Good advice from Richard Smith

[Eddie Estes]

I posted on Facebook about THINKING my time was great while playing and realizing after doing the Reed tribute with Richard and Arron Till and the band backing me up my time was not what I thought it was.

Here is some advice Richard posted:

"The trick is, you need to listen to the metronome and not yourself. Know exactly which note is about to hit which beat and practice getting it right on. Ron Block with AK and Union Station practices to ridiculously slow tempos. That's the hardest thing to do. Play Jerry's breakdown at a really slow tempo and see how much you want to get ahead of the beat. A metronome will really find every crack. Not just your time, but your technique too. When you play things slower, it's like putting yourself under a magnifying glass...all the things you're doing wrong last longer, so you really want to rectify them. It's a great tool. A drum machine or any kind of program like that will be great. They keep you honest."

I am going to take that to heart. He is one of my favorite players and people!

[craigdobbins]

Earl Scruggs gave the same advice about practicing rolls very slowly and in time, both in his book and in the old Frets magazine articles. "If you can't play it slowly, you're probably not playing it fast, either."

Craig

[DWolfram]

Well yeah. Chet said the same thing. " Turn on a metronome to its slowest speed(to practice) and work up(the tempo). If you can't play it slow you can't play it fast."
When I first started playing I was only interested in playing the right note, not playing the right note right. Wish I had been more patient but it's too late now. The last few years I have slowed down a lot when practicing but only used a metronome once. Dang me.

David

[Norm]

I like Band in a Box for that exact reason. At least with biab I can "fire" all the other musicians and just use a bass player. It has the accuracy and speed control of a metronome but is not so dry and 'tick-tock"