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Learn a Fast Run

1 min read
0:001:36

A fast run is learned slowly: loop just the bars that trip you up, play them at a speed where every note is clean, then raise the tempo a little at a time. Orfeo slows the music without changing its pitch, so it still sounds like the song.

Step by step

  • Open the song and find the run. Scrub to it with the mouse wheel on the piano roll.
  • Hold Alt and drag across the run on the piano roll to select a loop. Include a beat or two before it, so you have a run-up.
  • Click the blinking  loop button in the top bar to start looping.
  • Hold the BPM ▼ arrow until the % readout shows about 60%. See Change the tempo.
  • Press Space and play along until the run is clean several times in a row.
  • Click ▲ a few times to go up by a few beats per minute, and play it clean again. Repeat until you reach 100%.
  • Once it holds at full speed, widen the loop by a bar on each side, so you learn to enter and leave the run smoothly.

Going further

  • Zoom in on the roll in Settings → Piano Roll → Zoom, so dense notes don’t overlap.
  • Turn on the  metronome to keep the rhythm even while you’re slow.
  • If the run is in one hand, practise that hand alone first. See Left and right hands.
  • Before you loop it, walk through the run one note at a time with → and ← using Step Through, and play each note back on your keyboard.

 Tip

Want the practice tempo saved for next time? Save it into a new version of the file through the  Playback Editor. Your original stays untouched.