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Are you subconsciously

'Before' might be problematic. 'During', however, I think one would have to maintain that modicum of awareness, not only of the individual performance but the immediate aural surroundings as well in order to effectively perform music to one's standards, at least in the subconscious sense.

Consciously, of course is another matter - subjective reliance on muscle memory and ostinato pattern replications might allow the higher intellect to wander in its immediate focus.

YMMV
 
My goal is to not be. However, when I learn something new, there is a 'break-in' period where I have to think about it before it becomes comfortable. I have always mantained that the goal of learning theory is to learn it so well that you don't think about it.
 
I do not think about or concentrate too hard on playing, when I'm playing......I do maintain about 85- 90% awareness of my surroundings when I'm playing.... anyone who could state 100% awareness while playing, is sorely mistaken. There's also 2 aspects, the awareness of other band members (cues, on the fly changes, etc) and audience surroundings.
 
The OP is kinda contradictory... Subconscious becomes Conscious with awareness.

subconscious - A mental process which occurs without awareness, or conscious perception on the part of the individual.


No I'm not.

Before something is conscious it's subconscious. And sometimes they actually exist side by side.



I know exactly what subconscious means.
 
The best performances of mine are just playing. I'm usually thinking about my financial situation and how many notes I put out into the space......

Some really cool freaky stuff happened yesterday in church. We were playing a simple (and boring) I IV V progression that somehow turned itself into a funktastic reggae thing. No idea how we ended up there, but it was pretty sweet!
 
Yes and no... the threshold BETWEEN subconscious and conscious IS awareness.

No ones impressed. We're talking about bass here. If you wanna flex your knowledge of the way the human mind works... go find an appropriate outlet.

But to answer OPs question, I find myself playing really well during shows. I'm the lead singer too so my focus is spent there, but my bass playing never seems to suffer. Kinda weird how "at home" I am playing bass.