Slow It Down! Learning Music with YouTube Playback Adjustment

Since 2005, YouTube has been an unprecedented resource for music students, providing free access to a huge library of recordings, live performances, and lessons. Recently, YouTube added a new feature that makes this resource even more valuable: the ability to slow down any video while preserving the original pitch of the audio. It even works on your phone!!!

“...You got to slow it down, (slow it down) you’re gonna fall in love”
- New Edition

Slowing down music makes it much easier for players of all levels to learn and transcribe music they hear by ear. However, without special processing, slowing down a recording will also lower the pitch of the notes, making it useless as a transcription tool.

Although the technology to slow down recordings without changing the pitch has been around for a long time, it was expensive and using it was complicated. Now, with YouTube, this technology is free and easily accessible. You can even slow down videos on your phone using the YouTube App!

Here are some step-by-step instructions to get started slowing down music using Youtube on your desktop and phone! Of course, I've included some YouTube tutorials as a visual aid. Happy shedding!

Slowing Down Videos On Your Desktop:

1. Open Youtube video
   
2. Click the gear icon in bottom right corner of video player
3. Click "Speed"
4. Select speed (Try .75!)

Slowing Down Videos On Your Phone

(Works on both iOS and Android)

1. Update Youtube App to latest version
   
2. Open video in App
   
3. Touch three vertical dots in upper right hand corner of video
4. Touch "Playback Speed"
5. Select playback speed (Start with 0.75X)
   

To learn more about how to transcribe music by ear, check out my previous blog posts Chart to Win!, Chart to Win Part 2, and Listen Up! Practicing with your Ears.

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Now that you know how to slow down YouTube videos, test out your skills by slowing down the lightning fast playing of Mohini Dey and Frederico Malaman, below!
(Try using the .75 setting)

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