I just can't seem to stop making mistakes...

[cazclocker]

This is exactly the problem. You played it wrong so long it will take you 10x longer to pattern it right. That’s why the posts above are so important.

I find I make mistakes fo two reasons:
1. I zone out. Could be focused on singing or something else.
2. I have some doubt. Maybe didn’t play the song for a long time and didn’t have it solid.

You hit the nail on the head. MUSCLE MEMORY is a real thing. When you repeat your mistakes, they get reinforced. So on your next gig, when you get to that part in the song, your fingers naturally repeat what they’ve learned. Add to that the dread of anticipation right before the problem part...

 

[mrcbass]

I have similar issues. Not so much from learning a song incorrectly and having to fix (that is brutal), but from just making sloppy mistakes on stuff I do know inside and out. It's more of a mental thing than physical for me. I tend to zone out on songs that I feel I have down and don't really need to think about anymore. I have a bit of a wandering mind - so much so that even when I start out with the "focus" mantra running through my brain when I start a song, I still start thinking about something else halfway through a song.

I'm no virtuoso and have lots to work on, but if I was able to fix only one thing in my playing at this point, this would be it. Sorry no answers for you cuz I'm still searching myself....

 

[Engle]

Hey, how about sharing with us the problem section.

You're getting a tin of advice when nobody here even knows what you're messing up on.

It could be a simple focus problem.

It could be that you're playing whatever this passage is at a place on the fretboard that makes no sense.

It could he anything.

You're getting tons of advice on how to practice. But that might not even be the advice you need. You might just be playing it wrong to begin with.

So, what are we even talking about here?

What do you keep messing up?

^just what I was thinking. Maybe there’s a better way to play that particular part.

 

[Pirate Captain]

I think you were having a joke but there is an important distinction implicit in your comment.
Don’t learn to play the bass, learn to play music on the bass. Drummers make that mistake all too often I have found. There is a big difference in playing the drums and playing music on the drums.

Yeah...that was a joke. I've been playing music my whole life (on multiple instruments...well, not at the same time). And I started on (this is also not a joke), the bagpipes (which does feel like multiple instruments at the same time).

 

[Jazz Ad]

Hiding mistakes and making them pass as intentional is a skill of itself that one has to learn.

 

[SteveCS]

Then there's the psych issue...
Do you think "Oh crap! The part I always screw up is coming up! Don't mess up!!" I certainly have more than once, or, you know, 500 times. Purposefully thinking "Yes! Can't wait to get to the tricky part! I'm going to own it!" can be helpful. Sounds like pop psychology hogwash, I know - but I've found it to be beneficial. And, if you own it, and still screw up - as someone else earlier said, it's the jazz version. Nothing worse than tentatively screwing up.

Not hogwash. The thing is that in a live situation anything can happen, and the more complacent we are - through confidence in our perfect practice, because we 'get in the zone' or whatever - the more likely it becomes. Having a positive attitude helps you/me/us to move on and not get derailed. At the other end of the spectrum, a positive attitude isn't just psych - it can be fostered by having confidence in your ears. A bum note will create some kind of tension, so having confidence in your ears allows you to quickly and instinctively resolve that tension in a musical way without fumbling around - your additional confidence to 'own it' comes from knowing you can play your way out if it doesn't quite go to plan. In the end a good performance is greater than the sum of parts, of which a positive attitude is just one, albeit, IMHO, a big one.

I'll cite an example from my daughter. She was playing a solo cello piece at a reasonable-sized venue - about 300, just her, a pianist, a single spotlight and no sheet music. She had practiced and rehearsed to perfection. But in the excitement beforehand, her hands were a little sweaty and she couldn't fully tighten the spike. Inevitably it started to slip in - very slowly but enough to affect position and therefore intonation. She had the confidence in her ears to just carry on, making tiny adjustments chasing the pitch, and in the end I think that she and I were the only people that noticed... She was 13 at the time.

 

[Nickweissmusic]

Was listening back to a couple of recent recordings we made from shows...

Bottom line is a lot of stuff I'm playing really well on, but I can't seem to stop making some mistakes more often than I'd like to, and this is even on tunes that I've spent a considerable amount of time practicing.

Tips for getting some of this stuff more ingrained?

I am also an innacurate player by nature. I’m a bit on the ADD side, so it’s hard for me to stay focused on the song all the way through, I find that that is the main cause of my errors, I take my mind off track, then get “micro-surprised” when a new section comes up or whatever. I’ll share my secrets to build confidence and reliability:

1) Metronome

That’s it. Slow down until you have easy and complete control of the whole song without any mistakes, then gradually speed back up to full. You may not need to slow down at all, but If you make repeated mistakes, slow down, and if you keep making mistakes, slow down more. There’s no shame here. Metronomes force you to create the rest of the band in your mind and spatially reconcile the time, it’s like swinging a bat with a donut on it, when you actually play with a band it’s a relief how easy it is. You may consider programming a drum machine if you need help remembering when sections change, but keep the beats as simple as possible, and do as much of the work in your head as possible. It’s not easy and can be very frustrating at first, but there is no more effective tool. The payoff is worth it.

Less effective but still good is to play with a recording, and use some sort of software to slow it down as necessary, riff station, capo, and amazing slow downer are all good apps depending on what platform you are working with.

 

[donotfret]

If you practise a given passage, always use a metronome. Practise at low tempos and increase the tempo only very gradually. You need to be comfortable and relaxed at all times. Target a tempo that is slightly higher than what you need.

You should also not forget that our brains are not made for stupid repetitive tasks. Practising in different keys will keep your brain entertained while still practising the same thing. If that's not enough, you can think of variations with the same fingering.

Final remark, I don't think 15 minutes a day is a lot. I'd go for an hour with a few breaks in between (say, 4 times 10 minutes).

 

[IamGroot]

at times thats part of the problem, I'll start thinking about something else other than the song.

Quit lookin at the ladies

 

[ZAR14]

Though it sounds like a Cliché, it rings true...
Practice Makes Perfect

 

[40Hz]

If you already know what and how you’re supposed to be playing it, sometimes just practicing the problem part itself doesn’t help because it’s the transition into and the exit from it that still need to be dealt with.

So I’d suggest at least playing four or eight bars of what preceeds and follows it in order to keep it in the context of the rest of the song.

Doing that often prevents your brain from turning it into an “Oh no!” moment when it comes time to play it. Instead of this big scary barrier across your path you need to mentally jump over, it becomes just another bend in the road.

After that it’s just muscle memory.

Luck!

 

[Crazy_Jake]

Two suggestions:
1. Muscle memory
2, cheat sheets

1. I play drums too which are very natural to me (much more so than bass) but for certain fills, muscle memory is what makes it happen...frequent frequent repetition until it works every time - not JUST the fill, but also importantly the lead-up to the fill+the fill. Some fills are hit or miss (literally...bwahaha) until my muscles REALLY learn the fill, then I never have to worry or struggle again. Bass takes a bit more time/practice for me but same exact principle applies. In fact I have found that even when I blank out on a part during a gig, my fingers already know what to do and save me...happens all the time.

+1 for muscle memory . you need to have the part down cold so you can play it without thinking about it. There are times now when I am playing live when I may drift off and forget what the next part might be - at that point I stop thinking and just let me fingers do the work and go on auto pilot - works everytime - provided of course you have put in the work before hitting the stage.

 

[IamGroot]

For a given repetitive task, say a scale, you really don't gain much by practicing more than 5 minutes at a time. Play something else for 5 minutes, then come back to the piece. Repeat as necessary.

I retired at the beginning of the year and have unlimited time to practice, but I found unlimited practice is very hard on the body, especially the hands. May I suggest,

Figure out what you want to accomplish
Practice efficiently and effectively
Be your own toughest critic
Log your efforts (I use a spreadsheet)
Avoid distractions (especially TB). My most productive periods are when I use a book rather than a computer.

Back to woodwinds improv course..

 

[Rattfink]

Quit lookin at the ladies

that's a great point....Like they said on "Theres Something about Marry", do you clean the pipes before you hit the stage? You know it's hard to play with a loaded gun.

 

[RickyWoo]

Here's the short story: Nobody is perfect.

 

[lz4005]

I have found that if I cant get a part right everytime, the root cause is thst i dont understand 100% what I am supposed to be doing. So I put the written part in fromt of me and completely dissect the problem area. Until you are 100% clear on what you need to do, it wont be perfect and errors will creep in no matter how much you practice it.

Very true.

Recently a guitar player I work with wrote a tune he wanted to record and asked me to play bass on. He emailed me me a lead sheet with the changes written out and a scratch recording of the tune. Everything was fine until I got to one particular chord in the bridge.

The only direction he gave me was that he wanted relatively busy walking bass through the rest of the song and whole notes during the bridge for contrast.

Playing the root of what he had written didn't work. It just sounded wrong. So wrong that it screwed me up for the rest of that section, every time I tried to play it, for several weeks.

It wasn't until the day of recording that I figured out he was playing a slash chord but hadn't written it out that way. As soon as I did that I went from not being able to make it through the bridge a single time to nailing the whole tune in one take.

 

[IamGroot]

that's a great point....Like they said on "Theres Something about Marry", do you clean the pipes before you hit the stage? You know it's hard to play with a loaded gun.

Take your wife to the gig. I know in most cases, that is a no-no, but in your case of hyperhormonal musical aphasia, a stare from her will cure the problem.

 

[mrcbass]

Quit lookin at the ladies

No, no, no...Practice while watching porn (after you have the part figured out). A fully clothed female will be much less distracting if you condition your self in this way....

 

[MD Stingray]

It starts with accepting that you are not perfect and always will make mistakes, everybody does..

 

[seansbrew]

There are some parts to some songs that I have simplified in a way that allows me to play the part and maintain the effectiveness of the line. Especially when it comes to tunes from artists like Jaco, or Rocco.
We cant be in the head of the person who created it.
I'll never feel like I do justice to 'The Chicken' the way Jaco did. But I keep good time and hit most of his style elements.
Once you can play the tune solidly, then start improving the weak areas of the tune little by little. You'll always have something to fall back on in the moment if you go to execute something and it doesn't work.