How slow is too slow? - PG Music Forums

Hello PG Forums,

I found a fantastic video explaining tempo. Specifically Adam talks about how slow is too slow, along with other facts regarding tempo. Enjoy!

Joe,

This may be off topic, but the answer is "can't get slow enough" when you are practicing.

I have studied under two students of Andres Segovia for classical guitar, and both of them encouraged and demanded slow practice, like doing pieces at 50 bpm--or slower.

That is HARD. You want to blast right through to cover up mistakes and sloppy fingering, but if you slow a piece like Recuerdos de la Alhambra down to 60 bpm you can hear every bad thing you are doing, ever bad tone, every place where you need to fix the vibrato, fix the fingering, etc.

SO, my teachers always told me, if you want to sound great when you play it fast you have to MASTER it by practicing SLOOOOOOOOOW dude.

How slow?

As slow as you can get it.

That is one of best youtube channel out there! I've been watching Adam Neely for a while.

Originally Posted By: David Snyder

Joe,

This may be off topic, but the answer is "can't get slow enough" when you are practicing.

I have studied under two students of Andres Segovia for classical guitar, and both of them encouraged and demanded slow practice, like doing pieces at 50 bpm--or slower.

That is HARD. You want to blast right through to cover up mistakes and sloppy fingering, but if you slow a piece like Recuerdos de la Alhambra down to 60 bpm you can hear every bad thing you are doing, ever bad tone, every place where you need to fix the vibrato, fix the fingering, etc.

SO, my teachers always told me, if you want to sound great when you play it fast you have to MASTER it by practicing SLOOOOOOOOOW dude.

How slow?

As slow as you can get it.

I have told my students many times to slow down. If you can't play it slow you can not play it fast.

How slow is too slow? That's easy. It's 0 BPM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvrh73BVraE

HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Good one!

Originally Posted By: MarioD

How slow is too slow? That's easy. It's 0 BPM.

Pretty safe statement there Mario.

One of the songs on my default practice play list is Allman Brothers' Stormy Monday.
If it's slower than that....one might find me in narcolepsy mode.

Carry on....

Originally Posted By: chulaivet1966

Originally Posted By: MarioD

How slow is too slow? That's easy. It's 0 BPM.

Pretty safe statement there Mario.

One of the songs on my default practice play list is Allman Brothers' Stormy Monday.
If it's slower than that....one might find me in narcolepsy mode.

Carry on....

My son had that. Thank God for CPAP!

Actually if I'm at 0-BPM you will find me in a casket!

Originally Posted By: MarioD

[quote=chulaivet1966][quote=MarioD]My son had that. Thank God for CPAP! Actually if I'm at 0-BPM you will find me in a casket!

I'm very glad that "CPAP" (whatever that is) has worked for your son.

No hijack intended....back to topic.

Absolutely! Referring to rehearsals, an instructor once told me "The slower you go, the faster you grow" so I definitely understand the value in that!

In relation to the video, I found the organ in Germany quite fascinating. Such an interesting way of viewing music as an expression of time instead of what western audiences would call a piece of music.

I really enjoyed the video, and the conversation it has sparked has posed some interesting opinions. I love seeing this kind of back and forth.