| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: How slow can you play? | |
| Whacky -- 02/28/2007, 22:07:18 -- #33403 | |
| The slowest I can play is about one note a month - after that I have to start playing faster | |
| Kai -- 03/01/2007, 00:35:22 -- #33403 | |
| When you get older, it gets worse. That one note, played meaningfully of course, might take six weeks. You see, on the one hand, you can only do slow but on the other you are aware that you don't have that much time left and need to speed up to fit everything in. | |
| CynBad -- 03/01/2007, 10:49:50 -- #33403 | |
| LOL Kai! | |
| fcbuccino -- 03/01/2007, 11:40:14 -- #33403 | |
| One note a year. If you live to 88 you played the piano. | |
| JHMurray -- 03/01/2007, 17:16:41 -- #33403 | |
| I used to think playing fast was hard, but then I played some tunes with a trio at extremely slow tempos. Next time you're with a bass player, try playing Days Of Wine And Roses for example, at around 30bpm or less. And stay together. | |
| Whacky -- 03/01/2007, 22:22:43 -- #33403 | |
| Good point - this doesn't have to be a silly thread. I, like most goofballs, learned to play fast first. I discovered later that playing slow and in time was much more challenging. Ultimately what I learned is that playing fast and playing slow (and all the gradiants in between) are just different techniques - ya just gotta learn em and do em :) | |
| 7 -- 03/02/2007, 12:21:56 -- #33403 | |
| I once played so slowly that time actually began to go backwards. I began growing younger and younger and forgetting everything I ever knew. Before I even realized it, I was sucked back into the womb. Then Hallelujah, I was reborn! | |
| JHMurray -- 03/02/2007, 16:53:32 -- #33403 | |
| Somehow I'm reminded of when I used to have slow bike "races" with my friends. It was a contest to see how slow we could ride a bike without touching our feet to the ground. The last person to cross the finish line was the winner. 7, now you have to play real fast so you can catch up to the future again. Incidentally, have you ever played a tune backwards and recorded it and then played the tape backwards so the tune comes out forward? Another source of entertainment for the bored. | |
| Whacky -- 03/03/2007, 08:49:06 -- #33403 | |
| I tried that, but on playback all I heard were satanic messages...hmmm... | |
| Kai -- 03/03/2007, 12:03:15 -- #33403 | |
| hehehe, I thought we weren't being silly. I like 7’s idea of going backwards and getting younger but not JHMurray’s idea of speeding up to catch up, that is unless it means I can look and feel younger too!. Today I had good news about my health and am contented, if not delirious, to learn that I’m currently well again, so I'll be able to play for longer, fast or slow. Seriously though, I guess I’ve always been too content to play slowly. I’m not competitive and I’ve never been bothered about playing fast. I like to linger on ‘hearin’ the changes and the voicings. Playing faster only became a problem when I began to play with other instruments so I have been working on it (not too successfully yet) but it’s just such great fun to be able to play with a group so I’ll have to get working on it now. | |
| Jazz+ -- 03/21/2007, 11:24:36 -- #33403 | |
| Ballads down around 42 beats per minute, I subdivide in triplets or sixteenths. | |
| gandydancer44 -- 03/25/2007, 19:44:14 -- #33403 | |
| One should exercise due caution so as not to end up like the mythical Centrifugal Bird who flew in ever decreasing concentric circles, with ever increased velocity, until at last he flew up... well you know the rest of the story. | |
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