Stubborn Hands

[TylerofTheVeil]

My hands seem like they have a mind of their own. At times, I will play my bass well, and my hands respond like they should, but other times it is like I've never played at all and my hands will totally crash and burn. Is there a definable reason for this? Is it a lack of concentration?

[PoundinThunder]

lack of practice? muscle memory? no clue

[fretlessman71]

Part of it is the learning curve, and the experience you have - you'll have good days and bad days, and you're going to be acutely aware of them if you're still growing as a musician. Sometimes, though, it's due to the fact that most players learn to play by simply memorizing where their fingers go, and fingers forget easily. Learning bass lines by the sound they make and the sound you intend to make (yes, that's a brainfull right there!) results in songs you never forget how to play, and if you tell your fingers as you go, riding the shockwave as it were, they have nothing to "forget" - only orders to follow right then and there. Dunno if any of this makes any sense to you, but there it is.

[TylerofTheVeil]

That was very insightful. I never really thought of it in those terms.
It all makes sense because I've been a theory student for a year and a half, and a lot of theory, as you probably know, is ear training. My piano teacher told me the same thing, and it worked for my piano playing... I guess I never thought to apply to bass.
Thanks for the help man!

[bigblondeafro87]

And the shockwave fretlessman is talking about comes much easier if you spend time to practice technique each day. I know it may not be fun, but if your technique is so solid you don't have to think about your hands, then you are completely free to think about making music.

[TylerofTheVeil]

This is true.

[ga_edwards]

If I'm physically struggling on a gig it's usually because I haven't warmed up properly. I now spend about 20mins or so before a long gig doing hand/finger exersizes and a few body stretches etc. Perhaps this might have something to do with your problem.

Other factors that can affect my playing but not strictly related to your issue is being able to hear myself properly, and having a pleasing tone. If something is off, it can affect my playing.

BTW, are you doing anything different when you have this problem. Even something as simple as playing standing up as opposed to sitting can be different enough to change the way you play.

[fretlessman71]

Originally Posted by bigblondeafro87

And the shockwave fretlessman is talking about comes much easier if you spend time to practice technique each day. I know it may not be fun, but if your technique is so solid you don't have to think about your hands, then you are completely free to think about making music.

Absolutely. Musicianship can be divided into three aspects: physical, intellectual, and spiritual/emotional. And two of these you have complete control over.

[brothertupelo]

which two? i've never met anyone with complete control over any.

[fretlessman71]

Let me amend that. The first two you CAN have complete control over if you work hard enough (emphasis on the word IF). The last one kinda comes and goes as it pleases, so all you can do is be ready for it by working the other two up as best you can.

[brothertupelo]

i actually hoped you might make an argument for buddhist enlightenment or something, since we're all limited by genetics and the limits of the human physique and mind for the first two, although we probably push the former more closely. if you meant being able to play certain sequences of notes with a certain degree of precision, that's true, though.

[TFunkadelic]

I believe it is indeed possible to master all three of the aspects mentioned above. That is what "playing in the zone" is all about.

The great masters have performed ridiculously complex pieces on huge stages flawlessly, again and again. The reason they are able to do so is that they truly are just that - masters. One can be a master on many different levels.

For example, you could master playing Mary Had A Little Lamb. To have mastered it would mean to be able to execute it flawlessly, and effortlessly again and again, on stage or in your basement. Many of us could master this, if we applied ourselves.

Similarly, masters like Jaco and Wooten have mastered things like Portrait of Tracy, and Classical Thump. These songs are effortless for them because they have put the time in that is necessary to have mastered them, and as such they are able to execute them with the same precision and accuracy and ease as they would play a preschool song.

Because they have this degree of technical mastery, they are able to completely "let go" and live in the music, rather than having to be consciously aware of what their hands are trying to do. Their hands are only the physical medium for their creative energy. That is why we identify what they play as being "musical" instead of pretentious wankery.

[fretlessman71]

So you're saying that mastery of the first two allows you to channel the third one better? Yeah, I'd agree with that. I guess we're all saying the same thing in different ways, no?

Tupelo, we can't control what we're given by God/nature/whathaveyou, but we CAN control, to a huge degree, what we do with what we're given.

T Funk, there are many musicians I've met that have worked their entire musical life to understand theory and master technique, to which they've done very well. But some of them sound like a Casio keyboard. Some people just don't get it - and some don't even know it's a missing element in their music. And they never will. I think that's the larger point I was trying to make - that's the unknown that most people can't change about themselves, any more than they can change their eye color or the number of fingers on a hand.