Double Bass ADD / ADHD and keeping up with the score

[kineticdg]

You state one is the inverse of the other, even though quite a few have both, including the OP. Please explain.
Rather than making allegations of misinformation, playing the man and not the ball, perhaps you could educate us further, quoting your sources and justifying your claims? I'm happy to learn more, so teach me.

This isn't necessarily the location to receive scientific information about various types of neurodivergence. I doubt any of us are mental health professionals.

Good point charliethomas, especially since Sensory Processing Disorder is broader than I had understood (my experience with SPD is sensory avoidance, but apparently it can be applied to the sensory-seeking behavior of ADHD as well): Sensory processing disorder - Wikipedia.

Sensory avoidance vs. sensory seeking is what I meant by almost inverse, Monabass.

This is all stuff for professionals rather than bass forums, but hopefully this thread will encourage people to learn more (and seek help if you think you and/or a loved one struggles with ADHD).

 

[Jefenator]

Well, my primary care physician screened me and now it's official: I'm in the ADHD club.
I'm going to read up on it more, find some strategies for certain things I've struggled with.
I also picked up a bottle of Ritalin to try.
Will all this be enough to make a legit classical player out of me? Hard to say. I don't necessarily want to change too much about the way I roll. I have plenty of bands, clients, friends & volunteer outfits that make good use of me in my current iteration.
It would be cool to hunker down & get my reading really together, though.

 

[Earl]

Okay, so I've joined up with a concert band, and this is the first time since I was a kid where I'm playing with a conductor.

As it turns out, apparently I have ADD - just found this out. This explains a lot...

...specifically, how easy it is for me to get lost in this situation. The other things in my life would take a whole book, but I digress.

When I'm playing bass guitar or upright in other situations, I don't seem to have this problem. I think it's because I can key off words and even when there aren't words, chord changes are pretty obvious - or I can get a cheeky glance at the guitarist and know what I should be playing.

For me, it seems like missing a single beat is enough to send me completely into lost-ville because I'm sight reading stuff I've never seen before - or in some cases never heard before.

It's sort of frustrating, because you can plop a chord chart in front of me, and between that and listening to what's going on, I can come up with something with ease. In fact, I often prefer to just come up with my own stuff rather than learning someone else's lines.

In contrast, this concert band is combining playing what someone else has written with having none of my usual crutches to lean upon.

The easy solution would be to bow out, but I don't want to do that - I'm stubborn and I'm treating this as an opportunity to develop.

I'd love to hear any advice from people who have ADD or ADHD who have managed to find success in these sorts of environments in spite of their issues.

Oh man, I have this exact same problem! Chord charts are fine but if I have to read notes I need the parts before the gig so I can basically memorize them.

 

[Earl]

I doubt that your challenge comes from attention-deficit disorder; I suspect that you need to improve your sightreading skill - as do I. Just as in reading printed words, it's only when you're able to read ahead that you're truly proficient.

It has been documented that ADD and even being on the autism spectrum can hinder sight reading.

 

[Earl]

I think as long as we're here to share tips and tricks that can work, that's great. I don't think any of the actual advice in this thread is bad.

Does it need to be couched in dismissive language? I would say that's unnecessary. Why go to a thread specifically about advice for someone with a roadblock just to tell them the roadblock is imaginary? I just don't see this kinda language actually being helpful for anyone in this situation.

There's a subtext of "you're just lazy or not trying hard enough" that people like me have been told our whole lives. Somehow, that sort of "advice" has never really been helpful.

Maybe if you don't have experience with a certain thing, leave it alone and let others who have dealt with it share their advice and experience.

Btw, ADHD definitely keeps me from reading a book. My eyes will go over every word on the page before I realize I wasn't actually reading or understanding any of it. I often have to reread a sentence 4 or 5 times before I understand it. My mind wandering makes it really difficult to focus. I still love reading, there's just more hurdles for me.

Exactly!

 

[g-dude]

Well, my primary care physician screened me and now it's official: I'm in the ADHD club.
I'm going to read up on it more, find some strategies for certain things I've struggled with.
I also picked up a bottle of Ritalin to try.
Will all this be enough to make a legit classical player out of me? Hard to say. I don't necessarily want to change too much about the way I roll. I have plenty of bands, clients, friends & volunteer outfits that make good use of me in my current iteration.
It would be cool to hunker down & get my reading really together, though.

So I have yet to try meds - and my doc went with something different than your's - because I'm dealing with titrating another med for other stuff.

One thing I will say is that you really should monitor your behavior, and have someone else pay attention as well, once you're on the meds. You really want to watch out for anything that starts up that actually makes your quality of life worse.

 

[g-dude]

So by way of an update…

I’m still marking up my scores to a stupid extent, but I’m noticing improvement which is proven out by when we jump to pieces I haven’t marked up yet.

Marches are still a pain point, especially because many of them are like 5th generation copies of tuba music and hard to read period.

Meanwhile, I feel like my performances are getting better.

We had a concert last night, and afterwards I got approached by someone asking if I was the bassist. He complimented my playing, and then invited me to join his community orchestra!



They have two or three bass players, but need more…it’s closing in on a hundred musicians, and they have strong pedigrees in the bass section.

So…yeah, I guess I’m going to try my luck at it this fall. You don’t learn or improve by staying in your comfort zone, although my comfort zone got left behind months ago.

 

[Jefenator]

I find it's good to be a little careful about who you share a diagnosis with; more people than not will misunderstand it at best.
I mentioned the ADHD to a drummer buddy and he was like: "Nah, no way. You don't have that." He was very confident about this, in spite of the fact that he doesn't really know me very well. (Or psychology...)
My father was also skeptical. Not dismissive, but don't think he understands the true nature of it. (Which makes sense because most people don't!)
I know people with PTSD and bi-polar and by comparison they have it really rough. Even close friends & family members might fail to accept those conditions; they assume you're being difficult for no reason & turn their backs.
One should of course not think of an ADHD diagnosis as a license to be a lazy bastard. But I might beat myself up a little less over past failures - then use the new information I have to be more effective in the future. And maybe keep my cards fairly close to my chest while I'm doing that.

 

[Domcroce]

Some tips for sight-reading from another bassist who struggles with a wandering mind:

- Count rests on your fingers behind your bass (I've seen pro groups even do this).
- Additionally, I like to mouth the counts "one-two-three-four; two-two-three-four". If you're worried about people looking at you, you can do this with your mouth closed.
- Stare down the conductor during your rests, since some passages might be rubato, slowing down, or speeding up.

I have found that doing all three of these things lets me keep my head in the game, when otherwise I'm thinking about the approaching passages or other responsibilities.