an off night of practicing

[superfunk47]

so the other night i came home, nothing to do, seemed like a perfect time to go in and put in a few good hours of practice.

but when i turned on my amp and started playing, i just wasnt clicking with myself, if that makes any sense.

the sounds in my head werent coming out, and the tone i wanted was about a million miles from the tone i was getting.

i know people have off nights gigging, god knows ive had a bad gig, but do you guys ever just have a really off night practicing?

[Lucas G]

of course! there are some nights when i absolutely hate everything about the way i sound. usually this feeling is gone by next practice.

[lunarpollen]

Yes, like maybe 15% of practices seem to be that way for me.

[Matt Till]

A lot lately.

Sometimes I'll spend hours just playing bass completely direction less. When it's really good, I'll find myself missing classes/late for work/etc.

Sometimes I'll spend 15 minutes awkwardly stumbling over the same crap. Those times make me want to quit playing.

But the good times justify the bad.

[steve66]

Happens to all of us. Take a day off.

[ibanezshredder]

Originally Posted by superfunk47

so the other night i came home, nothing to do, seemed like a perfect time to go in and put in a few good hours of practice.

but when i turned on my amp and started playing, i just wasnt clicking with myself, if that makes any sense.

the sounds in my head werent coming out, and the tone i wanted was about a million miles from the tone i was getting.

i know people have off nights gigging, god knows ive had a bad gig, but do you guys ever just have a really off night practicing?

Hell yea, sometimes u just dont feel it.
Right now im trying a actual routine when I practice though and it has helped with keeping me on.
1)Scale runs up and down the neck for a few minutes
2)Improv for a few minutes
3)Transcribe a song
4)Right a short solo piece
5)Touch up on my own basslines I play with my band

[Valerus]

Sometimes, it's just total crap. Go do something else, it's not worth it. haha.

[EADG mx]

^ +1

if you're not getting anything done and not enjoying it don't bother. go do something else and try again later

[El Bajo]

I go through peaks and troughs. 2 weeks ago I was unbeatable and completed a piece in standard notation, playing ultra fast and with feel. Then it just nosed dived and I havent played since. Gonna pick it up again next week over Christmas (screw the family meal this is important people) and I reckon everything will be fine again.

[Infernal Affair]

This happened to me recently. I've been putting a lot of my free time into memorizing a bunch of songs that I need to play with a band and one of the songs that I've been really working hard on just wasn't working for me at the time. My hands weren't keeping up with the track I was practicing along with. They felt stiff and wouldn't want to move fast on their own no matter how hard I tried. I just kept getting worried and was forcing my body to try and do it. Eventually I just gave up. Needless to say practice the next day was much, much better.

Your body could use a little rest sometimes. It only becomes a problem if you get lazy and use it as an excuse to skimp out.

[Slax]

I feel probably almost everyone has experienced this. I know I've many "off" days practicing, I don't see it as discouraging though... it sort of pushes me to play better. (Probably the reason for the "on" days. )

[Marcury]

Isn't that one of the reasons we practice,so that the off nights are in the woodshed, not on the bandstand. An oversimplification I know but...