ADD and Playing Bass

[signine]

I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child (well then it was just ADD, and now it's ADSD), and good ol' Autism Spectrum Disorder as an adult. That combined with CDD (Chronic Depressive Disorder) makes for quite an alphabet soup of dysfunction.

The thing about neuroatypicalities is that they don't fit into a mold.

The same phrase is said about people with autism and people with ADD. "If you've met one person with X, you've met ONE PERSON WITH X." Every case is different because every brain is different. I crushed it at school and can read a book cover to cover and retain everything in it. I also can't keep a schedule to save my life or ever remember what I was doing about 30 minutes ago. So there's that.

 

[BrotherRay]

The thing about neuroatypicalities is that they don't fit into a mold./QUOTE]

NeuroAtypicals! Never heard that term before! 8m putting in my library!

Yeah, 50 years (in my case) of undiagnosed ADHD and all the judgement ("Lazy!" "You're not even trying!" "You've got so much potential, if you'd just... "etc) and self condemnation will leave you depressed. But hey! Squirrel!

 

[Charlie Tuna]

Hi Doc, good for you for looking into this and recognizing something in yourself. As we are seeing, there is a growing number of adults being diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. Ironically, the inventor of the current #1 ADHD medication was diagnosed with ADHD late in his life after recognizing he had many of the same symptoms as his diagnosed child. He’s since invented a newer medication which just came out this year. Oddly enough, he says that in many ways having ADHD can be helpful in that he feels more creative at times when he doesn’t have the narrower focus medication can provide. Whatever the case may be, be sure to research the options available as there are plenty nowadays and not all are equal. Feel free to PM me if you want to know more.

 

[DeepHz]

My attitude is that if I have ADD, I could get treatment and be much more efficient in my work and everyday life. That would be a great thing.

I so relate to this! I have the attention span of a mosquito. I was working on a work related project that was new to me and hit a wall. I finally decided to get this professionally addressed. I was finally diagnosed with AD..... Attention Deficit. He said I wasn't so bad to call it a disorder. I thought that was hilarious. I opted not to take the medication DeJour and just do what I've been doing for the last 67 years. I do hit giant walls when it comes to studying music theory. That bothers me a bit.

 

[3bc]

I’m fairly confident that I am in the same boat. I am generally a pretty fast learner with many things, not necessarily music. And I have a good memory overall, but it takes a while to commit certain things to memory, like the structure of a song. Much worse for my playing is that my theoretical ADD has me losing focus on anything that bores me very quickly. The first song I learned on bass guitar as a 7 year old was smells like teen spirit. Perfect song for a new and young player since it’s really just 4 notes right next to each other. I am not a great player but I am really pretty good, and yet I probably would still f up smells like teen spirit at least once because it’s so mind numbingly boring I would lose focus and flub something. More interesting or complicated bass lines would be much less likely to do that with.

 

[Huw Phillips]

Glad you have decided to go to a Dr for treatment it’s the first step along with realizing your having a problem, I have cognitive issues from Lyme disease and understand your frustrations, I have found ways to help with my problems with my teacher, my issues are memory so I have to have a music stand, drugs have helped a lot, my experience with drugs is keep trying till you find one that you like mostly, I also do therapy twice a week for half an hour it helps
Good luck with your journey there are lots of potions from the v traditional to the new age try lots and find what works

 

[bassballs27]

As they always say, "practice makes perfect", but when the practice process becomes challenged by other factors, then it's even more challenging.

I can relate to you Dr. Cheese with regards to reading books. It's surprising how much effort it takes to a read a book if you haven't "practiced" enough at it. As a luthier friend of mine told me recently "once you do something a thousand times, you tend to get good at it". Reading takes practice and commitment. I had a heck of a time reading books in high school and even in college, but it dawned on me that it was the type of book that I had an issue with, fiction! Give me a non-fiction book or something I can relate to, and I become interested and generally stay interested, as long as the author is half decent. Oddly enough, I can read JRR Tolkien, which many readers would call "difficult" or "challenging" for some. Maybe you haven't really found the right author or content for you.

With regards to ADD, that's definitely something you have to seek professional advice on. Finding the right professional can be very challenging. Sometimes you have to lower your expectations. There's no magic pill for anything in life and medications generally come with short or long term side effects of some kind.
I wish you good luck with this journey in finding some answers to what you're experiencing.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Hi Doc, good for you for looking into this and recognizing something in yourself. As we are seeing, there is a growing number of adults being diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. Ironically, the inventor of the current #1 ADHD medication was diagnosed with ADHD late in his life after recognizing he had many of the same symptoms as his diagnosed child. He’s since invented a newer medication which just came out this year. Oddly enough, he says that in many ways having ADHD can be helpful in that he feels more creative at times when he doesn’t have the narrower focus medication can provide. Whatever the case may be, be sure to research the options available as there are plenty nowadays and not all are equal. Feel free to PM me if you want to know more.

Thanks!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

As they always say, "practice makes perfect", but when the practice process becomes challenged by other factors, then it's even more challenging.

I can relate to you Dr. Cheese with regards to reading books. It's surprising how much effort it takes to a read a book if you haven't "practiced" enough at it. As a luthier friend of mine told me recently "once you do something a thousand times, you tend to get good at it". Reading takes practice and commitment. I had a heck of a time reading books in high school and even in college, but it dawned on me that it was the type of book that I had an issue with, fiction! Give me a non-fiction book or something I can relate to, and I become interested and generally stay interested, as long as the author is half decent. Oddly enough, I can read JRR Tolkien, which many readers would call "difficult" or "challenging" for some. Maybe you haven't really found the right author or content for you.

With regards to ADD, that's definitely something you have to seek professional advice on. Finding the right professional can be very challenging. Sometimes you have to lower your expectations. There's no magic pill for anything in life and medications generally come with short or long term side effects of some kind.
I wish you good luck with this journey in finding some answers to what you're experiencing.

I have read far more books than I can count, and I have published things too. It books just wear down my concentration so it takes me along time to finish even books I like.

 

[bassballs27]

I have read far more books than I can count, and I have published things too. It books just wear down my concentration so it takes me along time to finish even books I like.

So when you're reading, what interrupts your thinking process? Hoping it's not the next bass you're looking at trying or what you're latest bass will sound like with flats instead of rounds?
Even if it is....what's that say about the book if it can't keep your concentration?

I guess I could ask the same as when you're playing.....do you just loose concentration or interest in practicing?

Distractions are a huge part of life and in this day and age, it's increasingly bad.
With the dawn of the computer back in the 80's, it was only a matter of time when they would start to make our lives "more efficient" and of course being able to "multi-task". But the fact of the matter is, no one is really capable of multi-tasking and we need to concentrate. It's hard to!
I may just be whining but the bar of expectation continues to rise on what the average person can achieve in one day.

 

[J-Mags]

I have read far more books than I can count, and I have published things too. It books just wear down my concentration so it takes me along time to finish even books I like.

I hyperfocus like crazy on books, at least when I'm in a book-reading phase. I can plow right through them. Of course I retain nothing, especially if it's got a complicated narrative. I do better with non-fiction.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I hyperfocus like crazy on books, at least when I'm in a book-reading phase. I can plow right through them. Of course I retain nothing, especially if it's got a complicated narrative. I do better with non-fiction.

I tend to have very good retention of most everything, spelling chords and memorizing the fingerboard being major exceptions although I steadily improved over time.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

So when you're reading, what interrupts your thinking process? Hoping it's not the next bass you're looking at trying or what you're latest bass will sound like with flats instead of rounds?
Even if it is....what's that say about the book if it can't keep your concentration?

I guess I could ask the same as when you're playing.....do you just loose concentration or interest in practicing?

Distractions are a huge part of life and in this day and age, it's increasingly bad.
With the dawn of the computer back in the 80's, it was only a matter of time when they would start to make our lives "more efficient" and of course being able to "multi-task". But the fact of the matter is, no one is really capable of multi-tasking and we need to concentrate. It's hard to!
I may just be whining but the bar of expectation continues to rise on what the average person can achieve in one day.

If I could answer what you are asking, I would not have made an appointment to see my doctor.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I tend to have very good retention of most everything, spelling chords and memorizing the fingerboard being major exceptions although I steadily improved over time.

Have you tried some of the techniques used for Dyslexia, I know they are not the same but some of the techniques can be helpful. Like note spelling in the air, with hand gestures. Make up a song using the chord names as the words.

 

[J-Mags]

I tend to have very good retention of most everything, spelling chords and memorizing the fingerboard being major exceptions although I steadily improved over time.

I have very good retention of factoids and quotable quotes.

 

[bassballs27]

If I could answer what you are asking, I would not have made an appointment to see my doctor.

I wish you luck with finding these answers!