Playing the song ALL the way through (no messing up)!!!

[kynoch]

I have been out of a band situation for a while....travelling. Now I have been practicing. But now I have started to work on the simple thing of "Playing a song from Beginning to the End" without making a mistake and hitting bum notes forgetting whats next etc etc. and it is SO SO SO hard. MAN I suck at this I am constantly ****ing it up. Man I am so annoyed with myself....I remeber this is a hard thing to do anyway but man i feel I have lost it.

Firstly....Is this common????? (silly question, I know, but I feel terrible so solidarity would help).

Secondly....how can I get through this????? (Again I just need to get these chops back up and it is SO hard).

It is such a depressing situation......I just wanna get better but its so hard.

[Poop-Loops]

I'm not to that point yet. I find I get bored by the end of the song.

Just use a metronome and memorize the parts. Memorize the riffs in chunks instead of as a whole. If you're having trouble with a part, spend more time on it with a metronome.

Metronome metronome metronome.

Metronome.

[user101]

Happened to me too. Especially when the band took a break because everybody was so busy with their day jobs. But it all came back to me a short while after the band resumed the usual practice schedule. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[Steve]

yeah it's tough.

Here's a couple of thoughts from my old classical guitar days which is a fairly disiplined endeavor.

First, start at the beginning. Everytime you clam, go back to the beginning and start over.

Second, don't practice until you get it right, practice until you never get it wrong.

Third, it's WAY more important and WAY more efficient to get it right then get it up to speed.

[lemur821]

Originally Posted by bikertrash82

First, start at the beginning. Everytime you clam, go back to the beginning and start over.

Assuming you reach a point where you make no mistakes (and neither does anyone else) this is fine, but I think it's more important for a live performance to be able to recover gracefully from a screw-up. Chances are no one will notice if you miss a note because you were scratching your nose, but they very well might notice if you have to stop and figure out where you should be.

[cowsgomoo]

i'd like to give totally opposite advice to some here: if you make a mistake, don't stop & go back to the beginning... plough on because you can't stop at a gig unless it's a major MAJOR train wreck

and stopping for mistakes means that you practice the beginnings a lot more times than the endings

plough through, NOTE your mistakes then go back and get your fingers round the section you messed up... then try & play the whole thing through again

it ain't fair on the other people in a band situation to stop them going through their parts from start to finish just because you can't play it correctly

so get into the habit of ploughing on in your solo practice

secondly, using a metronome won't have any bearing on your ability to remember musical material

thirdly, i hear the saying "don't practice until you get it right, practice until you never get it wrong" a lot, and whilst it's a clever thing to say, and thought provoking, it seems to me that getting it right IS never getting it wrong... being able to play a part correctly, consistently is the only option to aim for

[ihateusernames]

I hate cliche's and I'll still say this really is all in your head. The way to play a song you know that you know, without mistakes, is to think about playing the song then doing it. If your mindset is to play the song without making a mistake, you will, by default, make a mistake. The brain ignores the not/or don't in that thought process, and produces mistakes. A reprogramming of this mindset is what will make the biggest impact.

Some may say hocus pocus, and I can understand that as I once believed this was a gimmick. Once we eliminate self doubt and the pressures of 'not' doing something undesirable we can accomplish far greater feats than we give ourselves credit for.

[lump]

Originally Posted by cowsgomoo

i'd like to give totally opposite advice to some here: if you make a mistake, don't stop & go back to the beginning... plough on because you can't stop at a gig unless it's a major MAJOR train wreck

and stopping for mistakes means that you practice the beginnings a lot more times than the endings

plough through, NOTE your mistakes then go back and get your fingers round the section you messed up... then try & play the whole thing through again

it ain't fair on the other people in a band situation to stop them going through their parts from start to finish just because you can't play it correctly

so get into the habit of ploughing on in your solo practice

secondly, using a metronome won't have any bearing on your ability to remember musical material

thirdly, i hear the saying "don't practice until you get it right, practice until you never get it wrong" a lot, and whilst it's a clever thing to say, and thought provoking, it seems to me that getting it right IS never getting it wrong... being able to play a part correctly, consistently is the only option to aim for

+1000, esp the not stopping part. The only musicians who don't make mistakes are the ones who take no risks. That's not an excuse for a clam-fest, but accept the fact even the most prepared musicians will occasionally screw up. It's not how many mistakes you make, but how quickly you recover. Keep your head, shake it off and press. In all likelihood, no one will notice but you anyway.

[Bassist4Life]

Originally Posted by kynoch

I have been out of a band situation for a while....travelling. Now I have been practicing. But now I have started to work on the simple thing of "Playing a song from Beginning to the End" without making a mistake and hitting bum notes forgetting whats next etc etc. and it is SO SO SO hard. MAN I suck at this I am constantly ****ing it up. Man I am so annoyed with myself....I remeber this is a hard thing to do anyway but man i feel I have lost it.

Firstly....Is this common????? (silly question, I know, but I feel terrible so solidarity would help).

Secondly....how can I get through this????? (Again I just need to get these chops back up and it is SO hard).

It is such a depressing situation......I just wanna get better but its so hard.

EVERY performance has flaws in it. The flaws may be small, but they're there. It's not really about the mistakes you make, it's how well you RECOVER from them. Most of the time the audience isn't even going to know that you made a mistake. We tend to beat ourselves up over even the smallest error.

I saw a violin recital that blew me away. I've never seen anything like it. It was sitting there in shock and awe. I went backstage to shake hands with the soloist and tell him how much I enjoyed the performance. As I approached him, he was shaking his head and grumbling about something. As I got closer I could hear him calling himself names and beating himself up because of all the "stupid mistakes" he made. I didn't hear any "stupid mistakes". Perhaps it was a detail like the way he attacked or released a note; or maybe it was the way he ended a phrase, but it sounded perfect to me.

Anyhow, practice so you can give your best performance and be prepared to recover if something goes wrong. We all make mistakes.

Joe

[Bassist4Life]

Originally Posted by ihateusernames

I hate cliche's and I'll still say this really is all in your head. The way to play a song you know that you know, without mistakes, is to think about playing the song then doing it. If your mindset is to play the song without making a mistake, you will, by default, make a mistake. The brain ignores the not/or don't in that thought process, and produces mistakes. A reprogramming of this mindset is what will make the biggest impact.

Some may say hocus pocus, and I can understand that as I once believed this was a gimmick. Once we eliminate self doubt and the pressures of 'not' doing something undesirable we can accomplish far greater feats than we give ourselves credit for.

I understand what you're saying here.

I had a double bass teacher share this with me. She said that race car drives practice something called crash avoidance. They practice NOT looking at a wall as they go around a turn. If they look at the wall, there's a great chance that they'll hit the wall.

Joe

[jamesblue]

I agree with most of the replies.
Don't stop, ever when playing a song.
If your just want to get one passage, then play it over and over, that's different than playing the whole song.
Relax, try not to be so critical of yourself during a live show. Examine it afterwards. If nobody noticed it wasn't too bad.
I've been in bands that where we played songs over and over again, got old, and I started to make mistakes here and there due to being too comfortable with the song.
Flowing concentration is key, it takes experience performing to the crowd and not forget your lines, for some it comes easier, but even the best make mistakes (even Eric Clapton).

[905]

If you're trying to play a song by another band and you have it on cd, PLAY ALONG.

[MikeRS]

Take the song in sections, over and over. Rather than do the whole thing through once, do the harder parts that you forget the most over and over, then play the whole thing. Use of a CD, cassette or record for play along purposese is ideal too.

[ric1312]

Originally Posted by cowsgomoo

i'd like to give totally opposite advice to some here: if you make a mistake, don't stop & go back to the beginning... plough on because you can't stop at a gig unless it's a major MAJOR train wreck

and stopping for mistakes means that you practice the beginnings a lot more times than the endings

plough through, NOTE your mistakes then go back and get your fingers round the section you messed up... then try & play the whole thing through again

it ain't fair on the other people in a band situation to stop them going through their parts from start to finish just because you can't play it correctly

so get into the habit of ploughing on in your solo practice

secondly, using a metronome won't have any bearing on your ability to remember musical material

thirdly, i hear the saying "don't practice until you get it right, practice until you never get it wrong" a lot, and whilst it's a clever thing to say, and thought provoking, it seems to me that getting it right IS never getting it wrong... being able to play a part correctly, consistently is the only option to aim for

I'll second this. I teach martial arts and I've found when practicing something physical or teaching it, that if you constantly stop at a mistake and start over it's more like you are practicing the mistake. It almost assures that you will do the mistake again. For most people it ends up phyching them out. You don't develop any flow from part to part.

For me it seem to be the same for bass.

A better way to approach it would be to note the mistake, then just do that part to make sure you can do it, then do the whole song again.

[puff father]

I heard a story about 15 years ago. It was the first chair trumpet player with the Chicago Symphony (Bud Herseth (?)). He stated at the party at the end of their season that he had played the entire season without a mistake. He wasn't bragging, just stating that he had achieved it. I have never heard of anyone else making that claim before or since. I was floored.

Compared to that, I don't remember the last time I made it through an entire song without at least one tiny slip! That's why I still have a day job!

If you make a mistake, make it like you mean it! Keep going!

[BrandonBass]

if u happen to screw up at a gig, just continue to pretending you're still playing and headbang like ur mad....the audience wouldnt notice

[arbarnhart]

Originally Posted by lump

+1000, esp the not stopping part. The only musicians who don't make mistakes are the ones who take no risks. That's not an excuse for a clam-fest, but accept the fact even the most prepared musicians will occasionally screw up. It's not how many mistakes you make, but how quickly you recover. Keep your head, shake it off and press. In all likelihood, no one will notice but you anyway.

I'll raise you another +1000! If you stop on mistakes in practice then you might do the same thing playing with others. Remember the other cliche - "nobody's perfect". The only way to know you will never get it wrong is to never play it again.

[kynoch]

Ok

I was talking to my Mrs about this problem and she went away and asked one of her friends (who is a GREAT classical pianist), How long does it take you to learn a song?

Well she said that she hasn't learnt one single song enough to be able to play it perfectly every time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was a revelation to me....as i have heard her play and DAMN.....she's good.

So thanks evrybosy for your help and I'm gonna play though!!!!

Thanks

[AJ Brown]

Originally Posted by MikeRS

Take the song in sections, over and over. Rather than do the whole thing through once, do the harder parts that you forget the most over and over, then play the whole thing. Use of a CD, cassette or record for play along purposese is ideal too.

+1 - I break down all new tunes into sections. It also helps to become intimate with the lyrics especially if they can be used as audio queues. It turns out that I'm usually the one who knows the tunes inside and out, ending up directing everyone else.

Another tip is to get the lyrics (with good notes and spacing between versus, bridges, chroruses, solos, etc.) and print it out. You can make notes and follow along until you have it. Burn the page as a celebration of your liberty from the crutch.

[K2000]

Playing the bass is like being a runner. A lot of it is physical conditioning. It sounds like you are out of shape... you know what you want your fingers to do, you just can't pull it off. First you run around the block, then you run around the park, then eventually you try to do some long distances. Don't expect to run a marathon without putting in some long hours practicing.