You know, that last little "oomph", or in this case, maybe last few BPM you need to get past to be able to play something at song speed? If you're trying to play something that is clearly out of your skill range, how do you guys go about getting past that final hurdle and mastering?
For quite a while now, I've been trying to play a certain guitar piece at song speed... a somewhat neo-classical sounding rhythm riff in the song "Leper Affinity" by Opeth (starts at exactly 2:14 into the song, for those of you familiar with it).
This part repeats 4 times, and for the life of me, I can barely play it at the pace of the song, and if I even achieve that, cannot get all 4 measures of the part completed without a mistake. A slight misfret, or a mispick, and quickly things start to just fall apart (I keep getting the mental image of a figure skater going for a spin, and just botching 1/2 way through, guaranteeing a horrific landing). Even more sobering is that the singer sings WHILE playing this.. must be effortless for him.
Is this "just" practice? What I'm getting at is I'd like to hear tips from others here on how they get past this sort of thing (not sure if this should be in another forum section or not).
the only was to master something is to practice it. It's impossible to play up tempo licks if you haven't taught your fingers how to move, it's a matter of making the muscles know where to go rather than thinking about where you want them. It is "just" practice.
Play it at a pace where you don't screw it up. Play it more times then you can handle to where you get sick of it . And eventually you'll be able to play it at any speed.
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Don't forget - on the original recording, he probably wasn't playing whilst he was singing.
Best,
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
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When I'm trying to speed something up, I like to practice it slow, then play it fast a little (that usually sounds horrible), then slow back down. I find that playing it quickly helps me to first, see what exactly needs work, second, to gauge my progress, and third, to help me keep the goal in mind. Slow work is the way to nail it, but pushing it can help you feel out the territory.
