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About consistency and playing without mistakes
- Thread starter Matt-bb
- Start date
I’ve been playing bass for years, either in bands or churches, and all I do now is record videos for my YouTube channel. It usually takes me about 5 to 6 redos to get it right so I feel your plight. Just keep pushing forward and it will all drop into place. Trust me. Have fun with it and don’t sweat it too much
My limited experience is that the other players are likely more focused on their own sound/fingering/challenges than they are on you. Most of the time, when I state "Sorry" at the end of a song, my guitar pal says "For what?". Yeah - if it's a real turd, they'll notice but most of the others are not.
I discovered that yesterday, and fully agree. It tunes your concentration into what you're playing. To be explored!
"Playing without mistakes..." You serious? I don't remember exactly on which album, but at the end of the recording sessions Joe Pass was so disappointed with his own playing that he wanted to throw away everything. They had to try very hard, to finally convince him about the good quality of the record and that it could be printed. And when it went on the market, it was acked by the public and critics as the next masterpiece from the maestro...
I play with a couple guys who aren't aware of chronic mistakes they make. It's humbling but disturbing because as much as I go over sections I played poorly, I still wonder if I'm making mistakes I'm not noticing. Welcome to music.
Hardest for me in the beginning was playing long repetitive lines without messing up(by the 3rd or 4th bar). Play it slowly and correctly, that's the fast track. Suddenly some day soon youll nail it. And don't stop a practice session on a flubbed riff, play it perfectly before you stop. Aim for zero mistakes, you'll make fewer mistakes. Your bandmates will let you know if it's too many....
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I've been playing 50+ years and still, I'm not very good and I make mistakes.. BUT! I'm having fun and enjoy what I'm doing so I'm going to continue as long as God allows.
Almost all of the serious heavy-hitters reframe “mistakes” in this fashion. It’s very powerful! “Some notes have more tension, some have less.” What you play next can turn a “mistake” into something unexpected and beautiful. Phil Lesh said train wrecks are some of his favorite moments because anyone can play something at that moment and take the band anywhere.
That’s why “don’t stop, keep going” is crucial. I’ve even played the same “mistake” over again on purpose, because it worked. Keep your ears open and your brain online.
Some of the most boring stuff I’ve played was note-perfect. Perfection guarantees nothing as far as the effectiveness of one’s performance.
Zappa, who was a stickler, also told his musicians not to self-criticize during performance - something along the lines of “you’re not a music critic, someone else is doing that job - your job is to play.”
It’s about emotion, not perfection. You can program a computer or sequencer to play anything perfectly, if perfection is really your goal.
I used to play with a great guitarist, who once said after a show, “For my bad notes, I apologize. And for my good ones, you’re welcome!”
The worst thing you can do for your playing is to let the fear of making a mistake drain the energy, intensity, and emotion from your playing. You could get to a point where no one even cares whether you make a mistake or not.
You are gonna make mistakes. Comes with the territory. When they happen, don't make a face. Laugh. It's worked for me for many decades. Same policy for the mistakes made by the people you're playing with. Playing is work, for sure, but it is also a lot of fun. Accentuate the positive.
I was in my late 40s when I started taking lessons and I was two weeks shy of my 55th birthday when I played my first gig (I'm 58 now, so literally half of my time as a gigging musician was eliminated by the pandemic lockdown!). As far as I know, everyone I've played with has had decades more experience than me, including a couple in my band who've been playing longer than I've been alive. My band mates are far more experienced and far more proficient than I am and even they make mistakes at every gig. However, they're also proficient enough to recover quickly so, the overwhelming majority of their mistakes are never noticed by the audience and often not even recognized by everyone in the band! I make far more mistakes than they do but I also noticed that most of mine are similar to theirs - very few ever noticed by the audience and not every one even noticed by the band.
In other words, no one is perfect and no performance is ever perfect. It's more important to put on a good show and to keep the audience entertained because they'll remember the feeling they had being at the show far more than they'll remember any bad notes. So don't worry too much about getting a late start, do your best, always work to improve, but don't sweat the small stuff. Despite having far less experience than the rest of my band, they like having me because I work to get my parts down, I show up for rehearsals prepared, I always accept any song that will challenge me, and I'm a good band member rather than a source of constant drama - and, on top of that, they apparently like my playing, too. If your bandmates are happy, then you're doing something right.
From what you typed, I think I'd agree with them. Keep rocking!
In other words, no one is perfect and no performance is ever perfect. It's more important to put on a good show and to keep the audience entertained because they'll remember the feeling they had being at the show far more than they'll remember any bad notes. So don't worry too much about getting a late start, do your best, always work to improve, but don't sweat the small stuff. Despite having far less experience than the rest of my band, they like having me because I work to get my parts down, I show up for rehearsals prepared, I always accept any song that will challenge me, and I'm a good band member rather than a source of constant drama - and, on top of that, they apparently like my playing, too. If your bandmates are happy, then you're doing something right.
From what you typed, I think I'd agree with them. Keep rocking!
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If you are living in your own head while playing music, you're going to make lots of mistakes. Learn to loosen up and play the music without thinking so much.
This is why I am grateful that I learned how to play by analyzing patterns and hearing intervals. I can't imagine the struggle it would be if I had to be in my head all the time thinking about each note before I play it. Oh, it's a C. Where's the octave C? Things like that.
I know part of it is a function of time spent playing, but I couldn't tell you what note I just played unless I sat there for a moment or two and thought back over what I just did. The goal is to get to a place where you aren't putting a barrier between wanting to do something and actually doing it - and thinking about your notes is that barrier.
Keep playing, and observe how certain things always work the same. You can always find the major third one string over and one fret down. You can always find the fifth one string over and two frets up. Work on training your muscle memory to go where it needs to go when you hear those intervals (or see them written). Nobody needs to laboriously chant "G - D" when playing R-5, that's unnecessary information that's just clogging up the space between your head and your fingers.
Maybe you don't do that, but the point I'm making is that we make more mistakes when we're caught up in our own heads and not in the flow of the moment. Getting into that state of flow, where your instrument becomes an extension of you, will allow you to play what you want to play with less effort. I'm not saying it's not important to know where your notes are, but that is information that helps you sort out where you are in terms of key, and where to go if you're getting lost, etc. As a beginner you think about it quite a lot, but a goal should really be to get away from thinking about it.
As I said earlier to someone, I also make more mistakes when I lose focus and my mind wanders. The trick to keeping focus is to keep your mind out of the way. Sounds ironic, doesn't it? Don't think so much about what you're doing, just focus on the doing itself. Don't think about what you're going to make for dinner, just keep your mind where your intention is and let the music come. This takes a bit of practice.
I work with a drummer who used to be very stiff and rigid. His tempos were also really off the mark. I told him he needs to learn how to relax into the beat and get out of his own head when he's playing. After a year and some change of working at this, that guy is a much better drummer and his tempos are rock solid. I watched that guy take a giant leap out of the kiddie pool and into the deep end, and he's so much happier. He's also getting a lot more work. So just keep at it, but relax and find your place inside the music. The music isn't coming from you. The music is in you - you are a part of what brings it to life.
Having said that, you'll still make mistakes. Perfection is a questionable goal because you'll never be happy with yourself, since no one is ever perfect. A better goal is to strive for excellence, knowing you'll sometimes fall short of your ideal. Learning to accept and recover from your mistakes will make you a more valuable player and it will make you someone others want to be around.
I do not want to hear my bandmates complaining about their mistakes; it brings me down to have that negativity coming out of them. I want to hear them happy about all the things they did right, and coming in next time with those minor problems worked out- which shows me they heard it and fixed it.
Think about how many notes you play at a rehearsal. In all of that, how many bad notes do you play? Why focus on the small number of bad notes when you could be happy about everything else? That's not to say you don't notice in order to improve, but there's no need to beat yourself up.
On gig day I want to see everyone having fun, and leaving those inevitable mistakes right in that space where they were made. Dwelling on your imperfections and always being negative about the way you've played is not going to make you or your bandmates happy.
Hope all this makes sense. I think some of it won't make sense completely until you experience it.
This is why I am grateful that I learned how to play by analyzing patterns and hearing intervals. I can't imagine the struggle it would be if I had to be in my head all the time thinking about each note before I play it. Oh, it's a C. Where's the octave C? Things like that.
I know part of it is a function of time spent playing, but I couldn't tell you what note I just played unless I sat there for a moment or two and thought back over what I just did. The goal is to get to a place where you aren't putting a barrier between wanting to do something and actually doing it - and thinking about your notes is that barrier.
Keep playing, and observe how certain things always work the same. You can always find the major third one string over and one fret down. You can always find the fifth one string over and two frets up. Work on training your muscle memory to go where it needs to go when you hear those intervals (or see them written). Nobody needs to laboriously chant "G - D" when playing R-5, that's unnecessary information that's just clogging up the space between your head and your fingers.
Maybe you don't do that, but the point I'm making is that we make more mistakes when we're caught up in our own heads and not in the flow of the moment. Getting into that state of flow, where your instrument becomes an extension of you, will allow you to play what you want to play with less effort. I'm not saying it's not important to know where your notes are, but that is information that helps you sort out where you are in terms of key, and where to go if you're getting lost, etc. As a beginner you think about it quite a lot, but a goal should really be to get away from thinking about it.
As I said earlier to someone, I also make more mistakes when I lose focus and my mind wanders. The trick to keeping focus is to keep your mind out of the way. Sounds ironic, doesn't it? Don't think so much about what you're doing, just focus on the doing itself. Don't think about what you're going to make for dinner, just keep your mind where your intention is and let the music come. This takes a bit of practice.
I work with a drummer who used to be very stiff and rigid. His tempos were also really off the mark. I told him he needs to learn how to relax into the beat and get out of his own head when he's playing. After a year and some change of working at this, that guy is a much better drummer and his tempos are rock solid. I watched that guy take a giant leap out of the kiddie pool and into the deep end, and he's so much happier. He's also getting a lot more work. So just keep at it, but relax and find your place inside the music. The music isn't coming from you. The music is in you - you are a part of what brings it to life.
Having said that, you'll still make mistakes. Perfection is a questionable goal because you'll never be happy with yourself, since no one is ever perfect. A better goal is to strive for excellence, knowing you'll sometimes fall short of your ideal. Learning to accept and recover from your mistakes will make you a more valuable player and it will make you someone others want to be around.
I do not want to hear my bandmates complaining about their mistakes; it brings me down to have that negativity coming out of them. I want to hear them happy about all the things they did right, and coming in next time with those minor problems worked out- which shows me they heard it and fixed it.
Think about how many notes you play at a rehearsal. In all of that, how many bad notes do you play? Why focus on the small number of bad notes when you could be happy about everything else? That's not to say you don't notice in order to improve, but there's no need to beat yourself up.
On gig day I want to see everyone having fun, and leaving those inevitable mistakes right in that space where they were made. Dwelling on your imperfections and always being negative about the way you've played is not going to make you or your bandmates happy.
Hope all this makes sense. I think some of it won't make sense completely until you experience it.
THIS!
Every wrong note is just a note away from a right note.
If you know where you are,then you know where you have to be.
I’ve been playing out for over 50 years. Still playing in tribute and festival bands.
I call it “flawless execution” and I strive for it every time. No matter what I do to achieve this there’s seems to be a wild hair at play that randomly introduces mistakes. I call this ‘the precarious nature of live performance’ and have seen it occur in everything from ice skating to Broadway plays. It’s not always my mistake but something just happens like the singer skips the bridge and goes to the Coda out.
Enjoy playing, get better and keep listening and playing, you’ll be fine
I call it “flawless execution” and I strive for it every time. No matter what I do to achieve this there’s seems to be a wild hair at play that randomly introduces mistakes. I call this ‘the precarious nature of live performance’ and have seen it occur in everything from ice skating to Broadway plays. It’s not always my mistake but something just happens like the singer skips the bridge and goes to the Coda out.
Enjoy playing, get better and keep listening and playing, you’ll be fine
