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Momentary fretboard blindness?
- Thread starter Jogobass
- Start date
The first line of my signature (below) is germane. As long as you keep the groove going, any clams are going to be forgiven, if they’re even noticed, by the audience.
Live show NYC in front of way too many people I once forgot the awesome bassline ending to Journey - "Stone in Love".
I was hitting wrong notes and panicked and kept playing hitting more wrong notes.
It felt like forever.
That stayed with me a very long time. I'm still trying to recover for it ....lol
I was hitting wrong notes and panicked and kept playing hitting more wrong notes.
It felt like forever.
That stayed with me a very long time. I'm still trying to recover for it ....lol
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I have had the momentary note location lapse occur often. Those who advocate sheer muscle memory are correct; even so, it's going to happen occasionally.
I also suffer from the occasional blind spot occurrence when looking at the frets while playing. These can be dealt with easily by moving the eyes. Check out the wiki I linked to, and do the demonstration.
I also suffer from the occasional blind spot occurrence when looking at the frets while playing. These can be dealt with easily by moving the eyes. Check out the wiki I linked to, and do the demonstration.
The fingering used if more relative to where you are coming from and where you are going in a song. Playing a 7 can require different fingering than playing a Major 7.
This becomes very obvious when reading parts.
The very good podcast Hidden Brain had an episode on "choking." Whenever anyone gets sufficiently good at something, their performance gets WORSE when they think about the basics. It could be either that you're not relaxed enough, so you're stressing over basics. Or you need to know the song better so you can focus on details instead of basics like the chords.
It seems to me that this comment is the one that's closest to what I've been thinking as I read this thread. I would say that the forgetting could be caused by stress or lack of focus. If your mind is elsewhere -- even just a little -- and you try to pop back into an F#, it might be hard! You might have been more excited about the awesomeness of what you were about to do and less objective about how to carry it out. Relax and just know that you know it (when you've already practiced it to death). Remember to breath.
- Jul 7, 2010
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- Endorsing Artist for: Duncan Pickups; Line6, Hipshot, GHS Strings, Somnium Guitars
It’s called a brain fart. I can attest they happen more frequently as you age. Funny thing it rarely happens to me with music. But today I was getting ready to take my wife to work, I went to unlock her car door but for some unknown reason hit the garage door button instead almost closing the garage door on her. So have a very interesting conversation on the way to her job about my forgetfulness.
As I was driving home, I got a phone call from her. Apparently she left her work vest at home that had her head set in it…LOL!!!!!
I wanted to make a joke, but the more I think about it the more I want an actual answer.
Well, I know there's a long and a short term memory of sorts. But if we do something so much that it becomes second nature, it's almost more like a reflex. I don't even know if that is in the same category as trying to remember something normally.
Generally humans aren't very good at multitasking. Maybe something else caught your mind and that part of you that usually is second nature just shut off for a moment so you could concentrate on something else of interest.
When I play of a chart, I try to think about my moves way before, specifically to avoid something like this. But even that could fail, or I could forget what I was going to do... Even the most rehearsed players mess up from time to time.
Well, I know there's a long and a short term memory of sorts. But if we do something so much that it becomes second nature, it's almost more like a reflex. I don't even know if that is in the same category as trying to remember something normally.
Generally humans aren't very good at multitasking. Maybe something else caught your mind and that part of you that usually is second nature just shut off for a moment so you could concentrate on something else of interest.
When I play of a chart, I try to think about my moves way before, specifically to avoid something like this. But even that could fail, or I could forget what I was going to do... Even the most rehearsed players mess up from time to time.
That makes a lot of sense. I've had that happen plenty before, usually not with bass playing though. When I play live I never think about the basics, I just play. So, I guess that probably helped me a bunch.
I’m not sure what you are saying. The point is non-“note name” systems can be helpful. Each person can do it their way. It is a parallel system so the brain has learned the same thing two ways. This thread is on helping memory block so maybe having two systems in place is helpful to some.
I recall one teacher notated a bass line over different measures with the same number pattern but since the chord progression changed the root, the notes were different but the number sequence was the same. That style changed the numbers based on the progression.
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Here's the podcast. You 2.0: Overcoming Stage Fright | Hidden Brain Media Really fascinating research and very helpful for musicians.
Brian, I'm sure you know this ... F# major? No such key. But yeah, Gb major is a pain.
I hope you left off your smiley by accident!
I've read a lot of arguments about dealing with enharmonic keys. F# often comes up because it has an E# in it. Personally I wouldn't expect to see music in the key of F# handed to me, but I can think of one song off the top of my head that I always say is in F#, but the band that recorded it probably called it Gb...they have a horn section
But when playing the changes (it only has the I, IV and V7) F#, B and C# pop into my head quicker than Gb, Cb and Db do! An interesting argument about how many keys there really are is this from Victor Wooten...he says thare are 30. Whether you agree or not, it's food for thought.
