Is this a misguided concept?

Playing Technique
#1

I’m a total believer that the old school, “start slow and work your way up” way of using a metronome won’t ever build speed. But is there any harm in trying to find a bpm number (verified by Magnet footage) that is both:

  • Fast enough to prevent string hopping — above “Warp Three” and therefore ingraining efficient motions, firing antagonistic muscle groups in a proper alternating “push” and “pull” a la @Tom_Gilroy, etc., but also

  • Slow enough in that “Warp Three” range as possible to give my left hand a chance to start locking in with the rudiments I’m learning in Synchronicity.

My thought is that once I’ve found a natural easy tremolo at [X] bpm that’s too fast to be string hopping, it might be safe to bring in the metronome again to help connect the hands. And if I can find [X] towards the lower end of my Warp Three range, then maybe I can get some easier early wins in terms of left hand sync.

So, what do you think: any danger in trying to put a bpm number on your individual Warp Three speed?

#2

I do this and it helps me!

However, for different lines that number might be different. For me, I find 16ths at 150bpm (sextuplets at 100) is right on the cusp.

#3

Awesome, thanks! And by “on the cusp,” do you mean being on the verge of so slow that it’s possible for you to start string hopping again? (That’s my biggest problem – long ingrained habit, and I’m having to take real steps to keep it from creeping back in…)

#4

hm. maybe. More like it’s the slowest speed where I feel like I can’t stringhop.

1 Like
#5

No need for metronome as explained in Synchronicity: you need internal sync before focusing on external sync like a metronome. You may need to go a bit slower with picking to have accents and hand sync chunking as seminar explains.

Going into seminar material: how are accents on eighths and sextuplets? This is the start of your sync work-counting tremolo. Are you getting 3s, rolling fours or Yngwie 6s synced? Is fretting hand the issue? Review latest Synchronicity chapters to test.