Playing too fast habit

[keyboardkev81]

Whenever I listen back to my playing I think i'm going to fast when crashing the chords.

Any tricks to keeping it slow? It's probably not noticeable at the time and especially towards the end of a set after the beer if flowing.

I guess just tap food and listen to the drums closely and try and be late rather than early?

 

[delaware dave]

Just like my drummer. Like swinging a baseball it has to do with speed. If both of us swing a baseball bat at the same time but i swing easy and you swing hard you will finish your swing before i do. If you are playing with alot of force you will indeed be early and ahead of everyone else. Start playing less forcefully, this will add milliseconds to finishing your chord and slow your playing down. It worked for our drummer who was always playing ahead of us, swinging the sticks like a madman. As he started playing with less swing force his timing started to match ours.

 

[keyboardkev81]

Just like my drummer. Like swinging a baseball it has to do with speed. If both of us swing a baseball bat at the same time but i swing easy and you swing hard you will finish your swing before i do. If you are playing with alot of force you will indeed be early and ahead of everyone else. Start playing less forcefully, this will add milliseconds to finishing your chord and slow your playing down. It worked for our drummer who was always playing ahead of us, swinging the sticks like a madman. As he started playing with less swing force his timing started to match ours.

What a great idea. Hadn't thought of it like that thanks

 

[mwtzzz]

piano lessons from an old-school teacher who makes you practice with a metronome

 

[musicbysterling]

Crashing the chords? Sounds like another issue all together . Drummers who think Time is a magazine are a poor lot indeed….

 

[Keith_s]

Whenever I listen back to my playing I think i'm going to fast when crashing the chords.

Any tricks to keeping it slow? It's probably not noticeable at the time and especially towards the end of a set after the beer if flowing.

I guess just tap food and listen to the drums closely and try and be late rather than early?

I have the opposite problem, too much behind the beat. Pull out some old sheet music for a tune like Just the Way You Are. Play it to a metronome on your phone. It will feel and maybe sound weird but keep repeating until you are in the groove with that metronome. Record it if you wish and eventually you should hear an improvement.Then you have your basis to put your expression changes in.

 

[Old No7]

How about...
A "Dog Collar" worn around your neck, with the remote in the hands of the one band member who can keep time?

Since you're not getting any positive reinforcement for doing it right, let's focus on the negative reinforcement of doing it wrong... Shock Therapy just might work, if those other options fail. (See -- now I've given you some motivation to improve!!!)

But seriously, when I played trumpet from 6th grade on, I was very good with keeping time (having played the organ for 8 years before that). Those students who were not good, were REQUIRED to tap their foot to the beat of every song, and if they were not playing, they were to also tap their fingers along with the foot -- with the idea being to ingrain, internalize and "burn into their system" the concept of keeping time and having their fingers move in time with the foot. By senior year, there'd still be 2 or 3 kids who were still tapping their way through a song... But at least they didn't mess up our performances.

You might want to deliberately try this trick every time you play or practice (tapping the foot) and listening to music (tapping foot & fingers) to music for a few months; as I do think it will help you "get the beat" .

Old No7

 

[happyrat1]

White boys ain't got no rhythm