PRACTICE TIPS
How to slow down songs on Spotify
Practice along with your favorite songs in Spotify – slowed down to the speed you choose.
How to slow down songs on Spotify 2023
UPDATE:
Slowing down songs on Spotify can be a great way to practice but recently Spotify have closed access to their API which means solutions like the Amazing Slow Downer app no longer work!
The article below shared details of how to slow down Spotify songs using the Amazing Slow Downer app but this app no longer works. I will share some alternatives below..
1. USE YOUTUBE
When Spotify killed their API access, the app I used to slow down Spotify songs no longer worked and I started using YouTube.
You can find almost any song on YouTube (the album version) and it’s video controls make it easy to slow that video (and hence audio) down to any speed you like.
I have written a detailed guide on how to do slow down songs in YouTube and it works really well for me.
2. MOVE TO APPLE MUSIC
Spotify have done the dirty twice really – killing off the API access for third party products (boo!) and raising prices recently.
If you want to save money, you can easily move to Apple Music and use a free service like Soundiiz to move your playlists across so you don’t lose your curated music lists.
I personally think we will see Spotify price rises as a regular thing in the coming years. Expect one every few months. If you use Apple Music, the Amazing Slow Downer app will work – see steps below
3. USE A DESKTOP APP WITH LOCAL FILES
I have seen some services that will access your local folder of Spotify files and with a desktop app, allow you to change playback speed.
This is an option. I don’t personally like it because I prefer cloud-based solutions, I don’t like to give a 3rd party access to my computer and I don’t want to install something that I don’t know the brand name of.
That said, this is an option – even if it is one I do not like.
The Amazing Slow Downer App
The first thing you need to do is install a very cool app on your iPhone or Android called the Amazing Slow Downer. This app has such a cool name – it does exactly what it says on the tin!
Go to the app store (iOS) or Play Store (Android) and type in “Amazing Slow Downer”.
You will see two results – the full app and the Lite version of the app. Install the Lite version for now as this is good enough for now. You can always upgrade later if you get this working and you feel like you will enjoy practicing this way.
Once you have installed the app, you can open it and connect Spotify. Select Spotify from the list and connect it by entering your Spotify username and password. This only has to be done the first time you access Spotify.
Assuming this is done, you can now select playlists and indeed your chosen song from that playlist. Because the song I wish to practice is Blackbird by the Beatles, I will now create a playlist in Spotify called Fingerpicking Practice and I will add Blackbird to this playlist.
Once Spotify is connected, you can now select playlists and indeed your chosen song from that playlist.
Because the song I wish to practice is Blackbird by the Beatles, I will now create a playlist in Spotify called Fingerpicking Practice and I will add Blackbird to this playlist.
Selecting and slowing down the song
I now open the ‘Fingerpicking Practice’ playlist and select Blackbird which opens up this song in Amazing Slow Downer
Let’s now have a look at what we see in the Amazing Slow Downer app. Firstly, note there is a play, pause and stop button. You can play the track now and you will hear it playing. Feel free to mess around with all the settings.
The key setting here is the speed setting. If you reduce this value, you will now notice the song is played at a slowed down tempo!
Practice Tips
1. Slow Down Songs on Spotify to 75%
I would suggest setting a speed of around 70-75% of regular tempo.
If you slow down the song too much, it becomes almost unintelligible. It doesn’t really sound like the song any more. If you don’t slow it down enough, then it’s hard to practice along with it.
2. Play along with slowed version
The value of being able to slow down a song in Spotify is that you’ll be able to play along with it – and also hear some more of the intricacies of the performance that perhaps you wouldn’t at full speed. One great thing about the app is that it saves the song you most recently opened – and the speed you most recently set it to. Therefore, in order to continue practicing where you left off last time, all you have to do is open the app!
3. Increase the speed
One thing I encourage you to do is to pick a ‘really hard’ song – one that you’ve always dreamed of playing – and see what it sounds like at 70% speed. Can you play along? Can you play even a couple of bars? If so, that’s a big win and something that should keep you motivated!
Playing along at a slower speed, mastering the music and then speeding up is an important discipline. If you do this, you are basically guaranteed results.
Enjoyed this post? I have another tutorial for how to slow down songs in YouTube – also worth checking out!
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