Slow SQL response

[zeeg]

I noticed recently one of my scripts has been giving a really slow response. It's taking ~5 seconds, sometimes more, it should take .5

SELECT *, b.`name` as `class_name`, c.`name` as `subclass_name` FROM `db_items` a LEFT JOIN `db_item_classes` b ON a.`class_id` = b.`class_id` AND b.`lang` = 'en' LEFT JOIN `db_item_subclasses` c ON a.`class_id` = c.`class_id` AND a.`subclass_id` = c.`subclass_id` AND c.`lang` = 'en' WHERE c.`class_id` = b.`class_id` AND (a.`name` = 'a' OR a.`name` LIKE '%a%') AND a.`lang` = 'Array' GROUP BY a.`item_id` ORDER BY a.`name` LIMIT 1

Any ideas?

[zeeg]

SELECT *, a.`name` as `name`, b.`name` as `class_name`, c.`name` as `subclass_name` FROM `db_items` a LEFT JOIN `db_item_classes` b ON a.`class_id` = b.`class_id` LEFT JOIN `db_item_subclasses` c ON c.`class_id` = b.`class_id` AND a.`class_id` = c.`class_id` AND a.`subclass_id` = c.`subclass_id` WHERE (a.`name` = '".mysql_escape_string($_GET['query'])."' OR a.`name` LIKE '$name') AND a.`lang` = '$langid' AND b.`lang` = '$langid' AND c.`lang` = '$langid' GROUP BY a.`item_id` ORDER BY a.`name` LIMIT 1

Updated query, ignore the PHP scripting (those parts are correct)

[longneck]

have you tried using EXPLAIN on that query in phpymyadmin or mysql cli?

[zeeg]

I'm not sure how to read what explain tells me though, I didn't see anything helpful

[longneck]

paste the results of EXPLAIN here, along with the CREATE TABLE statements for db_items, db_item_classes, db_item_subclasses