A slower band

Backing tracks are recorded at one tempo, and the tempo is often higher than you can improvise at while you are still learning the changes. Setting Speed to 80 % or 70 % gives you more time per chord while the track stays in its original key.

What happens to the groove

Slowing a track slows the feel as well as the beat, and a shuffle at 70 % can drag. Use the slow speed to learn the notes and the changes, then bring the speed back up in 5 % steps toward the real tempo, so your timing matches the feel.

Working out the tempo

PitchShed shows the speed as a percentage, not in beats per minute. To find the tempo you are practicing at, multiply: a 120 BPM track at 75 % runs at 90 BPM, and at 85 % it runs at 102 BPM.

Combine it with the other controls

If the track is also in the wrong key for your instrument, change it with the Key control at the same time; the two work together. A loop around the section you struggle with keeps it repeating while you play.

Free to use

Speed control has no time limit and needs no account.

A practice plan for a hard tune

  1. Start at 70 % and play through the changes without soloing, using only the roots of the chords.
  2. Add a simple phrase of two or three notes over each chord.
  3. Raise the speed in 5 % steps as the changes get comfortable.
  4. Finish with a pass at full speed, to check that you can keep up.

When to leave the speed alone

A track that is already slow, such as a ballad, may not need slowing down at all. If the trouble is the chords and not the tempo, loop the hard turnaround at the normal speed and repeat it until it settles.