| | | Hey Friend,
Yesterday I wanted you to think about the tools you might use when you're trying to do a job. Not necessarily normal, everyday tools practically everyone has... ya know, hammer, screwdriver, wrenches...
But specialized tools.
For example, did you know there are tools designed to do one job only?
I used to ride motorcycles (until one of my riding buddies nearly died right in front of me on the side of a mountain in North Carolina). When I still had my bike, I'd do as much of my own "wrenching" on it as I could (motorcycles can be expensive habits - kind of like guitars!).
At one point I ended up needing to replace the chain. Now if you've ever messed around with the chain on a bicycle, you have an idea of how they're put together. A motorcycle chain is four times as thick and 10 times heavier.
One of the tools I had is called a"chain breaker." This tool removes the pin holding the master chain link together.
Did you catch that - one tool to take care of one specific job. And not a $10 tool you can run to Sears for. Nope, special-order and wait to do the job until it arrives. It's a racket I tell ya!
That's why I prefer to have tools on hand that are more than one trick ponies.
When you're learning how to play an instrument, practicing at slower speeds is an incredibly effective way to master techniques. Ya know, learn it and practice slowly until the muscle memory gets set in your fingers. Song Surgeon does a great job slowing the tempo to a manageable speed.
But practice also means repetition - playing it again and again until you've got it - or at least having a routine to come back to over many practice sessions until you get it down.
Have you ever found yourself needing to repeat a section of a song you're trying to learn? One particular riff or lick?
Back in the old days when I had all my vinyl albums, repeating a song section was painful. Finding the section on the song, playing it, lifting the tonearm and moving it back a little (never to the exact place you need it). It was a tedious process... Even though my kids got me a record player for Christmas, I don't think I'll be going back to that method to learn songs!
Cassette tapes were no better - play, rewind, fast-forward. I'd wear out sections of tapes!
Then CDs came along. Some CD players allowed you to fast-forward or rewind while listening to songs, but you still had to stop and manually find the spot you were practicing.
With songs in electronic formats, it's definitely easier, but you still have to "stop-move-start" to repeat a riff.
Song Surgeon is a great practice tool because I can pinpoint a specific song section and set up a loop of that section. Play it over and over until my fingers have it. And I can get as granular as a single measure if I want.
In fact, here's a video demonstrating the exact process I'm talking about...
So not only can I isolate a section to practice and loop it as many time as I need, I can slow it down to a manageable tempo and really learn it.
If that sounds valuable to you, get the Sound Surgeon demo and try it for yourself.
Peace~
Dave |
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