About consistency and playing without mistakes

[Matt-bb]

Will it ever happen?

I am 30 and started playing during the pandemic (mostly self thought, but I finally started taking lessons). Last April I started playing in bands and I am now in a metal cover band, and a jazz group from my local music school that covers mainly bossa nova stuff. I never played out yet.

I practice every day, and spend a lot of time perfecting the material I play with both bands. Sure enough, I still have to play a single piece perfectly at reharsal. Either I miss the drummer slightly, fret a note poorly, mess up the dynamics, play the wrong note, sometimes even plain forget how the next part goes. I can feel when I get ‘in the zone’ and everything is just perfect, but most times I am either overthinking, or getting stupidly distracted and then the mistake happens.

The other cats seems to be happy with my playing, but I really want to be able to play perfectly ‘most of the times’ as opposed to ‘most of the tune’… Some times I think it’s no biggie and I will get there, since I am still a green player with little experience…Othertimes I get discouraged and think it will never happen: it’s just beyond me, I am not really cut for this and all that stuff…

What do you people think? Any word of advice? Did you also struggle with consistency? When did you stop making mistakes? Or do they just keep happening and we just learn to mask them and live with it?

 

[stigbeve]

Usually whenever I think too much about playing song without a flub is when I make one.
Try to relax and have fun as much as you can, remember to breathe and don't tense
up any part of your body or mouth.

Also, perfect practice makes for a perfect performance. When you practice by yourself
slow down any parts that might be giving you trouble until you can nail them consistently
then speed them up to the song tempo. It's all about the muscle memory.

 

[Govner22]

I’d make sure your right and left hand technique are good, that was holding me back for awhile. I’d also make sure you’re breathing as you play. I’ve found that tricky because breathing has its own rhythm and in my effort to not mess up my playing I would subconsciously hold my breath for long stretches. That leads to a tense body and mistakes. Lastly if I think more about keeping the rhythm than about hitting the notes I do better at hitting the notes, ironically enough. Good luck!

 

[ShadowGroover]

No baseball player hits a home run, or gets a base hit every time at bat.

What's a great batting average? .400? That's a 40% success rate. It's safe to bet that your musical success rate is far greater.

Think of music as child's play, as in, "The work of children is play."

Play music. Enjoy it. Enjoy your bandmates, your audience, and your abilities. You will play far more good notes than bad. Enjoy and count those. You will then be too busy to count mistakes.

Anyone that thinks they are perfect in activity is fooling themselves. It is far better to practice mistake recovery and resolution, than trying to play perfect in perpetuity.

Most critics believe they are absolute judges of perfection, and experts of subject matter. They are so busy attempting mistake detection that they totally miss joy and spirit in activity. They are merely superficial watchers, and rarely accomplished doers. Don't fall into the trap, for yourself or others.

Seize your day. Make the most of it. Forgive yourself for not being perfect, and love yourself where you stand. Be grateful for everything, including mistakes. Relax in that. Accept and embrace it. Move on.

Otherwise, worrying about mistakes is a far greater problem than making them. The worry will cause you to make many more.

Play some music. Make a ton of mistakes on purpose. Laugh. Get over it. Be like a cat and land on your feet. Mistakes are just another learning opportunity.

 

[JRA]

most times I am either overthinking, or getting stupidly distracted and then the mistake happens.

...whew, thanks for coming out...i thought i was the only one!

Did you also struggle with consistency?

still do, depends. "i'm not as fast as i used to be, but i'm not as slow as i once was!"

When did you stop making mistakes?

haven't committed to it yet, but i still practice as if there was hope!

...Or do they just keep happening and we just learn to mask them and live with it?

unfortunately, they just keep happening, but: the more you practice and the hipper you get = they happen less frequently and they don't mean as much. there's even such a thing as "a happy mistake." keep those to yourself!

Any word of advice?

do your best at the times/moments that mean the most to you. if you fall down, get up. if you raise things up, be humble. ask questions, learn, be respectful, be respected, have fun!

good luck not counting your mistakes!

 

[Engineer_Josh]

Strive for perfection and consistency in practice, feel the song when playing live, imperfection is what makes music exciting, listen to the difference:

 

[Phaidrus]

...whew, thanks for coming out...i thought i was the only one!

still do, depends. "i'm not as fast as i used to be, but i'm not as slow as i once was!"

haven't committed to it yet, but i still practice as if there was hope!

unfortunately, they just keep happening, but: the more you practice and the hipper you get = they happen less frequently and they don't mean as much. there's even such a thing as "a happy mistake." keep those to yourself!

do your best at the times/moments that mean the most to you. if you fall down, get up. if you raise things up, be humble. ask questions, learn, be respectful, be respected, have fun!

good luck not counting your mistakes!

Or just assert you're a prog fusion bass player.

 

[Tom Bomb]

This is the aim of the game. A worthy goal.
​

 

[Leigh Semmens]

God made us all perfect, He's just not finished with You lot yet!!!

Seriously, don't stress, enjoy your playing, No one gets it perfect every time. That's why we have drummers, so we have someone to blame for our mistakes. I flub it 99% of the time when I am on stage, strangely enough, no one else seems to notice as I have yet to be told, "You stuffed that up". In rehearsal, there have been many times where I have been asked "What key are you in?" only because I had been practicing against a recording and we had key change that I missed. I cannot play by ear! (much as I'd love to).

 

[gstaats]

My band director used to say that you'll play about 90-95% of how you practice alone when playing with the group, and about 85-90% when playing live. Seems reasonable. Definitely agree with the others - build up muscle memory, and, enjoy it. Playing and listening to live music is supposed to be enjoyed.

 

[micguy]

I play church gigs. At this point, I've played about 700 or 800 (don't have an exact count, but it's somewhere in there). Plus a couple hundred other gigs. The number of perfect gigs I have played is...still zero. The goal is not to eliminate mistakes (that's just not going to happen, so it's best to not punish yourself when you so make a mistake), or even to count your mistakes and try to make fewer. The goal is to, over time, make smaller, less noticeable mistakes. As you get better, you will not make big mistakes, but what you consider mistakes will change - you go from "I was completely lost the whole chorus" to "I didn't hit that note quite how I wanted to".

Music is played by humans (at least so far). Variation and human imperfections are part of the art form. How much is desirable? That's a good question, and I don't know the answer, but I do know it is not zero.

 

[alex1fly]

Will it ever happen?

I am 30 and started playing during the pandemic (mostly self thought, but I finally started taking lessons). Last April I started playing in bands and I am now in a metal cover band, and a jazz group from my local music school that covers mainly bossa nova stuff. I never played out yet.

I practice every day, and spend a lot of time perfecting the material I play with both bands. Sure enough, I still have to play a single piece perfectly at reharsal. Either I miss the drummer slightly, fret a note poorly, mess up the dynamics, play the wrong note, sometimes even plain forget how the next part goes. I can feel when I get ‘in the zone’ and everything is just perfect, but most times I am either overthinking, or getting stupidly distracted and then the mistake happens.

The other cats seems to be happy with my playing, but I really want to be able to play perfectly ‘most of the times’ as opposed to ‘most of the tune’… Some times I think it’s no biggie and I will get there, since I am still a green player with little experience…Othertimes I get discouraged and think it will never happen: it’s just beyond me, I am not really cut for this and all that stuff…

What do you people think? Any word of advice? Did you also struggle with consistency? When did you stop making mistakes? Or do they just keep happening and we just learn to mask them and live with it?

Classically trained on 3 instruments. 27 years of experience performing music. I still make mistakes and often. A big part of music academy was recovering from mistakes gracefully. Sure every now and then I’ll freaking nail an entire tune but it’s rare. Seek awesomeness, not perfection

 

[gln1955]

Don't stress out about it. If you listen closely enough to the other band members, they are making mistakes too.

I don't think I've ever played a song out live with a band that couldn't have been done better. Sometimes a whole lot better.

 

[KenD]

IMO it's the thinking that's sabotaging you. Also IMO the only antidote is more effective practice. I used the word "effective" deliberately. You need to work SLOWLY on the things that are tripping you up, with appropriate exercises, until they are corrected and become a subconscious part of your playing. Muscle memory - both fingers and brain muscles In your practice sessions:

- if you play through your mistakes and don't stop to correct them, you're just practising making mistakes.
- if you only play the things you already know, you're showing off, not practising (Pat Metheny).

 

[el murdoque]

It will never happen. When you get better and better at playing the piece, your inner critic will become more critical of the tiniest details. When your timing is on point and you fretted every single note perfectly, you will feel that you muted a note just a bit too harsh so to your ear it winked out suddenly where it should have gradually faded over the span of a tenth of a second.
You might realize that you're not a machine and will not reach consistent perfection, but you will eventually reach a level where most if not all of your mistakes will not be noticed by anyone but you.

 

[SLO Surfer]

I’ve been practicing bass for 35 years. I think I’m seeing some progress!

IMO you never “arrive,” you just keep working your best to improve. That said, perfection is not something I’ve ever strived for. I think I’d get discouraged and overtly frustrated if perfection was my goal.

 

[jonasparker]

If you want to weed out the mistakes, take each transition or phrase that you typically get wrong and play it over and over a hundred times until it's a transition or phrase that you are going to kill instead. Then you'll look forward to each of those passages! Also simplify passages that might throw you or load your memory down. Also listen to the recording to correctly identify all the parts you are flubbing, and work through them one at a time to commit the right way to muscle memory.

 

[ebo]

Practice alone to understand what perfect is supposed to sound like. When playing in a group, pay attention to what you’re doing, but also to what everyone else is doing. Say the group decides to change an ending. At the gig everyone but you does it the old way. You can say you were right but you were the one who sounded wrong. Bands are a team sport. You just want to move the ball down field together and get into the endzone. Getting there is never a perfect path.

 

[themickster]

Will it ever happen?

I am 30 and started playing during the pandemic (mostly self thought, but I finally started taking lessons). Last April I started playing in bands and I am now in a metal cover band, and a jazz group from my local music school that covers mainly bossa nova stuff. I never played out yet.

I practice every day, and spend a lot of time perfecting the material I play with both bands. Sure enough, I still have to play a single piece perfectly at reharsal. Either I miss the drummer slightly, fret a note poorly, mess up the dynamics, play the wrong note, sometimes even plain forget how the next part goes. I can feel when I get ‘in the zone’ and everything is just perfect, but most times I am either overthinking, or getting stupidly distracted and then the mistake happens.

The other cats seems to be happy with my playing, but I really want to be able to play perfectly ‘most of the times’ as opposed to ‘most of the tune’… Some times I think it’s no biggie and I will get there, since I am still a green player with little experience…Othertimes I get discouraged and think it will never happen: it’s just beyond me, I am not really cut for this and all that stuff…

What do you people think? Any word of advice? Did you also struggle with consistency? When did you stop making mistakes? Or do they just keep happening and we just learn to mask them and live with it?

Keep practising and don't worry about the mistakes. We all make them.

 

[KohanMike]

I've resigned myself to the fact that I will make mistakes during a gig, no matter how good I do practicing. What I find interesting is when I make a mistake, most people don't know it, so I guess I'm better at covering my mistakes than preventing them.