16. Playing and practising

Speed

Practice speed plays the whole song slower or faster, from half speed up to one and a half times. The pitch stays where it is, recordings included, and the song’s tempo doesn’t change: speed is about how you hear it, not what’s written.

Slowing down and speeding up

Available on every platform.

Changing the speed

• Slower (⌃-)Slower (Ctrl+Shift+-)Slower (Ctrl+Shift+- (⇧⌘- on a Mac)) and Faster (⌃=)Faster (Ctrl+Shift+=)Faster (Ctrl+Shift+= (⇧⌘= on a Mac)) step along the practice ladder: 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 100, 110, 125 and 150 %. The steps are finer just below 100 %, where most practice happens.
• Normal Speed (⌃0)Normal Speed (Ctrl+Shift+0)Normal Speed (Ctrl+Shift+0 (⇧⌘0 on a Mac)) goes straight back to 100 %.
• In the Transport pane, − and + step the speed, and the chip between them shows the speed you hear: with a playlist on, that’s the step’s speed times the practice speed, so a step at 80 % reads 80 % at a practice speed of 100 %. Click the chip to put the practice speed back to 100 %, or right-click it to pick any step.

You can change the speed while the song plays: the playhead carries on from where it is, at the new pace. The speed is kept with the song, so it opens again at the speed you left it.

Seeing it

While the speed isn’t 100 %, an Editor pane shows it as a chip in its header’s corner, beside the tempo and the key (and the key playback is moved to, when it is); click it to go back to 100 %. The Transport pane’s tempo is the tempo you hear, in the accent colour, with the written one under it (“120 at 75 %”).

What follows the speed

• Everything you hear: the tracks, the metronome, and any recording in the song, stretched in time with its pitch kept.
• The count-in, which counts at the speed you’ll play at.
• A playlist’s steps, which have speeds of their own: a step at 80 % played at a practice speed of 90 % is heard at 72 %. See Playlists and practice steps.

To raise the speed step by step as you get a passage clean, use the speed trainer. To change the tempo that’s written in the song, see Tempo, time and key.