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  • Courses:
    • Metronome Boot Camp
    • Practice Habits
    • Practical Theory
    • Playing The Changes
    • Effortless Ear Training
    • Building A Solo Show That Works
  • Articles

5 Slick Ways To Practice With a DAW

February 11, 2014 by Josh Frets

I spend a huge chunk of my practice time practicing with a Digital Audio Workstation, or DAW.

There are a dozens of these recording programs on the market. I use Logic (and love it), but Garageband and Audacity are free alternatives. Until you’re pro enough to have specific recording needs, just use whatever you have at hand.

Here are five ways that I use my DAW:

 

1. Brutally Honest Mirror

Perhaps the most important reason to get familiar with your DAW is that it lets you separate playing and listening. It’s so much easier to pinpoint specific areas that need work when you’re listening back after the fact.

On second thought, not so good

2. Feel Testing

This is closely related to the Brutally Honest Mirror. Like most people, I tend to rush when I play. I’ll record a short section (with a click) and then examine the waveforms to see if I’m ahead of, on top of, or behind the beat. This is particularly helpful if the whole idea of feel is new to you (and thus hard to pick out by ear).

Feel Test Screen Shot

3. Slowing Down Audio

It’s enormously helpful to slow down a section & loop it in order to figure out how to play it. Sometimes I’ll practice a whole song at a slower tempo and gradually work my way up to speed.

Varispeed screen shot

4. Superclick, Cartoon Gravity, & Making Click Tracks

I use the DAW’s built-in drum machine to make a malleable Superclick or Cartoon Gravity. I also set the metronome to play on playback (and not just on recording), then export them as click tracks for using live.

Cartoon Gravity Screenshot

5. Death By Solos

It’s easy to fall into the habit of playing your favorite licks all the time. Here’s a good way to bust out of that.

Pick a section of a song to solo over, and pull it into your DAW. Now every day for a month, compose & record a new solo. One rule: no reusing anything you’ve composed & recorded on a previous day.

Death By Solos Screenshot

 

Friendly Reminder

Again, you don’t need to drop bundles of cash on a top-shelf interface & DAW to get massive benefits for your playing.

Get comfortable with whatever interface & DAW is in your budget, and then focus on consistently challenging yourself.

Filed Under: guitar, Toolbox

About Josh Frets

Hey, I'm Josh. I write the best damn guitar newsletter on the whole friggin' internet. Find out more here.

Trackbacks

  1. 10X: How To Practice Ten Times More… In The Same Amount of Time - Fretboard Anatomy says:
    February 28, 2014 at 5:50 pm

    […] times, there are blind spots in your own perception of your playing. This is where a teacher, a brutally honest mirror, and a metronome come in […]

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