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Posted by: leonard478 May 30 2012, 07:53 AM

Hey guys! so ive heard mixed opinions, some say that a slowdowner will make learning by ear more difficult later on because its sort of a crutch, and they say you should keep trying and trying to get those fast licks by ear. others say that the faster licks are okay with a slowdowner

let me know: )
and let me know of some free programs you recommend
(and lets face it by free i mean...i can torrent it )

Posted by: PosterBoy May 30 2012, 08:11 AM

You said the T word

I think slowdowner stuff is fine, quite a few well known touring pro's use it when they are learning material.

I would liken it to learning a language where at regular speed you can hear the sound of the phrase but can't quite break it apart to the actual words, so you hear it word by word and after a time you'll recognise the words in the phrases at normal speed.

Posted by: Nihilist1 May 30 2012, 08:16 AM

I don't use any programs to slow down what I am trying to learn. I should start doing that, though. I bet it would make Guthrie Govan-Fives a lot easier to work through.

Posted by: leonard478 May 30 2012, 08:21 AM

haha fives is a monster song:) best of luck and thanks for your replies

Posted by: JTaylor May 30 2012, 12:32 PM

As far as tab goes, both Power Tab and Tux Guitar let you slow the songs down. Both are also free and 100% legal. As far as slowing music down.... well, if it is not protected by copyright, try it on Audacity. If you slow it down too much though, it will get a garbled sound. Hope this helps!

Posted by: dark dude May 30 2012, 02:17 PM

I don't see it as a crutch at all, there are some very brisk pieces that (especially when you're starting off) need to be slowed down to get a good degree of accuracy. Once your ear improves hearing licks at a slower speed, it'll just be a hassle to slow things down, as you should recognise them when they're played faster.

To add to JT's list, I'd try VLC. It's free and will slow the track down for you.

Posted by: PosterBoy May 30 2012, 03:10 PM

Other software Amazing slowdowner (used by a lot of people, not free) Transcribe is also popular

Posted by: Nihilist1 May 30 2012, 03:13 PM

I heard that VLC actually drops the pitch down an octave when you slow the audio to half-speed. This was an issue some time ago I believe. Has it been remedied?

Posted by: awat May 30 2012, 03:44 PM

I know some very good guitarist and they use the software called amazing slow downer by Roni music. Using this does not hinder your ear training to transcribe, in fact they reccommend you use one. One of my former guitar instructors is a transcriber for Hal Leonard. He uses software to slow the music down. Now when it comes to chords he does not slow them down. He has a good ear to know what they are. for instance, if it is a minor7 th sound he can hear that, now all he does is find the root and if it has some added notes to it. But he told me, having software to slow down music is one of those must have things. It makes learning songs easier. I have the ultimate dvd player and it slows down dvds and I have a video capture also. The free stuff is good in the beginning but the more money you spend like the new software R-mix lets you pull instruments out so you only hear the instrument you want. And you can slow it down or speed it up with no pitch change unless you want to change it. The way you are not going
to get any benifits from transcribing is by not transcribing at all. If you want to train your ear, buy software to train your ear. Thats all it does. Intervals, scales and chords. The software that I have for that will even attempt to try and train you to have perfect pitch. Hope this helps.

Tony

Posted by: dark dude May 30 2012, 03:47 PM

Did a quick test and it seems to be fine.

I can't access their forums, but "I am amazed how VLC can pitch correct with the slow function, keeping audio quality 95% there without any fancy ASIO" (April 4th) makes me think that the problem has been fixed. It's hard to say, though, as I can't open the link to read the full thing, and don't know what they define 'pitch correct' as!

At the very worst, you'll have the lick in a different key, and you can quickly change that afterwards.

Posted by: Nihilist1 May 30 2012, 04:31 PM

I installed and tried it. It works just fine. Thanks for the heads up! I shall use this from now on!

Posted by: leonard478 May 30 2012, 07:03 PM

thanks guys!

Posted by: dark dude May 30 2012, 07:07 PM

No problem. Remember to use '-' and '[' to slow down the tracks instead of clicking through the menu.

Posted by: leonard478 May 30 2012, 07:25 PM

i just did VLC, and it sounds extremely muffled when slowed down, not a huge complaint for me seeing as the program is free, just making sure with you that this is normal?

Posted by: Nihilist1 May 30 2012, 07:41 PM

It is the pitch correction engine that runs the software. It is totally normal, but it isn't all that bad. Trust me when I tell you that transcribing is still 100% possible.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Jun 1 2012, 08:53 AM

There's definitely nothing wrong with slowing stuff down to work it out. There is only a limit to what we can consciously recognise during a really fast section.

Posted by: Jesse Jun 1 2012, 11:08 AM

Audacity is free software and works great!

Remember, the greats used to slow down music too