Sometimes the problem is you're waiting for the mistake. We all panic from time to time. Can I suggest you isolate the section and, rather than just repeat it over and over, you go for it one time and, even if you mess it up, go on to something else. Come back to it and, again play it once - getting into the habit of making the one time count as that's the scary part of playing the gig. You just get the one shot.
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I just can't seem to stop making mistakes...
- Thread starter glocke1
- Start date
Tried it - found out I can't play the bass at all when it's so far away from my body...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....
Absolutely! The subconscious is a machine that doesn’t discriminate between right and wrong. It simply implements what you have instructed it to do. Rubbish in, rubbish out! Give it the right messages and it will see you right.
To overcome wrongly-learned habits, I sometimes do this with varying degrees of success: I'll get alone with my bass where nobody's around. Then I'll play the problem part on my bass, exaggeratedly S..L..O..W..L..Y. But every step of the way (lifting one of my fretting fingers, begin movement to another string/fret, land on that new string/fret, plucking with index finger, plucking with middle finger, mute with palm........those, and others, are ALL individual biomechanical movements that go into your playing) I really do something weird. I will YELL LOUDLY the movement I'm making now. If I allowed anyone to hear me, they'd think I'd lost my mind... I'm actually YELLING a description of what I'm doing with my hands as I perform the part correctly.
Sounds nuts, right? Well, after a few sessions of that, when I play the part acting like a sane man, I can still hear the yelling in my mind - it acts as a compulsion or a driving force making me play the damn thing correctly. And since I didn't resort to this irrational, seemingly violent/angry behavior to learn the part (incorrectly) the first time, the new ingraining-into-myself of the part actually is "louder" to me than the first incorrect one - so it overcomes my bad habit. Eventually, given enough gigs, the newly-learned habits become second nature. Then, after a while, they become first nature.
I know full well it's insane behavior. But it actually works for me. I've gotten to a point where I know in advance there's hell to pay if I learn something incorrectly.
EDIT: I once figured out how to play "The Rain Song" by Led Zeppelin on my electric 12-string guitar, just by playing the record (the live one, I forget the title) over and over. Lifting the needle and putting it back a few grooves. Over and over. Took me all afternoon, but I learned to play it, start to climactic finish. It wasn't until a couple years later I realized that Jimmy Page had his 12-string tuned to a weird tuning, and I had mine tuned to standard tuning. I never learned how to play it right, but my way sounded pretty good, I guess.
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Another thing, and this one will sound weird and I'm sure someone will want to argue the point, but it's true. I worked in a complex industry and became a technical trainer, liked it so much I went back and got my degree in advanced adult education, so I do have a clue here.
Learning is very condition and setting dependent. You learn best under the same conditions as you practice. That's why simulators are so important in today's high tech world, that's why standing when practicing is actually important; same with using your mic if you sing, etc. The same for practicing it the correct way only. So.....
So when you play this song, is it possibly after a couple of beers or substance of your choice? In a later set when you're tired, perhaps? If you have a couple of beers when practicing and learn it then, it'll make it easier to repeat it back under the same conditions. Yes, a couple of beers will START to impact your playing, and maybe that's why you repeat the bad playing, where you might learn it 'dry' but it keeps you from doing it 'wet' when you fall back to the old behavior.
I'm sure others will jump in here and say any alcohol makes your playing worse, but that's old wisdom and not necessarily true for one or two beers for most people according to many recent studies. And I mean only one or two; at first lower levels of alcohol lowers inhibitions/relaxes before it impacts motor skills, but shortly after that many things go into the crapper very quickly. I know my playing certainly does, but a couple at first relaxes me and so I have a few and stop. (In the research results, the first one actually does the relaxing, but the second one starts the degradation of coordination. The relaxation offsets the initial degradation and comes out about equal for most people at or before the end of the second drink. After that it's all downhill.)
So if you know you're going to have a couple, do the same when you practice, at least occasionally. OK, go ahead with the flames.
Learning is very condition and setting dependent. You learn best under the same conditions as you practice. That's why simulators are so important in today's high tech world, that's why standing when practicing is actually important; same with using your mic if you sing, etc. The same for practicing it the correct way only. So.....
So when you play this song, is it possibly after a couple of beers or substance of your choice? In a later set when you're tired, perhaps? If you have a couple of beers when practicing and learn it then, it'll make it easier to repeat it back under the same conditions. Yes, a couple of beers will START to impact your playing, and maybe that's why you repeat the bad playing, where you might learn it 'dry' but it keeps you from doing it 'wet' when you fall back to the old behavior.
I'm sure others will jump in here and say any alcohol makes your playing worse, but that's old wisdom and not necessarily true for one or two beers for most people according to many recent studies. And I mean only one or two; at first lower levels of alcohol lowers inhibitions/relaxes before it impacts motor skills, but shortly after that many things go into the crapper very quickly. I know my playing certainly does, but a couple at first relaxes me and so I have a few and stop. (In the research results, the first one actually does the relaxing, but the second one starts the degradation of coordination. The relaxation offsets the initial degradation and comes out about equal for most people at or before the end of the second drink. After that it's all downhill.)
So if you know you're going to have a couple, do the same when you practice, at least occasionally. OK, go ahead with the flames.
I get where you're going and in principal agree, but doesn't it make better sense to just not partake at gigs if that is the issue? I mean do we really need to push more alcohol as a solution?
I'm fine with imbibing if that's your thing - I do my share now and used to do a lot more than that - I used to consider myself a "professional" drinker. But we should all know by now that alcohol is just not the best thing for our bodies. I didn't get the impression that this was not the OP's issue, but if it is this is just not good advise. IMO
Flame started....
...and continued. The principle is good but the premise is flawed. Save it until after the gig...
No problem, and you are correct. But like you said, not everybody fits that ideal, obviously. I'm doing this for fun, the money doesn't mean anything and doesn't add up to much playing two to three times a month, and so it works for me.
Now if I made my living off of it, you're absolutely right, I wouldn't touch a drop.
Edit: I'm retired (from the real world, anyway.) And after a couple, I usually switch to one of those instant breakfast drinks to keep my energy up and make it through tear down. None of those little energy drinks, either, those things will screw up my playing much worse.
Edit 2: Sorry to hijack the thread temporarily..
Edit: I'm retired (from the real world, anyway.) And after a couple, I usually switch to one of those instant breakfast drinks to keep my energy up and make it through tear down. None of those little energy drinks, either, those things will screw up my playing much worse.
Edit 2: Sorry to hijack the thread temporarily..
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- Jan 26, 2014
- 1,525
- 1,946
- Disclosures
- I teach lessons and perform live music in and around San Diego CA. Sometimes I even make money doing it!
Yes. “Segment practicing” should be kept to a minimum, and the dreaded screw up and start over is a poor way to improve as well. If you start over every time you goof up, you will get good at the beginning of the song, and clueless at the end. The key to managing this problem, is unfortunately the most boring answer: slow it down with a metronome, until you can easily control it and make no mistakes, and gradually speed up. Segment practice can be an invaluable stepping stone, but it is important to practice entire songs as soon as you’re able.
Agree 100%
A metronome or similar (I prefer a drum machine or even a click track if you record your practice sessions - and if you’re working without an instructor it’s worth considering) is a too often neglected tool. There are basic free versions available for smartphones. So there’s really no excuse not to have one.
Sometimes the simplest tools and the most obvious approaches are the ones most often overlooked.
tl:dr - Slow down. Practice with a metronome.
Victor Wooten commented (in one of his works shops) that a bad note id only one fret away from the right one, so turn that mistake into something melodic and you have a whole different sound that isn't a mistake!
This is my standard method too.
I got a call from a real good local cover band 3 days before a gig. I could NOT blow it. I was familiar with most of the songs just hadn’t played them live. I spent my time listening and typing/charting them out. That exercise made a huge difference in my memory of the songs. I can see the charts in my mind when I play now and really don’t need them much after a gig or 2.
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Have you always tried to play it with the same fingering? Often I find that if something is difficult I can change it to a different shape and fit the groove better.
As a ridiculously simple example, a 1-6-5-6 on G could be played (String/Fret) D/5-A/7-A/5-A/7 but you might get a slightly different dynamic if you changed it to D/5-D/2-A/5-D/2.
Lots of excellent advice on practicing has already been given. I just came here emphasize the above: if you make that same mistake (or any other mistake) then you can make a mental note, but do NOT let it bring you down at the gig. Keep playing your best... keep grooving your best! Passion, as Ludwig Van said.
As others said, stuff happens. Heck, I remember subbing with a band I hadn't played with in four years. They gave me my usual bass solo, but I was sloppy in the Sailor's Hornpipe (Popeye) section that I used to throw in -- mostly because of rust; I hadn't prepared for it. When I was young I would have freaked at the clams, but that was a long time ago. This time I just shrugged, smiled, and continued my solo.
