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How to improve the most important skill a musician needs?

Matthew_84

Matthew_84

Nov 7, 2010
6,497
5,101
Greater Toronto Area, Canada
#1
Every single time I make a mistake, I completely break the rhythm of whatever I'm playing. It's like I'm playing the classic game Operation, and every time I hit a bad note, I get a shock.

I handle this in a multitude of different ways - the common reactions are:

- Most common: I stop completely and wait for the next phrase to start (or the current one to repeat) before playing again;
- Often: I forcefully hit the "right" note after the bad one and ramble through the rest of the notes to get caught up to where I should be; or
- Rarely: I try to push through and keep going with the rest of the sequence (as I should) except there's always a delay from the initial "shock" and it still messes up with the rhythm.

The simple (and likely) answer is to just practising, but I've been very conscious of this for the last few weeks and it doesn't seem to be improving at all... Now, perhaps it'll take a lot longer to fix after years of (mostly) stopping in my tracks completely, but I'm just curious if anyone has any tips?

Thanks.
 
#2
Are these mistakes happening in a group setting, or stand alone practice? I suppose with either situation I would do a lot of stand alone practice on tunes that you are comfortable with at first, pushing through the mistakes, and then branching out to other tunes that you don't know so well and continuing to try to push through. I
don't really know because I've never really had the 'shock' that you are speaking of. I have always just marched ahead and continued to make mistakes lol
 
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#3
misterCRUSH said:
Are these mistakes happening in a group setting, or stand alone practice? I suppose with either situation I would do a lot of stand alone practice on tunes that you are comfortable with at first, pushing through the mistakes, and then branching out to other tunes that you don't know so well and continuing to try to push through. I
don't really know because I've never really had the 'shock' that you are speaking of. I have always just marched ahead and continued to make mistakes lol
Click to expand...
I should have clarified that most of these are occurring when I'm practising alone (but that's because that's mostly how I'm playing - the same issues arise when I'm playing with others though).

Also, my "shock" is really more or less like I mentally say "crap" and then try to recover. It seems like I'm always conscious of my mistakes, and noticing them is what delays me and breaks my rhythm/flow.

Also, nice bass! I have the 5 string Portamento and have been meaning to change my avatar but haven't gotten around to it. It is my main player though.
 
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#7
Matthew_84 said:
Why is it not that not that simple for me! :crying:
Click to expand...
Because you're being too hard on yourself and expecting perfection.

Try thinking about it this way: Every time you make a mistake is an opportunity to practice recovering from mistakes, which IMO is one of the most important skills a musician can have.
 
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#8
Matthew_84 said:
Every single time I make a mistake, I completely break the rhythm of whatever I'm playing. It's like I'm playing the classic game Operation, and every time I hit a bad note, I get a shock.

I handle this in a multitude of different ways - the common reactions are:

- Most common: I stop completely and wait for the next phrase to start (or the current one to repeat) before playing again;
- Often: I forcefully hit the "right" note after the bad one and ramble through the rest of the notes to get caught up to where I should be; or
- Rarely: I try to push through and keep going with the rest of the sequence (as I should) except there's always a delay from the initial "shock" and it still messes up with the rhythm.

The simple (and likely) answer is to just practising, but I've been very conscious of this for the last few weeks and it doesn't seem to be improving at all... Now, perhaps it'll take a lot longer to fix after years of (mostly) stopping in my tracks completely, but I'm just curious if anyone has any tips?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

You've basically trained yourself to stop and fumble a bit when you make a mistake. So now stopping and fumbling is the automatic response. As mentioned, now you need to train yourself to keep going and ignore "the shock". And yeah, it might take awhile to unlearn
 
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#10
Lobster11 said:
Because you're being too hard on yourself and expecting perfection.
Click to expand...
This is very wise and to the heart of the matter ain't it? Lol, it's true. I almost demand perfection and am too hard on myself. Even if a note is the right note, but doesn't ring out clearly (maybe I didn't hold it down well enough, etc) I wince and treat it as a mistake... I need to learn to let these go.

Thanks!
 
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#11
Hummergeist said:
Playing along to beats or backing tracks helps keep you on your toes as far as this kind of thing goes, as does recording.
Click to expand...
This is interesting. I certainly agree with the first part (playing along to backing tracks), but would recording help? In my experience, as soon as I make one of these mistakes while I'm recording myself, I stop the recording and start again... This is probably a large part of where this issue came from in the first place, to be honest.

Now, I'm fully aware that I may be too hard on myself, and perhaps shouldn't stop the tape for every little mistake, but that's just how I've treated these mistakes (and my recordings) in the past.

I also treat every recording as if it's my final version of whatever I'm recording... It's worth noting that I haven't recorded myself a lot (really only when I feel like I have something worth recording). So maybe that's an issue in itself...
 
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#12
Work out what's causing your mistakes and remedy that:

- Fingering.
Have a dry run through with no set tempo to nail the fingering patterns.

- Tempo.
Practice song with recording/metronome at a slower tempo & gradually build up speed.

- Mental block.
Keep playing through mistakes. Learn the skill of disguising them so they're almost unnoticeable.

- Losing Focus.
Centre yourself with breathing exercises, stretching, visualising, etc. Take more breaks if you're concentration wavers.
 
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#13
Matthew_84 said:
This is very wise and to the heart of the matter ain't it? Lol, it's true. I almost demand perfection and am too hard on myself. Even if a note is the right note, but doesn't ring out clearly (maybe I didn't hold it down well enough, etc) I wince and treat it as a mistake... I need to learn to let these go.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Yes, this does seem to be the heart of the matter: You need to somehow train yourself to not "mentally say 'crap'" every time you make a mistake. That said, a coupla other thoughts:

1. If you're making these mistakes frequently, you need to practice something simpler or slow down the tempo. It's not practice that "makes perfect"; it's perfect practice that makes perfect. Every time you make a mistake you've just practiced making that mistake. Ideally, you should practice everything at a tempo slow enough that you cannot make a mistake -- and then increase the tempo gradually.

2. If you're going to make a mistake, it's almost always better to play the wrong note at the right time than to play the right note at the wrong time. When you're recovering from an error, don't worry about catching up on the notes you missed; rather, focus on getting back into the groove.
 
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#15
I don't think I'm a very good bass player.

So I expect mistakes.

Paradoxically, I VERY seldom make them. But when I do? Big deal. I just smile, shrug, and keep playing as best I can. It's kind of like life, that way. It works out in the end.

I've done a lot of things in my life that HAD TO be done perfectly. Life-and-death sort of stuff. This? This is simply bass playing. It's not that critical.

Just play.
 
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#18
Matthew_84 said:
Every single time I make a mistake, I completely break the rhythm of whatever I'm playing. It's like I'm playing the classic game Operation, and every time I hit a bad note, I get a shock.

I handle this in a multitude of different ways - the common reactions are:

- Most common: I stop completely and wait for the next phrase to start (or the current one to repeat) before playing again;
- Often: I forcefully hit the "right" note after the bad one and ramble through the rest of the notes to get caught up to where I should be; or
- Rarely: I try to push through and keep going with the rest of the sequence (as I should) except there's always a delay from the initial "shock" and it still messes up with the rhythm.

The simple (and likely) answer is to just practising, but I've been very conscious of this for the last few weeks and it doesn't seem to be improving at all... Now, perhaps it'll take a lot longer to fix after years of (mostly) stopping in my tracks completely, but I'm just curious if anyone has any tips?

I think you need to differentiate between a mistake or a problem. Mistakes happen. As long as we are humans, mistakes are going to happen even if you identify with being another earthly being or plant. For heavens sake, give yourself a break for being normal.

A problem is a totally different can of worms. Problems are consistent errors. For instance,
"I get to this part of a song and become all thumbs". That needs to be practiced until that part until it becomes smooth and natural.

As for freezing mid line, you should be familiar enough with the material, that as you play a note ( good or bad) you should know where and when the next note is. AS you become more familiar with your material, some of these issues will clear up. Just keep working on it.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
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#20
Matthew_84 said:
This is interesting. I certainly agree with the first part (playing along to backing tracks), but would recording help? In my experience, as soon as I make one of these mistakes while I'm recording myself, I stop the recording and start again... This is probably a large part of where this issue came from in the first place, to be honest.

Now, I'm fully aware that I may be too hard on myself, and perhaps shouldn't stop the tape for every little mistake, but that's just how I've treated these mistakes (and my recordings) in the past.

I also treat every recording as if it's my final version of whatever I'm recording... It's worth noting that I haven't recorded myself a lot (really only when I feel like I have something worth recording). So maybe that's an issue in itself...
Click to expand...
I find recording helps if you take it seriously. One motivation is that I'm the one who has to do the edits afterwards, so every correct note is a gift to myself :-) when you're recording, do it like a performance, don't stop. You can always go back and punch in later. I also want to mention that it took me years to become a better bass player. I realise I have two 'heads' that I use when playing. One is when I'm working things out and thinking about alternatives, what comes next, and so on. The other is aiming to be zen and not think about anything, playing is all there is. If I have that later one in place, my playing is much better. As soon as I think about what's the next song, what's for lunch, or whatever...GONE.
 
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