Taking a hard passage from slow to fast
Speed comes from correct repetition, not from repetition. The only reliable route is to start at a tempo you can play cleanly and climb in small steps. The part of this method that looks tedious is precisely the part that works.
Find your honest starting tempo
Your starting tempo is the fastest speed at which you can play the passage cleanly three times in a row. Most players overestimate it by 20-30 BPM. Every flawed repetition teaches your hands the flaw too, so starting slow isn't lost time — it's the shortcut.
Small steps, short rests
After three clean repetitions, raise the tempo by 3-5 BPM. If a mistake appears, drop two steps and continue from there. Practice mode automates exactly this: it raises the tempo by your chosen step every N bars until it reaches your target, so you can keep your attention on playing.
Overshoot the target, then come back
Once you reach target tempo, push 5-10 BPM past it and do a few repetitions there. Coming back down, the passage feels easy, because your nervous system has handled worse. You'll always lose a little overnight; that's normal, and real gains show up in the average across several days.
Frequently asked questions
How many BPM can I gain per day?
On a genuinely hard passage, 5-10 BPM a day is healthy progress. Rushed jumps get given back the next day; small and regular always arrives sooner.
I keep stumbling in the same spot.
Isolate it: practise that spot on its own, plus one note before and one note after. The problem is rarely the whole passage — it's the transition between two notes.
Should I use a metronome while warming up?
Yes, but keep the tempo low. Warm-up isn't the time to test your technical ceiling; the point is to get hands and ears onto the same pulse.
Should I raise the metronome after every repetition, or only after several clean ones?
Raise it after two or three clean repetitions in a row, not after every single one. A single success can be luck; consistency across repeats is what actually shows the passage has settled.
I've reached my target tempo but I'm still playing tense — is that normal?
No, it usually means you pushed the tempo too soon. Pull back a few BPM until the target speed feels relaxed and easy, and stay there — the real win isn't the speed itself but being comfortable at it.
Practice with Metronome Plus. Real pendulum feel, a mic-based tempo finder, practice mode and a rhythm game. Free, no account.
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