[daveinspain]

I spend lots of time practicing scales, what could be more boring right? Well I found a method, long ago, that made what was once a choir fun and challenging.

Get yourself a delay, one that you can set the milliseconds on or one that has a tap delay... Tap delay is easier and quicker to adjust when you up the BPMs... Set the milliseconds or adjust the tap delay time to the BPM/tempo you are going to practice your scales at. So say you are going to start at 130 BPMs, set the delay milliseconds to 230. That will set the repeats of the delay to stay in time with what you are playing. This will sound very cool and make playing arpeggios much more interesting. Now if your delay has adjustable feedback set it to a longer setting so you hear more repeats. That's where the fun starts... If your meter is good the repeats will stay in sync and build into some very cool sounding sequences.... If you don't play in time the repeats will become sloppy and sound like crap...

As you get better at this you can up the BPMs or even change from 8th notes to 16ths or what ever... Maybe even some swing and triplets... I haven't tried that myself but triplets shouldn't be a problem...

If you want a easy BPM to millisecond delay calculator you can go here

Have fun while getting better...

[Caroline64]

Another really useful tool for working on timing and having fun playing by yourself at the same time...is a looper. Just making a simple loop takes a degree of skill, because if you don't stop the loop at the right moment, you'll have overlapping parts or empty gaps. Many loopers have click tracks/drum loops you can play with, which can also help with your timing and makes it more interesting.

-Ryan

[quapman]

Whew! that's a relief.

I thought I was going to have to tell you to get a room....

[daveinspain]

Yes another cool idea but the delay thing is in real time... You can hear yourself go in and out of time and try to make adjustments on the fly to get back in sync...

[daveinspain]

quapman, on 12 February 2013 - 12:40 PM, said:

Whew! that's a relief.

I thought I was going to have to tell you to get a room....

Hehehe... got your attention though..

[quapman]

daveinspain, on 12 February 2013 - 12:42 PM, said:

Hehehe... got your attention though..

lol,, that it did,, but now I hate myself for getting caught clicking on it..lol...

[stein]

Dave, that's pure genius.

Not just fun, but real practice, as it REALLY requires timing, and it sounds like a great way to practice it, because you can hear and correct it as you go.

Noted, that also, practicing scales AND timing at the same time kills two birds with one bush.

[quapman]

Thank you Stein,, at least now we got a bush in the room.
Not so uncomfortable... hehe..

Sorry Dave,, not trying to hijack your thread. Can't help myself sometime.

But as Stein said, that is a great practice technique. I have done that with scales before but more cuz it sounds so cool than
an actual practice regime. I think I may add that one.

I need some serious work on my neglected arpeggios.

[Rabs]

Yeah I do sclaes with a delay sometimes.. much fun

Also I agree that a looper is awesome.. both great techniques for practice

[zigzag]

Dave, are there two of you?

I always swing scales, and I've also found that they are just as hard to play at 50 bpm as they are at 150, and twice as boring (prolly why they are hard to play).

[daveinspain]

zigzag, on 12 February 2013 - 01:36 PM, said:

Dave, are there two of you?
.

Do you mean one who makes stupid posts and one that comes up with something good once in a while? Just one but I have my moments...

[scottishrogue]

When I saw the title of this thread, I just HAD to take a look. hahahahaha Dave, I'm pretty certain you will be getting more traffic through here. Good move!!!

[Murph]

zigzag, on 12 February 2013 - 01:36 PM, said:

Dave, are there two of you?

There is only one Dave.

[Izzy]

in Spain, but what about Japan, or Indonesia?

[stein]

I'm goona agree there's only one Dave.

If this one Dave ain't enough to go international in stereo, then for danm sure Dave in 5.1 has gotta be.

[stein]

stein, on 12 February 2013 - 10:06 PM, said:

I'm goona agree there's only one Dave.

If this one Dave ain't enough to go international in stereo, then for danm sure Dave in 5.1 has gotta be.