How to rehearse with separated tracks

Separated tracks, also called stems, are a useful way to learn a song: you hear the drums, bass, guitar or vocals on their own and understand how each part fits. These four techniques make them work for you.

Mute your instrument

Load the song with all its tracks, but mute the one that matches your instrument. You play along with the rest of the band and test your part where it actually sits. Then reverse it: keep only your track and listen to your part on its own, with its mistakes in plain view.

Slow down without changing the pitch

Many players and audio editors can reduce the speed without changing the pitch of the notes. Start at a tempo you can play cleanly, even half the original, and raise it little by little once the part feels automatic. Going slowly and accurately teaches more than going fast with errors.

Use a click

Play with a metronome even when the song does not have one. If the original recording has a section where the tempo moves, the click shows you where the band drifts and forces you to decide where you are. Practice with a fixed click first, then drop it.

Loop the hard parts

Find the two or four bars that give you the most trouble and put them on a loop. Play only that section until it comes out right three times in a row, then go back to the full song.

A short, frequent rehearsal beats a long, tiring one.

Ten minutes a day on the hard part usually works better than one long afternoon, because you lock in what you practice when you rest between sessions.