Thanks for the lesson. I’m also a senior so I have the similar difficulties practicing slow and trying to build up speed.
What——–an——–excellent——-idea——! (I’m starting slow)
What an excellent idea ! (I’m starting slow)
Thanks,that is great advise.I will concentrate on those details when I practice.Merry Christmas
and happy New Year .Willem
I am always open to good advise. I will keep your advise in (my must do when I practice). I do have trouble learning slow and then trying to speed up.
Great advise Griff, I knew this many years ago when I was 12 yrs old, I was taking accordion lessons and the teacher taught me to practice one measure at a time, count out loud, and start slowly until up to speed. But I had forgotten all that because that was 50 years ago. Thanks for jarring my memory, I needed that! Merry Christmas to you and your family! Thanks again for all the great blogs and lessons.
I have the Blues Guitar Unleased course and like the slow and fast versions of each lesson but I can’t always practice in front of a computer. It would really be helpful if, for each slow and fast versions, we were given the bpm so that we can also practice with a metronome or drum machine.
Great advice. Basically I do what you have outlined and yes it does work. Thanks.
This is excellent advice. I have been doing it and it realy helps to remember and to play the solo faster. Thanks Griff for all yor great lessons, and I wish you and the family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Hi Griff, first I hope you and the family have a wonderful and safe Christmas. I don’t write often but I have a lot of your courses and love each and everyone. I thank you for this blog. It is funny when I practice other things and then come back to something I am working on in BGL I find when I come back I am playing it better than when I left it. I know there are other great courses by other people out there and I have some, however, you detail to tab and explanation combined is the best I have ever seen and I have seen a lot. So thanks again and your always wanting us to count out loud and the slow and then the fast tract is the best.
Never really thought about it much but this is my approach. Good stuff Griff. I think pushing yourself to play at speed is a good thing. When you go back to correct it is typically a small mechanics thing that needs to be corrected. I struggled with Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Good intro and solo for the longest time at speed. On slow down I was hitting all of the double stops and notes correctly. A small change in mechanics helped by starting the riff with an upstroke. I heard an interview with someone who played with Chuck who said basically that this is how he started many of his riffs. I wish I knew that tidbit when I started but eventually figured it out.
Start slow and pick up speed. This way your fingers learn it correctly the first time and you don’t have to go back and fix a bad habit.
Thanks, Griff, I needed this! I think this may help get me “unstuck” from the infamous Solo #4 in BGU. After reading this, I think I may be trying to play the tougher licks too fast and not going back to slow down to figure out why I can’t play them right. I figured if I just played them a hundred+ times, eventually they’d come out! Wrong!
Have a plan for executing every part of the lick. Then execute, execute, execute…
Hi everyone and Season’s Greetings. I’m a senior so everything becomes harder at high speed! I sometimes use Riffmaster Pro to slow a jam track then gradually increase it to full speed. But the I prefer the standard slow blues groove anyway. Thanks for your support and all the helpful BLOGS Griff
All good, sound advice Griff. Compliments of the Season to you and your family.
Thanks Griff, Yes practice does make perfect but the practice has to be right. This is good advice. There is a lot of false data than runs about in the music world. It would be good to create a list and publish it. Example. A musically ear with perfect pitch is only something you are born with. It’s false as you can attain perfect pitch with practice and drills. The true datum is some lucky people have a natural perfect pitch but you can still achieve it with practice and patience.
Thanks Griff, I am guilty of practicing new material too slow sometimes. Your advice hit home and will go in my routine.
Merry Christmas to you and your family. Also all BGU players.
sometimes I get in a hurry to learn a new riff or song and that tends to make more frustrations than progress. I try to relax and slow down with a small shot of whisky and some quiet time between songs or while reviewing the lesson I am working on. The key here is only one shot of whisky to relax and focus.
This is the only way to practice, great advice because when I’m playing the fast version timing is the issue so finger placement needs to be second nature.
Been following this concept and works well.
This is really good advice. I have had a guitar for over twenty years and have never focussed on this fundamental common sense enough. Of course I can strangle all sorts lot of bum notes out of a guitar very quickly but slowing everything down really helps. I can speed up later when I’ve got some more control of the digits, and as is sometimes the case some tunes/songs can sound better at a slower speed. Happy Christmas to you and yours from the UK
Cheers Griff
For the advice taken on board I also practice with a metronome I find this helps plus I record myself and listen back
Great advice Griff, I can say I kinda stumbled on this concept a couple months back while working on solo 3 from BGU 2.0. It really helps and has become part of my routine. Love the way you put it in words and everyone should follow this advise.