Is learning a new tune at slow tempo really helpful?

wim

I find that when I'm learning a new tune (by ear, of course) I'll sometimes accidentally settle on fingerings and positions which don't work well when I'm trying to play the tune at tempo. For example there might be a part where I could comfortably play it at a slow speed and get a good sound, nice left hand fingering, but then at speed there are consecutive downstrokes or some other problem where the playing is awkward. Then I have to rework the position (or slur some notes and compromise the sound) and this requires twice the work because you have to "unlearn" what was already practised and relearn the notes in a new place.

Any tips for avoiding this? I do like to practice at slower tempo because I've found that when I can nail a tune at a slow speed (sometimes even harder to do well!) it's going to sound much less sloppy at tempo.

One method that has been great help is the patrus53 + soundslice combo, where I have video I can actually see the positions that evidently work and get it right the first time. So thanks very much to Adrian and Patrus for their work, it's a good time to be a guitarist..

But when there is only audio, how can you know where the position is? Sometimes I can hear the difference between notes on higher strings and notes at the same pitch on lower strings, but at speed it can be difficult sometimes. With Django it's easier because there are usually only 1 or 2 positions which would have been possible for him. With Stochelo, Tchavolo and many traditional sounding players it's also usually simple because you can often hear what their picking pattern is and that answers a lot of questions.

But with Adrien , Benoit, Olivier's lines etc it's very hard to guess sometimes where to play - especially since these guys don't always pick the usual way. I've noticed Olivier uses his little finger heaps, coming up with positions that I wouldn't have considered or even thought of, if it weren't for youtube!

How do you pick the right position to learn a line??

Arcticguitar

I am trying to figure out the same thing. I can't give you the kind of answer a more experienced gypsy jazz player would but since I am working through the same issues here are my thoughts. When it comes to fingerings and picking stuff what I've decided to do is just pick one player and copy everything they do in terms of fingering until I can internalize it. My approach is that learning the idiomatic fingerings is a big part of learning the style. I'd been playing for almost 30 years when I started GJ so I have my own ideas about fingering and I tend to use my pinky a lot too. But for learning I am relying on two sources, Dennis Chang's improv DVDs and the In the Style of Stochelo Rosenberg DVD. Thats it. I agree that the Patrus/soundslice thing is awesome, but it is a bit overwhelming since everyone has their own style of fingering passages. My view is that it rarely makes sense for two guitarists to finger passages identically (in performance),since we all have different hands and musical ideas, but in the practice room strict copying of fingerings is the way to go, so ultimately we all need to just finger passages in whatever way works best for your hands and serves the music, but before we can do that we need to absorb the idiomatic elements of the style. So my plan is just to learn things exactly like Stochelo plays them on the DVD, when I find a fingering that seems odd to me I work it until either I understand why he chose those fingerings or I don't understand the fingering choice but I have internalized it, then ultimately I use my own fingerings for actual jams/performance. I think the key is to find a player you like and what to copy AND find a bunch of high quality close up videos of that player THEN copy the heck out of them. I am hopeful that if I internalize fingerings from practicing with the videos when I do transcribe just from audio the fingerings will come to me much more naturally. But I am doing it one step at a time, right now I work mainly from videos so I can get the fingerings into my mind/body. I still transcribe recordings but I do it mainly for ear training practice. I am going to keep working from the videos until I get comfortable with the fingerings.... don't know if that means years or months of practice, but I hope my thoughts and plan on all of this was helpful.

Jazzaferri

I practice at slow tempo's too. I suggest you think about the most efficient fingering and think about your picking and get that figured out before you start working up to speed....thats what I do....anyway.


I have often found that because I have learned differently from SR or DC or anyone else for that matter any fingerings that they might use are only a suggested guide.

I use all four fingers and having spent a number of years in Sal Salvadors Single String Studies world and classical patterns of scales world what works for me will often be different.

If a fingering is difficult, mastering it is never a bad thing even if it takes years. It all helps in developing technique.