The trick for playing bass fast (according to sports psychology) [ AN's Bass Lessons #23 ]

[@learnerlearns]

"Slow make smooth. Smooth make fast." ~ Mr. Miyagi

[@zashtozaboga]

if you can play it slowly, yOu cAn PlaY iT qUiCklY

[@CavyWheek]

A wise man!

[@BestBassTabs]

This lesson is SO important for any musician. This is by far the best channel on KZbin that discusses anything music related!!

[@NeuMasterful]

Spot on!

[@avedic]

Agreed! And this technique actually works _wonders_. I've subconsciously been practicing and writing music intermittently using this approach. But I've never really consciously considered it before. But yeah...it's a really great technique. It sounds so obvious...start out slow, get it right, then ramp up speed. But that really is the best way to learn how to play quickly _and cleanly_ in a very intuitive direct way. It's also a good approach to learning how to avoid mistakes before they even happen...or slur a mistake into a happy accident without breaking your stride or getting thrown off balance. This channel is excellent! Your theoretical and experiential approach to music definitely vibes with my own.

[@adamadib9118]

Mark Marxon n

[@KurtStoffer]

Agree +1

[@DiaryOfDissonance]

He IS very good, but Rick Beato cannot be forgotten about. His channel is also HUGELY helpful and enlightening, for musicians on any instrument. Also, thanks for the recommend, adam adib. Always like finding the good channels!

[@JeffSchneiderMusic]

Love this. I teach the same approach. An additional tip to playing "fast" at a slow tempo is to wait until the last possible millisecond before switching notes. This ensures speedy finger transitions. Same kind of thing as what you're talking about, just another way to think about it. Great videos, Adam!

[@rickdeckard1075]

but you use totally different brain circuits and muscle sets and muscle activation regimes when playing slow vs fast...this is not going to do anything

[@ghonneriajones8212]

I lol'd at muscle activation regimes

[@rickdeckard1075]

you need a dictionary?

[@ghonneriajones8212]

Lol I googled it fool it means nothing unless you wish to explain

[@trapOrdoom]

Jeff Schneider you know what, not only does it ensure speedy finger transitions, but it enforces damn near perfect timing for the length of that particular beat. I realized my timing was EXPOSED when I did it.

[@freddiesalone]

As a non-native English speaker I played this video at 0.5 speed.

[@xthatghomiex2939]

Phi Lo Oh my...

[@Zawmbbeh]

Very smart of you!

[@balantacjohnlloyd7991]

Im a filipino

[@balantacjohnlloyd7991]

But I can still understand it in 2 times.

[@aykutaydogdu269]

Probably thats because your native language isn't English.

[@johnshepleyfrater]

"The outcome should simply be assumed, that you'll be able to play something cleanly at a fast tempo." This line now stays in my head while I practice things I can't actually perform yet. I've abided by this basic concept for years - when I'm fucking something up I slow it down and work it out - but you said this so matter-of-factly that the optimism stuck with me. I'll keep watching your videos whenever I have time, you're putting out good stuff here - keep it up!

[@BassForever44]

All musicians young and old: This is gold, this 5 minute and a half video is GOLD!. Period.

[@hobbified]

"Practicing fast stuff slowly" reminded me of the Farnsworth method of learning Morse code by ear. The traditional way is to slow everything down proportionally for the beginner, then speed it up to train higher speeds. But in the Farnsworth method, each letter is sent at the usual fast speed, so that you learn the sound of full-speed letters from the beginning, only extra timing is added *between* letters and words to give you time to process what you heard. As you practice more and your recall gets better, the extra spacing becomes less and less until eventually you're accurate at the proper speed.

[@asston712]

"Relax your muscles," Trumpet players: *confused screaming*

[@insomniajack]

"If you can play it slowly, you can play it quickly"

[@weijizhu3729]

15 NOTES A SECOND

[@mesajam4894]

I was scrolling down to see that comment

[@yueluluu6704]

insomniajack TWOSET!

[@brickbrick8299]

危机主 Weiji Zhu I didn’t have to scroll down coz it’s on top of the comment section xD

[@Zzyofloki]

Lingling 40 hours!!!!

[@kmacdizzle]

Back when I was in a death metal band we used to practice at half speed and it did wonders to improve our playing

[@mk_rexx]

"If you can play it doom metal, you can play it grindcore"

[@ricardojmestre]

@@mk_rexx 🤣

[@keisi1574]

I'm finally watching this video- 22 months later. Is that slow enough? Is that what you mean?

[@darrowpair3811]

Hehehe

[@camillajefferson386]

No, even slower. Like this.

[@cosimobaldi03]

48 months later for me

[@lucasguillaneux7240]

Hello there

[@thestati0n]

er....6 years slow enough for you?

[@Edude117]

Weird... I learn more from this bass teacher than I did from my piano teachers... Gonna use this advice the next time I practice, man! Thanks!

[@jollyvoqar195]

Heh, I'm a guitar player but I find a lot of his stuff insightful and interesting and often applicable in general.

[@Jolgeable]

The same here, playing viola caipira. X)

[@babsdiamond]

I'm a ukulele player and find his videos so useful...he's making me want to take up bass which would feel massive compared to a uke haha

[@lohikarmi235]

@@babsdiamond Do it if you can afford it. Being able to play more than one instrument will always pays off.

[@sahilsaha2879]

@@babsdiamond samee!!

[@jeremyshermanPhD]

I'm a Ph.D. epistemologist and a bassist who never got very fast. Your videos are wonderfully thoughtful and informative. You're the thinking bassists bass teacher. Thank you!

[@DavidDiMuzio]

So impressed by your videos. These are incredible entertaining and insightful!

[@skeletonrowdie1768]

i'm a guitarist, but i learned so much still! Really universal practice tips indeed :D thanks!

[@Hexspa]

A good advice: initially practice so slowly that, if someone were passing by, they wouldn't recognize the melody.

[@Nic33rd]

I'm not even a musician and I love these lessons

[@keisi1574]

Nic33rd I'm a self-trained video watcher- multiple genres.

[@divisix024]

I don't even play bass and I'm watching a bass player's channel. And I like it.

[@CavyWheek]

I never thought about "learning" relaxation at a slow tempo to have it at a fast tempo. Neat concept!

[@wardrich]

I WANT YOU TO PLAY IT SO DAMN SLOW THAT *SUNN O)))* SOUNDS LIKE GOD DAMN SPEED METAL!

[@liammews2375]

wardrich Is that possible?

[@MrDamojak]

lmao

[@amoblahblah]

This is the first “This one crazy trick...” video I’ve seen that works. I did what you said and this fill I was working on suddenly came out perfectly at speed. I’m amazed. Thanks, man 🙏🙏🙏

[@dodotoma4827]

Greatest advice, this video really changed my life. Had been trying to learn this fast bit in a song for 2 weeks and, as the time passed and the nervousness intensified, my muscles were getting tenser and I was hopeless. Everything changed after less than an hour of practicing reaaalllyy slowly

[@macseigel7295]

Excellent as always. Can't wait to share this with my students and use it in my own practice. I've been preaching "practice slow" for years, because I know it works, but without knowing exactly how or why it works. In my experience teaching the "what" without teaching they "why" is always less effective, even if they practically only need the "what".

[@AquaDonkey]

This was the only way I could learn to play YYZ with ease! If you break the movements down and allow your fingers and mind to really comprehend what's going on, it becomes so much easier.

[@prckrevofficialchannel1911]

Thanks a lot, this is an extremely important thing (staying relaxed) no matter what instrument you play (especially piano). Always being careful to play relaxed can spare you a lot of pain and joint problems and help you continue your instrumental career beyond 90 years old. Great channel, always interesting content presented in an entertaining way!

[@maxblondbeast6120]

I am a guitarist, not a bassist. But I really love your lessons. Most things you say apply to music in general and any musician, from any background can learn from those videos. Keep it up!

[@oooooooooolde]

Lol the sudden Macintosh Plus caught me off-guard :D

[@bibimar24]

One of the most important lessons my saxophone teacher taught me. Other musicians were extremely suprised when I knew a fast melody after a week, but it just took some slow practice!

[@artielundberg7125]

Yip, good helpful analogy. One side note, when I taught tennis, I’d always say “slow down your swing,” and often my next comment was... a physics lesson. “Wait, just because I want you to swing slower ... doesn’t mean I want you to change your mechanics .. so don’t de-accelerate as your meeting the ball, just accelerate at a lesser rate...which I assume is concept relating to the no tension; the “work/force” all needs to be applied in same direct without applying counter-force so slow down, just apply less of it until you learn to control it better. A major help in piano for me in the last year even was recalling the need to create energy from my shoulders to flow thru my arms and wrists to let my finger accelerated freely to press the keys... and stop trying to generate all the “power” from just my fingers all the time... had to slow everything down though so I could find where and how to harness that energy. (Also sit up hirer up now so I have better leverage and can control the quality and volume better. Now I know will billy uses a an adjustable stool and not a bench 😜) .. Again, seem likes it all math I still suck, but I suck less! Till next time, The “EE of BASE”

[@NickF97S]

came for the music, subbed for the memes.

[@Cloudycloudguy]

Your videos are awesome. They are informational, and help keep me motivated. Keep it up, dude!

[@OhHellYeah]

i play the sax, never played a bass in my life, but all these lessons help me. definitely one of the best music youtubers out there

[@replicant6]

Yeah this video (channel, actually) is great, Adam. I'm currently learning piano, but I learn more from your videos than anything else. After years of just blindly playing my best (guitar, then keyboard) and waiting for things to magically fall into place, I'm now putting myself through piano boot camp. This video was great food for thought. Focused, diligent, directed practice is what gets results. I waited for the music fairy to tap me on the shoulder for years. LOL!

[@Paul_Warren_Wolfe]

Excellent lesson that is SO important. Ironically, just this morning I was working on Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" at a glacially slow pace...

[@Oscar_Lagrosen]

Such a great video! This exact principle can be applied to basic knowledge work. There is a lot of talk about stress and overwork but if people just practice their keystrokes, their tiny movements and remove the fast expectations for a little while, it will soon get clear and work feels like the best game ever. Sustainable productivity in other words

[@timworley3235]

100% my first drum lesson my teacher taught me, single stroke rolls. on a snare, thats it! "just focus on the wrist" it was all about getting the power out of the wrist, rather than the arm (something i see constantly with self taught drummers). but that set me up for every other rudiment, starting painfully slow and using all the power in the wrist, speeding up as slow as possible and when your forearm starts to tense you sit there for about 4 or so bars and gradually start to decline speed. works with every rudiment! i later applied the slow, powerful and every note/stroke being exactly on point, making the metronome half speed or whatever and that helps so much! no matter if its a jazz swing feel on bass or a death metal blast beat on drums!

[@toomdog]

Preach it! I remember the first time my drum teacher had me do this. A humbling experience, to say the least.

[@tibormalinsky8751]

Just to express how much influence you have: I watched this video probably a year ago and albeit I have forgotten this video exists (that’s why I watched it again, to find out if I’ve seen it or not) I found myself saying “Oh yeah! That’s what I do!” for I really started practicing a bit differently since I’d seen this video. :D I’m thankful for your videos.

[@NoahHornberger]

This really works. I have read another paper on how practicing slower involves more neurons, and this causes accelerated learning of a skill. With more of the brain activated, more neural connections are reinforced, basically creating a neural pathway that is correct, regardless of speed. The neurons do not know about speed, so once the pattern is correct, the other brain functions can set the speed, and the patterns play out like a nice recording.

[@0scill8r]

This is a really good one! Combined with audiation, movement theory are the two most integral parts of being a listening musician.

[@CoolRiffz]

the explanation of fast movements incremented during slow playing makes a lot of sense. Thanks

[@IdentifiantDeCatacombe]

You deserve more views man, Your way of teaching makes more sense than all the others on youtube...

[@rockrollresale2668]

Top notch info. When I write a song where a super fast sounding solo is needed, I slow the tempo of the piece so I have room to play fast licks.

[@loaferpatent101]

Again, late to the party but WOW. This is SO true. As a perfectionistic Classical guitar "practice-r" (I won't say "performer" - yet) I would sit down with my sheet music and metronome, with correct posture, and only play as fast as I felt was "perfect" for each and every note. If I stumbled, I'd stop and reset for slower. It was like meditation. Relaxing. Time flew. It was only when I saw this video, that I realized I apply this to typing tests as well. Even if I practiced, deliberately, far below the speed I eventually wanted to get, when I was testing, I'd be way more accurate, way faster.

[@bassyks]

Nice tips. When I had time to practice, slow practicing had given me a boost in control and skill. Lately, I have no time for practicing and whenever I take my bass, I feel pain for the clumsiness of my hands. I should return to that state again...

[@brunoaramayo]

Gracias Adam! Bless from Bolivia!

[@ErnieLeblanc]

Just Another Great Adam Neely Lesson!

[@anotherkenlon]

This is a top tier video simply for the intro bit.

[@gustavosousa473]

One of the best advice on playing in general, but I think especially when talking about fast passages, comes from Franz Liszt: Think ten times, play once.

[@dhadleyray]

I am impressed with your approach to teaching and the content in your lessons. I applaud you... Keep up the good work.

[@gab4tac]

I don't even play bass guitar and I'm addicted to Adam's videos! :O

[@rohw0016]

dude.. i just found your channel and its blowing my mind. thank you, sooo much.

[@grooves.x]

I learnt that in classical piano! and I also learnt to play a 16th note (or faster) phrase evenly by practising it unevenly from slow to fast. it is much harder to syncopate the phrase so when it got to playing it evenly, my brain just relaxed and the fingers just breezed through

[@roccopepe8845]

While I was in the army, my first company commander told us during a training exercise, slow is smooth, smooth is fast. This was just a good reminder. Ty

[@EatMyUke]

very insightful advice, I'm gonna practice this ideology on a ukulele, thanks

[@stephencoxbass]

I highly recommend it! It's helped me arrange difficult songs for ukulele, U-Bass, bass, and other things!

[@realraven2000]

Great advice for any musician. You also win a lot of insight on phrasing when you are slowing down. I learned this when I listened to Glenn Gould (who sometimes used glacial slowness himself) and practiced the Goldberg Variations - slowing down can open up a world of insight.

[@klaus8456]

This video made me like and subscribe because this is the best lesson EVER. ❤️

[@williammichaelsexton]

1:05 Thank you for using the gerund correctly! Came for the music - stayed for the grammar!

[@brentward5739]

Very intelligent videos, with lots of interesting vignettes thrown in to make it engaging. Great work!

[@XiuHang]

This reminds me of a method of practicing I used with some particularly difficult runs on piano. What I did was take every other note and elongated them by half and then halved the other notes. Then I did the same thing but reversed so the previously elongated notes were the halved notes. This style of practice did two things for me. It got my fingers used to moving as fast as they needed to but it also allowed me to do so while having enough time to process what I was doing.

[@subjectshadow]

Damn this video is 5 years old... Where did the time go

[@TheAlbiCollier]

Love your work man, Bubby Lewis has the most amazing speed I've seen for a while as does thundercat

[@savedplayer]

Thank you so much for the vid I was gonna give up as I thought I was not getting better but your advice has made me better Immediately

[@d4v1dfor3v3r]

FINALLY I find the answer to this. I've been trying to find the answer to this for a while. Thank you so much!

[@jodi183]

Slow practice is neceessary, but it becomes a mental issue at some point, especially for improvisatory music. One has to hear a passage at a fast tempo or hear the changes to think quickly in order to hear melodic ideas at a bright tempo. One also has to train the hands/eyes/ears coordination at a fast tempo. Its really important to practice scales from slow up to the fastest tempo and to keep pushing that fast tempo in order to build technique. Adam is correct about focusing on how the body feels in relationship to the instrument while playing slowly. And to learn passages at slow tempi. With that said, if all a player does is practice slowly, they will never be able to play fast. Don't forget to push the tempo past your ceiling then go back to a more comfortable tempo and repeat.

[@martydurlam]

Why are these lessons so awesome?

[@-1subswithoutuploadingavid621]

My Taekwondo teacher was always telling students "Get the technique right, the speed will come naturally" and this has applied to my keyboard playing and probably many more "things" in the future, very important!

[@cheekoandtheman]

You explain things SO well ! Really grateful ! Thanks :) I'm now inspired to pick up the Bass .

This video inspired me to start using sports psychology for playing music.

[@williamallison5222]

Best intro yet sir!

[@johnnyroastbeef3048]

First time I found you. Thank you for the lesson I'll be watching weekly. Also gives me good ideas to teach my students.

[@TomRivieremusic]

That is a must when you learn Classical music.Each note must sound like a pearl.

[@extremcorg7284]

I’m a goalkeeper and when I learn drills I slowly get everything in the right place and now when I play I just hold the same muscle memory and fundamentals without knowing

[@Pedozzi]

I'd also add to play soft, not only slow, i remember when i first started playing i plucked the strings with a lot more strenght than it was actually needed, it wasted a lot of my energy and eventually i had to stop playing for a while after few minutes. Also applying too much force in my right hand, made me unconsciously put more force on my left hand, and this made me bend my wrist, slowed down my movements and so on. The i raised my volume up, so that i had to play softer in order to not break my windows, and my hand got more and more relaxed, and i used just the right force, enough to have a clear sound but not so much to get tired and fuck up everything. My opinion.

[@speedskis777]

I would love to see a video where you discuss improvising fast. Technique is one thing, but creating is a whole different beast. Not necessarily just over fast tempos, but it could be anything from 16ths over ballads, triplet lines over medium swing feels, etc... It just seems like some people are constantly thinking in the fast lane, and can come up with ideas super quickly. I've heard many different perspectives on this. Some say there's no time for thinking when improvising fast, some say improvise slow then work up to it, others say they only practice at tempo, some say they work on "the illusion" of playing fast, some try thinking in larger chunks, etc. etc. Love to hear your thoughts on this, Adam. Thanks!

[@RedAnalog]

Adam, good work brother. This makes so much sence.

[@MoonEyedAzriel]

I'm glad the song he chose in the beginning was The Trooper, lol Heavy metal, dude, this was helpful, thanks \m/

[@Arael4]

wow, thank you Sir! Unique perspective. Pure genius!

[@leosmithonbass]

good thoughts here. Slow is smooth , and SMOOTH is fast.

[@jada90]

OMG this video has so much charm that your newer vids are lacking

[@judih.8754]

But he looks better with hair!

[@yvan2218]

This logic kinda applies to guitar too, so nice tips! XD

[@danhinchliffe7622]

Yvan Tadle This applies to anything you do. It really helps with drums too. Seems weird but I play drums, piano, bass and guitar and I use this for all of them. I also used to do karate, and it helped there too. It's actually really useful in everything... Try to find other uses for it ^-^

[@adrianruelas1812]

Wow no fucking way really?

[@cosimobohrman]

You've always got great advice man. Thank you!

[@robertosalgado1809]

I'm loving your videos! Keep up the good work!

[@JaredHumphers]

I can honestly say this works. Most people don't practice slowly. You need to work on accuracy first, and then speed.

[@DojoOfCool]

Bob Reynolds has his 60 bpm t-shirts because its great metronome setting for practice. You can start at 60=quarter note, then when ready 60= 2 and 4, and feel you can burn 60=1. I love what Howard Robert told Emily Remler.... If you make mistakes practicing, your practicing making mistakes.

[@Atlas65]

Wow you are a fantastic bassplayer... and yeah thank you for the tip. I am not a bassplayer, I am guitarplayer. But I usually end up writing the basslines for my songs for my music project. That is why I am trying to get as many tips about bassplaying as possible... anyways, great stuff, keep it up.

[@jeepan8043]

Love your videos Adam, I'll try practicing sl..o....w........e........r next time

[@louiscyfer6944]

the real reason is that every aspect has to be accurate and correct, and the only way to do that is to slow it down to a speed where you can get everything right. remember, practice makes permanent, only perfect practice makes perfect.

[@aleisterbroley900]

Bluegrass deity Doc Watson referred to playing slowly as trying to fall off a table slowly. You can see this in a Smithsonian Folkways combination instructional/ performance video he did back in the nineties. Goes to show even absolutely stellar musicians can have trouble trying to slow down what they're used to playing at blazing tempos.

[@CavyWheek]

"Uncle" Ben Eller made an interesting point to play something way faster than you're capable of playing it, and when you slow down again it will seem easy. I think it's a valid concept, as long as you begin slowly and have all the basic muscle memory first. I would be interested to read what others think of this.

[@fastronaut909]

0:24 Ok, I hear you, Moonchild lick 😭❤

[@ggauche3465]

I might have missed some of the comments, but has no one freaked at the parallel between Bran's being pushed out of the window by Jamie and Tomnen's (The Weak) silently leaping out of the window! Resonance! Noam Chomsky and Adam Neely! Get you're selves onto to this shit!

[@kiarashbakhtiari4623]

you are one of the few bass players I've seen to play the correct octaves of the trooper! At least you didn't get that wrong 😝

[@13TeK11]

this concept is bread and butter for drummers :D

[@pedroleal7118]

Thank you Adam.

[@MJ98774]

Great channel Adam! I enjoy your content, its completely original and a whole different perspective on learning bass (or anything for that matter.) Similar to Wooten's "The Music Lesson" your teaching style comes from a unique (and highly effective) angle. Awesome channel!

[@mutantkoffee]

Its nice but man, from classical guitar my teachers taught me early to use super slow practice. I did that for study, practice, but men for real when it comes to speed up... nothing happens... super slow practice helped me to cement the notes, sight readig, hand positions, memorization, breathing and muscle relaxation. Thats true. But I tried to speed up with Sor, Giuliani and electric guitar also. I've been doing super slow for years... but I think speed just comes by training the physical reflexes at fast tempos...during a period of time you forgot about sound and music and just train the physical dexterity, by the month I started to feel comfortable and then totally adapted. Thats the only way I broke my plateaus... not super slow practice... I like Troy Grady, Shawn Lane, and Martin Miller's approach to speed.

[@beraldoyagami]

I see exactly myself in your video intro. The rest of that song goes pretty well, but damn, that intro/outro!

[@logangreen697]

Band/choir directors do this for faster songs normally when we got a piece at 120 to 180 he would make us slow down and it really helped me last year when the bass clarinet (me) had a difficult intro to a song but the trick is is to not practice slow for very long because you will get too used to the slower tempo and you will always find yourself playing slower when you are supposed to be playing fast

[@caitlinjanelle9967]

As all of my piano teachers have told me, slow practice is good practice! Slower practice really works!!

[@Nerd.cachimbeiro]

The best approach for learning some jaco pastorius stuffs its start very slow... Sometimes its more difficulty than playing fast.. But you improve your dinamics as well