SLOW DOWN!

[fpuhan]

No matter how much I tell myself that playing to a crowd is no different than playing solo at home, I find I always speed up songs when playing live. Tapping my feet, and having my inner voice tell me to slow it down, I always seem to play faster when performing.

I bought myself a SoundBrenner Pulse (a wearable metronome) in hopes it would tactically keep the beat slow, but I haven't used it live. Setting it up prior to performing has been a bit of a hassle for me (I know, I know: practice...). But I wonder if there's an easier way to just slow the tempo down when playing. I know when I'm practicing, I can "think ahead" for notes, chords, lyrics, etc., but when I hit the stage, it's all a blur. How do people manage to do this?

[mr. beaumont]

Speeding up is USUALLY a sign of nervousness/discomfort...you say it's a "blur" when you're up there...

So I would say pinpoint the discomfort...is it just general nervous excitement about performing? A little meditation/focus techniques could help...or is it not having the material down cold? Then the answer is practice!

[Gordon Currie]

I found this was a problem for me when I first started performing.
The nervousness and adrenalin became overwhelming and I could only focus on hitting notes, not tempo.

Over years, I became progressively more comfortable onstage, so I had spare mental cycles to spend on tempo and groove.

My main advice is practice practice practice.
When you know a piece 100%, nerves are at their lowest.
As knowledge/confidence in a piece goes down, nerves go up.

Make sure to use a metronome during rehearsal on the songs you perform.
You may find places you consistently drift in tempo.
That can be fine, but you need to be aware that those drifts combined with nerves = tempo speed up.

Finally, when onstage, take a deep breath before starting a song.
This can help relax the body. Muscle tightness can contribute to nerves.
I have a 2-3 second ritual of deep breath, internal setting of tempo along with imperceptible movement in tempo (e.g my big toe inside my shoe).
This helps get me in control of how I start - and when that goes well, it is infinitely easier to keep tempo consistent.

[Charlie Bernstein]

I have the same problem. If I'm playing solo, I just force myself to hear the song in my head and feel its pulse before I launch into it. It doesn't completely solve it, but it helps a lot.

[Silly Moustache]

In thr early '90s when I started playing after a ten year hiatus, and as a solo singer- guitarist, I frequented folk clubs looking for gigs.
I rehearse a three or four song set for a floor spot and wait ....and wait, whilst other folks would stand on stage muttering things like "what song shall I sing next" etc. (I knew my set backwards and they were wasting time).

The the mc would say to me something like "we are running out of time - can you do two quick songs?" Which ... irritated me somewhat, and the result was that I would play two songs too quickly.

That is why, when I started up my own club the players know that they have 15 minutes and I expect them to rehearse their set so it fits within that time.

Slowly, people learn ... and become far more "professional" ... but some never do.

It is good to rehearse EVERYTHING including song introductions, tuning chats (during applause), guitar changes etc.

Then you know that you don't under or over run.

Good discipline.

[Jaxon]

no help here, never been held to a definite tempo

[KevWind]

Yes Been there done that

What helps me is meditative 4 by 4 by 4 breathing prior to going on stage

breath in 4 count hold 4 count breath out 4 count

[fitness1]

There are TONS of live recordings of major artists that are 10-20% faster than the studio versions - so don't feel bad.

I think sometimes in a solo acoustic setting there are tunes that need to be sped up a bit to keep the crowd. I've done this over the years intentionally when playing for a "dinner" type crowd. Playing lots of mellow ballads to fit the crowd can become uninteresting for the performer and the crowd - if you give them a tiny bit of "life" it can make it better.

[JonPR]

This is so common that I suspect everyone, even pros, suffers from it to some degree.

What I've found is that it kicks in two ways, one less conscious than the other. The conscious one is when we just play everything too fast. We may not know how much too fast, but we can feel it's not right, we make more mistakes (because it's too fast) and we know it's down to stage fright (even the really mild kind). It's "fight or flight" - subconsciously we want the stress to be over quickly so we can get out of there. (Which is of course the opposite of the conscious desire to enjoy ourselves up there.)

The subconscious effect is the difference been playing stuff we already know - things we have practised, strumming chords, playing the same things we always play - and improvising.

I knew I had the first problem and tried all the methods Gordon suggests, often quite successfully. (Successfully enough to get acutely aware of other band members speeding up!)

With the second problem, I was aware that I tended to get ahead of rhe beat, but it didn't hit home until I was jamming at home with my gf (on piano), and we decided to use a metronome. While I was just strumming, keeping time, all was fine - I could slot right in with the click. But when I took a solo, the metronome started slowing down...

That was the weird thing. It didn't feel like I was getting ahead - it really sounded like the metronome had got slower.

That was the wake-up call that the brain actually goes into a different gear when you start being creative. It's not adrenalin or stage fright - I was quite relaxed and not nervous - it's simply thinking faster in order to invent what you are about to play. And of course, thinking faster means your surroundings feel slower in comparison.
It's similar to "fight or flight" syndrome in that sense, but the difference is you don't feel nervous or stressed at all. That was why the evidence of the metronome was such a shock.

IOW, our natural sense of time is organic, flexible - because it evolved in relation to our situations and stress levels. But to play music, we have to train our internal clocks to be more metronomic - not 100% clockwork, of course, not robotic, but to know how to relax and "sit on" the beat, to be "in the pocket". We have to feel rhythm as if it's not something we are driving or pushing, but something external that is carrying us, like a passenger.

Playing in a band (if the rhythm section is good!), you literally can relinquish control, and "sit back on" what they are putting out. But playing solo, it's much harder. The way I've found that works (up to a point) is to imagine the fastest part of the piece I'm about to play - to remember the feeling of fitting those triplets or 16ths into one beat, to almost sing the rhythm to myself before I start, to feel that groove as if it really is something out of my control, that I'm just going to hook on to and let it take me. It always results in me forcing myself to start slower than I would otherwise.

I then have to pay attention as I play to stop the usual adrenalin kicking in to make me accelerate....

[PeterM]

[QUOTE=fitness1;7413639]There are TONS of live recordings of major artists that are 10-20% faster than the studio versions - so don't feel bad.

But that is done mostly so the mistakes are covered up!

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by fitness1

There are TONS of live recordings of major artists that are 10-20% faster than the studio versions - so don't feel bad.

I think sometimes in a solo acoustic setting there are tunes that need to be sped up a bit to keep the crowd. I've done this over the years intentionally when playing for a "dinner" type crowd. Playing lots of mellow ballads to fit the crowd can become uninteresting for the performer and the crowd - if you give them a tiny bit of "life" it can make it better.

For me, and I think for Fputan, the problem is speeding up during the course of the song. As I said above and in other posts, I've learned ways of dealing with it. That's what Fputan is looking for: ideas on how to keep a steady rhythm, start to finish.

You're right about how much faster some artists perform their recorded tunes when they go on stage. One thing I've always thought was interesting about the Grateful Dead was how often their live renditions of songs were drastically slower than their studio versions — like Friend of the Devil.

[PeterM]

Yep...that is because the Dead were better than most bands and could do it.
Or the audience was "medicated" and loved it whatever way they played it.

[mike o]

You folks have offered up some brilliant words of wisdom here. All based on experience! Love it! To the OP, just the fact that you are aware of tempos getting fast and reaching out for help tells me you will get it fixed! Keep in mind you have two things to consider. Tempo vs meter. Consider where you feel the most comfortable playing a song and desired feel. Write that tempo down and for all your other songs on a master song list. Work with a metronome when rehearsing at home. Lock it in. I will actually rehearse songs at home slightly slower than where ideally they should be performed. Adrenaline will get you. Steady meter is how close you can stay at tempo through a whole song. In a live performance, it’s normal to speed up in say a chorus a little then pull it back down. Some is ok. This is where my personal struggles are even today. It’s become more of the norm for professional groups to play to a click track. Interested in hearing from any folks who have used that wrist tempo thingy live.

[A Scot in Otley]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

I found this was a problem for me when I first started performing.
The nervousness and adrenalin became overwhelming and I could only focus on hitting notes, not tempo.

Over years, I became progressively more comfortable onstage, so I had spare mental cycles to spend on tempo and groove.

My main advice is practice practice practice.
When you know a piece 100%, nerves are at their lowest.
As knowledge/confidence in a piece goes down, nerves go up.

Make sure to use a metronome during rehearsal on the songs you perform.
You may find places you consistently drift in tempo.
That can be fine, but you need to be aware that those drifts combined with nerves = tempo speed up.

Finally, when onstage, take a deep breath before starting a song.
This can help relax the body. Muscle tightness can contribute to nerves.
I have a 2-3 second ritual of deep breath, internal setting of tempo along with imperceptible movement in tempo (e.g my big toe inside my shoe).
This helps get me in control of how I start - and when that goes well, it is infinitely easier to keep tempo consistent.

Great advice. This is what I do ... and what I try to do .... and what I sometimes fail to do. It's great to have this reminder as it's really annoying when I speed up.

Sometimes I play with a mate playing bass, and he whispers, 'slow down' just before the end of a break in the song (which is where I can start to go into 'giving it some welly' mode)

[A Scot in Otley]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

In thr early '90s when I started playing after a ten year hiatus, and as a solo singer- guitarist, I frequented folk clubs looking for gigs.
I rehearse a three or four song set for a floor spot and wait ....and wait, whilst other folks would stand on stage muttering things like "what song shall I sing next" etc. (I knew my set backwards and they were wasting time).

The the mc would say to me something like "we are running out of time - can you do two quick songs?" Which ... irritated me somewhat, and the result was that I would play two songs too quickly.

That is why, when I started up my own club the players know that they have 15 minutes and I expect them to rehearse their set so it fits within that time.

Slowly, people learn ... and become far more "professional" ... but some never do.

It is good to rehearse EVERYTHING including song introductions, tuning chats (during applause), guitar changes etc.

Then you know that you don't under or over run.

Good discipline.

Open mics, especially folk clubs, are notorious for people rambling on and on about a song, or playing songs with 20 odd verses. They seem to lack awareness of the stultifying effect on their audience. If they're going to do that, make it amusing (or historically interesting) ...Agree with your bit about rehearsal of song intros ... spontaneity needs a lot of rehearsal