Tempo speeding up

Chiefbigeasy

Strict Technique question: I’ve been told on occasion that I tend to speed up the tempo on some tunes. Simple tunes like “Anniversary Song” or even odd ones like “Russian Lullaby” have led me into pushing the tempo while I’m playing rhythm. While I think this is a lesser problem than dragging a tempo, it’s something I want to be more aware of and correct. (At least, that’s what my bassist wants!) Any thoughts on dealing with this? I’ve searched the site and haven’t seen this addressed much. Maybe I missed it in a thread.

It’s odd, when I think about it. I think most of us who lead off a song just go for a feel for the tempo and then start the tune. I find myself thinking, or, actually really not thinking but feeling, that some tunes just lend themselves to a more energetic speed and I’m looking to get to it, whether I or someone else started the song.

wim

Yeah, I have a great exercise for this. Use a programmable metronome app, and configure it to click for, say, 4 bars and then fall silent for 4 bars. You play rhythm along with it, and make sure that when the metronome click comes back in you're still on the beat exactly at tempo.

When 4 on/4 off becomes manageable, you increase the duration that the metronome falls silent, e.g. you program it to click for 4 bars and then fall silent for 8 bars. Then 16 bars. Work on it at different tempos, too - personally I find it most challenging for slower tempos and ballads.

djazzy

Excellent exercise recommendation from Wim ^.

My two cents here. I'd also suggest diversifying practice tempos. Each song, clearly different enough in bpm (especially ones that are back to back) so that we become more mindful of not falling into a default rhythm or feel. Even exaggerate the different tempos when practicing. This worked for me. Its also musically better.

paulmcevoy75

For me speeding up oftentimes points to a section in the music where my technique is lacking and I don't actually fully know the music I'm playing. So I rush that section because my fingers/brain don't connect. And then if there's no metronome, the music kicks up to that new tempo.

It also points to my internal time not being solid. I should hopefully have an inner metronome ticking in my brain that can deal with mistakes without rushing.

One thing I like to do is play without a metronome and record it and then see if I can snap on 2+4 in a real cool cat way...meaning my playing is so in the groove that snapping is easy. it gets really apparent when my rhythm is off. The snap gets harder.

I did it here. There's some momentary in consistencies but overall I think it's decent. If I add back in the triplets it all goes to hell.

https://youtu.be/IrzOJcpky7U?si=QwJl1IeFaBNrd_hy

Check this out:

https://youtube.com/shorts/et8WxBV-_YE?si=7gPg0jKOR2zlbhML

voutoreenie

I tend to have the opposite problem but either way, this is also why I try to memorize tunes because I find my tempo lapses tend to occur far more on brand new charts where I'm seeing the chords for the first time. Not sure if it's the same for others but my rhythm's (and lead, comping wtc.) a lot tighter the less I have to "think" about the chords while playing

Buco

@Chiefbigeasy at the end of your post you mentioned something interesting. Because whenever I jam with this guy from the area, whatever tempo I call when I play the melody, eventually we end up at whatever tempo he hears in his head. I doubt it's a conscious effort on his part. And that's the thing, you/we need to be deliberate with keeping the tempo, whether you call it or you're keeping up with it. Feel it in your chest or your butt or tap the foot, but do it on purpose.

What Wim mentioned is a good diagnostic tool, I'm not sure if it's a good teaching tool. I had a student who would use that. He played solo guitar for years and was never developed an awareness for timing. Dropped beats metronome thing did uncover the deficiency but didn't seem to help improve it. It is useful thing in any case. I was telling him to go join a dance class with his girlfriend.

Sometimes it's just nerves, that'll make you push the tempo.

To me, if it gets up there some and then stabilizes, that's fine. That's usually the case too.

JSanta

@Chiefbigeasy I've had this exact same issue. On a song like Clair de Lune, the tune always seems to be faster when we ended than where we started. It was me, of course. And I just practiced with the metronome playing the changes. And now I do that some each week because it was clear that I wasn't in sync with the bassist. A lot of great ideas here, but all of them involving the metronome in some way, must be something to that device lol.

I'll also add knowing the chart and the melody being big helps. Not having to look at anything while you're playing, really being able to be in the moment with the other musicians? I think that plays a part for sure.

flaco

The guy who runs the local jam has an app on his iPad that shows a real time graph of the tempo and whether it’s speeding up or slowing down. Something like that might be good to give you immediate feedback when it happens, so you know what it feels like and you can correct it right away. Maybe over time it would help you get better at locking in. It might be BeatMirror.

voutoreenie

Certain tunes just seem to lend themselves to tempo variances. I feel like all that ultimately really matters tho is if it keeps swinging, especially at gigs...I mean, the crowd only knows what you tell them lol

Buco

Definitely true. Dynamics isn't only a matter of louder vs softer. It has to do with tempo variances as well. Play softer and music will tend to drop a few beats. And vice versa for playing louder. But even with variance in tempo, the music can still groove.

Metronome does too much hand holding. We need to be engaged and accountable ourselves first. Things like dropped beats are a good exercise but they don't account for natural variations in music. I'm not saying don't use the metronome. I'm saying don't see it as the ultimate judge of good and bad timing.

I use the metronome nowadays to practice improvising for a reason of trying harder to outline the harmony of changes. Because eventually I realized backing tracks are also doing a lot of hand holding. You play something against the backing track and it sounds nice. You isolate the same line on its own and it doesn't really outline the harmony of the song.

Here's Adam Rafferty and his take. He grooves as hard as anyone alive, whether he's playing his solo fingerstyle or with a band. His pocket is amazing, makes you move and dance immediately. He never used the metronome and advocates against using it. He also says groove something you need to feel in your body. And says to go and dance, followed by three exclamation points.

https://www.adamrafferty.com/2008/02/27/dont-use-a-metronome/

Russell Letson

FIrst, a bit of speedup seems to be pretty common--nearly every good player I've played with has remarked on that. And a bit of speedup is probably not a terrible thing. Then there's the notion that the music can--and should--"breathe." But that's not quite the same thing as a linear, unintentional tempo increase.

In the ensembles I've been part of, always as part of the rhythm section, it's been the bass and (when present) drums that have been the tempo police. Indeed, my first playing-out mentor was a bassist before taking up guitar, and he always let me know when I was speeding up. I've never used a metronome (find them distracting), but I do make a point when accompanying to relax into my playing, especially on uptempo tunes. (And accompanying a slow tune is harder than galloping through a galloper.)