I need solitude to practice

[theshadow2001]

It's weird but I've been layed off from my job lately and so I've had the whole house to myself a lot more. I find with no one there I can practice with focus and start to getting in to what I'm doing. As soon as someone arrives I loose all of that focus and concentration and my practice usually degrades into something non practice related. They don't have to be in the room. Just in the house. Whats up with that?

[scorpionldr]

that's called depression bud. I'm that way alot. I hate the idea that my family is around me or even in the house when I practice. And mostly I guess I do it because silently I'm ashamed with the idea that I'm not living up to my potential, and I always get the feeling that i'm just going to hear some sort of criticism about whatever aspect of my playing (I come from a home where people don't know how to keep their thoughts to themselves).

on that last remark in parenthesis, oddly enough I'm that way as well.....I tend to be a real judge of other bands as well as myself. i think it's just a way of someone telling us we're working too hard

[m.oreilly]

i'm pretty much the same way, unless i'm lost in it. i think it is natural. the more privacy i have, i tend to be way more distracted by things i wouldn't even have noticed when it was busy in the house, or i had a practice time constraint of some kind.

[stanknuckle]

Just as I strap on my bass, get the headphones on plug in and sit down with a piece of music to learn, get comfortable and in the pratice frame of mind, my three year old son always comes up to me and wants me to take him to the toilet. So I take him to the toilet and by then I lose that practice frame of mind. Happens all the time.

[eric atkinson]

Yes i had a 2 year break from playing out not long ago between bands.. I found myself not practicing much because i could not concentrate on it well with others there or many other reasons.

So i found myself sitting around playing x-box games and spending way to much time on the net.. Heck i even got into trouble here from it.

But as soon as the new band got up and running i spend plenty of time practicing while other things r going on in house..

I will even strap on my bass and Pandora box and play while i cook dinner.

I don't know ur situation but i would say that something is missing in ur bass playing life.

[arcellus]

shadow- i think that's pretty natural. you should check out the book "effortless mastery" by kenny werner - along with a lot of other great insights, it lays out a structured approach to letting yourself become totally absorbed in your practice (and eventually, performance).

[theshadow2001]

Maybe that book might help. I'm getting a double bass in a couple of months or sooner and I'll be starting back at lessons when that arrives too. I'm planning to start from scratch. Forget everything and start a fresh. Maybe this will provide some motivation to really focus. Thats what im hoping for anyway.

[arcellus]

yeah, i think it's a worthwhile read, and not just for the "entering a space/finding your own solitude" aspect - there's a lot of great ideas in it. one thing it really helped me with was beginning to accept my musical faults and learn from them.