How To Play Music At A Faster Tempo
When you are ready to move up a level and begin to increase your tempo, it’s an exciting time. Whether you’re going from slow to mid, or mid to performance and jam speeds, this post should have some helpful suggestions for your time in the woodshed.
Most folks think that in order to play faster, you’ll spend a lot of time with your metronome, slowly and gradually cranking up the speed. This method can work, but it takes a LOOOOOONG time. In case you haven’t tried it yet, this metronome experience is valid and everyone should do it occasionally. You set your metronome (if you know how to use a metronome- that should be a whole other post, shouldn’t it?) at a friendly speed and when you can play every passage comfortably, you move the tempo up 3-5 beats per minute. Then you go through a couple passes at that new-ish tempo. If you’re doing alright, then increase your tempo again by another 3-5 beats per minute. You do this until you can no longer play, get frustrated, use up all your practice time, or if you’re having a lucky unicorn day, play at any speed you like. Ha!
Let’s Increase Tempo
Here are some other ways to go about it, with hopefully faster results. We’ll combat the issue at every angle: physical, intellectual, and emotional. I should also mention that these three angles are continuous and affect each other. You might start in one area and notice that you need to focus on another issue. That’s okay - you’re a work in progress and it’s good to approach each angle multiple times.
I. Physical
Have you noticed that when your heroes are playing at lightning speeds, it appears like they are barely moving at all? That’s because they’re being efficient and only moving the necessary muscles instead of the entire right arm system. Chances are very good that tempo issues are most likely driven by your right hand/pick/bow techniques and not necessarily your left hand/melodic/harmonic techniques. You’ll need to work through using your entire arm, your lower arm, your wrist, and maybe even just your fingers to use the smallest fine motor skills to play quickly.
On bowed instruments, the angle of the stick plays a huge factor in moving efficiently from string to string. I tell students to think of every string having at least three different planes or sides: the extreme low side, the middle of the string, the extreme high side, and then a double stop. If you can be aware of what plane or side your bow should be on each string, your string crossings will become smoother and more efficient.
Here’s a video I made to demonstrate this concept.
To further drive the point home that our left hands are rarely the problem - try playing only the correct open strings to the melody and take your left hand out of the equation completely. Does your right hand know what string you should be on at all times? Are you on the correct ‘side’ of the string? Can you do this up to tempo? I made another video for this idea with the tune Soldier’s Joy*. Give it a try on any tune you’re working on. Harder than you thought, isn’t it??
II. Intellectual
It’s not just about moving your hands quickly; a huge aspect of playing faster is that your brain needs to think faster. You’ll want to use every tool in the box here to help you speed up your thought process.
Understanding the form of the tune always helps you learn the tune faster, but you can also keep track of where you are when you’re running though it at any tempo. Phrases that are used repeatedly are often in better shape since they get played more frequently. It’s usually the parts of the tune that are unique that need the most help technique-wise. Be sure to know exactly where those unique phrases are in the form. This way you won’t inadvertently slow your tempo as you think about the notes in the phrase that only happen once in the tune.
Sometimes I name the phrases to help me remember where I am. Here’s how I’d name the phrases of one of my favorite fiddle tunes of all time, The Girl I Left Behind Me*
A part: Oscar-Lauren-Oscar-Caroline repeat
B part: Sten-Stenster-Oscar Caroline repeat
Theory can also guide your memory for phrases of the melody, and can help train your brain and ears to hear what you’re attempting to play. I’d assign little theory stories to each of the above phrases like this:
Oscar- descending G scale/arpeggio lick
Lauren- essentially Temperance Reel, aka G scale with a u-turn
Caroline- inverted D arpeggio (5 chord) and up the scale
Sten- ascending G scale skipping the C, back down the arpeggio
Stenster- same phrase as Sten with a different ending
Try naming a tune’s phrases that you’re working on and assigning theory stories to each phrase. I used a theme for the names- in this case I used my family’s, but sometimes I like to use characters from a book or movie, or decade themed names. Get funky with it- you’d be surprised at how much your brain wakes up when you get to the ‘Tonya’ or ‘Joel’ phrases.
*I can teach you both Soldier’s Joy and The Girl I Left Behind Me- find these tunes and more at JamWithLauren.com
For more help on hearing form, you can read this related post: “Can You Sing It?”
III. Combining the Physical and Intellectual
Once you start gaining confidence in your right hand technique capabilities and your understanding of WHAT you’re trying to play, it’s time to combine those and increase your tempo.
My favorite method is to play a tiny part- maybe just one phrase, or even just a challenging part of a phrase- completely up to tempo. Put on the metronome, or set a loop on Amazing Slow Downer, and give yourself a solid break in between attempts. It’s kind of like sprinting instead of running the marathon. You need to go at breakneck speed (whatever that means for YOU) but just for that little bit! Your brain can think quickly and accurately if you say, “Brain, please move REALLY FAST for just this TEENSY bit. You don’t have to think fast for the entire tune. Just this little part.” Here’s an example of how I might do this:
Load the JamWithLauren play-along-track of The Girl I Left Behind Me to ASD and set a loop for once through the tune
Decide on the phrase you’re practicing- let’s say ‘Caroline’ aka the 4th phrase
Play along with ONLY the ‘Caroline’ phrase at your fast speed. This means you’re actively listening to the Oscar-Lauren-Oscar phrases in the A part before you enter with the Caroline phrase on time AND in tempo. Then you get to take a big breath and try it again on the repeat. On the B part, you’ll listen to Sten-Stenster-Oscar before you enter with Caroline, and have another chance on the repeat of the B part. This gives you 4 up-to-tempo attempts at just this phrase.
Once you’re feeling good about that phrase, pick another and go through the same process. After you’ve practiced each phrase this way, choose two phrases to play and two phrases for rest. Try various combinations so your sprints become different lengths. Try three phrases. Mix up the three that you select. Then you’re ready - play all 5 phrases up to tempo. Woooohooooooo!!!!
When you’re out of the house and actually getting to a socially-distanced or post pandemic jam, listen to the ‘fiddler in your head’, so you can play along and don’t feel like you need to be the genesis of the entire world of sound. The ‘fiddler in your head’ (or guitarist in your head, etc!) will help you tap into your ability to listen, and you can expand your listening focus to the other musicians in the jam. You’ll lock in to the tempo and groove and then you’re off. Flying through the tune.
My dear friend and mentor Darol Anger always had us rehearse ‘the corners’ of the tunes or arrangements we made for Republic of Strings or other various bands with which we were collaborating. ‘The corners’ refers to a player switching gears and taking over a different role in the band, or when the groove would change, or something really special would happen that we wanted to highlight. So if I had been playing the melody with Darol chopping, a bowed cello part, and a strummed guitar, we’d practice the second half of the b part doing just that, going into whatever was going to happen next - say Darol taking a solo with me chopping, a pizz bass part on the cello, and the guitar continuing to strum. We’d want to pass off or move through these jobs seamlessly. This isn’t necessarily a tempo-related topic, but you do want to make sure you can play more than just the melody up to tempo. Can you play the back up at the same speed? Different styles of back up? Can you move from the back up into the tune and keep the tempo and groove constant? And then from the tune back into a style of back up? This kind of preparation gives you a holistic approach to building your tempo.
IV. Emotional
A lot of people have a ‘freak out moment’ when it’s time to play fast or at least faster than their comfort tempo. I get that. What happens when you freak out though, is that you spend so much energy on getting wound up, and then dealing with the fact that your heart is pounding and your hands are sweating that you’re no longer concentrating on your actual capabilities! We need to redirect that energy to be positive. If you use the techniques we went through to address your intellectual and physical hang-ups, you’ll have the faith you need to just relax and focus on the job at hand. You might even enjoy the ride! Take a deep breath before you play and remind yourself that you’ve done the work, will continue to do the work, and that you’re capable of playing at faster speeds.
You can practice the emotional piece of playing faster by imagining a ‘stressful’ situation and picturing that it’s time for you to take your solo up to tempo. Maybe even run around the house to get your heart pumping, then pick up your instrument and play at full speed! If you can still play under these circumstances, you can remind yourself that you’re capable the next time you’re in a ‘real life’ situation. Remain calm: you’ve got this and I believe in you!
This blog post is a collection of LIVE lessons from the JamWithLauren Facebook community. It’s one of many perks a subscription to the online studio grants students. The JamWithLauren play-along-tracks are another perk. If this post was helpful, consider joining in on the fun and grabbing a seat in the jam circle.
I’ll be there.
