(Hopefully this hasn’t been posted before; if so, my apologies.)
And does she use a metronome? Let’s see…
High-speed motion reverts to elbow:
I think there’s an important discussion to be had here. However, I’m quite hesitant to write this comment.
Let me say clearly and unambiguously that I think this is awesome playing, and it is not my intention to discredit or diminish it in anyway. If I’m not careful in how I write this comment, I could easily come across as a grown man making a pathetic attempt to denigrate the (obviously excellent) playing of an eight year old girl.
My intention in writing this comment (as with every contribution I make here) is to be informative. Some adult players are often heavily discouraged when they see young children and teenagers achieve results like these. They take videos such as these of evidence that they are somehow deficient, and conclude that they could not possibly achieve such results. My hope is that this comment may help to prevent that to some degree.
With that said, let’s get into it.
Watch this video at 0.25x or 0.35x speed. Ask yourself if you’re really hearing six notes in each beat. I’m not, because it’s not happening. This is not sextuplets at 230 bpm.
She’s in good company here. Watch this video of Rusty Cooley:
This is one of the most absurd and impressive things I have ever seen on a guitar. Slow it down to 0.25x speed, and listen carefully. Again, what is actually happens is not what is intended (as in the demonstration).
It’s not happening, but it doesn’t matter.
The reason that situation like this occur is very simple. At these speeds, the the performer simply cannot accurately determine whether they’re really “doing it.” There is insufficient sensory-motor feedback to accurately self-assess.
This is the same reason why movements like swiping, pickstroke displacement, or mismatches between picking and fretting actions (see the Marshall Harrison and Rusty Cooley interviews) occur at high speeds. These aren’t really “errors”, they’re unconscious movement optimisations. This is how the sensory-motor system is adapted to function.
It is impossible for the performer or the listener to determine that what is being played is not what is intended when playing slow. These kinds of speeds are textural, not melodic. The intent is to make an impressive sounding fast noise, and Xiao Yu and Rusty Cooley both succeed fantastically well in that goal.
I am impressed. I am much more impressed by these clips than I am by any clip of playing that is artificially sped up, or where the playing is mimed over edited audio. This is real.
Yes, she’s using a metronome. However, this must be stated clearly.
This does not, in any way, support the idea of “starting slow” with a metronome and gradually increasing tempo. In fact, it is very much the opposite.
Again, slow down the fast playing. Watch and listen carefully. Throughout, we see and hear clear differences between what is performed and what is intended. We are not seeing the result of slow, accurate playing that has been gradually sped up. We are seeing movement patterns that are optimized for faster tempos. If this were not the case, the picking movement would not change at the higher tempos.
This is called bifurcation. As the speed increases, the movement patterns change abruptly. The purpose of the metronome is not to allow a gradual increase in the speed of the slower movement solution, the purpose of the metronome is to provide an external stimulus which creates the necessity for the new movement solution and encourages it to emerge.
We cannot train the nervous system through a simple linear progression. It is simply not possible to develop speed by starting slow with a metronome and by gradually increasing the tempo by some increment (5 bpm, or whatever) while focusing on accuracy.
I’m not arguing against metronomes. It’s an excellent tool for developing timing and rhythm when used appropriately. Rhythm is absolutely central in fast playing, and a metronome provides an external rhythmic stimulus.
However, if used inappropriately, the classic approach of metronome work can be extremely detrimental. By starting slow and insisting on accuracy, we create conditions which reinforce the suboptimal movement solutions, and we actively discourage bifurcations.
Even great players who advocate for the use of metronomes, such as John Taylor @milehighshred , demonstrate different movement patterns at different tempos, and become susceptible to the inevitable differences between fast execution and slower intention.
Actually, I have a lot of respect for John Taylor in this regard. When confronted with the fact that his real speeds were not what he had believed them to be, he promptly removed all mention of his Guinness World Record and related information from his website and promotional material. I think that demonstrates strong character.
If a player wants to achieve the kinds of speeds we see from Xiao, or Rusty, or John, then they need to allow themselves to explore the movement solutions that these players use. We cannot hold ourselves to impossible standards. We need to acknowledge that what we’re seeing represents human performance rather than something supernatural. We need to allow ourselves to be imperfect, and we need to value the imperfection of others.
I genuinely believe that the pressure to “be perfect” has been a major contributor to the very prevalent (and now very well exposed) phenomena of players on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok faking it. For me, the results have always been weird and somewhat unsettling rather than impressive, like the “uncanny valley” in animation or AI video.
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Thanks for the awesome commentary, @Tom_Gilroy. What I love about players like Xiao Yu is that she is the opposite of being self-taught; this is a lot of talent, great teachers (her father taught her at first, and then she got a new teacher, presumably more advanced), and a lot of homework. In many ways, it’s not magic, one can regularly see it at, say, piano competitions.
I see a lot of people wed themselves to being self-taught, and then they wonder, “why am I not playing like my favorite artists?” Perhaps a teacher is the secret? I don’t know, but that would be my bet. There is a reason so many people go to conservatory, after all… (That said, a few can teach themselves! I’m just not sure how common they are.)
Regarding the metronome, it is heavily used in certain types of education, so it might make sense for those purposes, whatever they may be.
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