My biggest obstacle is myself

[10emmanuel]

No matter how much I practice, I always get to a point where I say " hey you are doing it right!!", I get better in several aspects but then when something happens and I can take the bass for a week or two, I loose those improvements and in that moment I refuse to take the bass again because I dont like to see myself failing in things that I used to do right. And to get back to that point where I was doing it right it takes so long!...

It's an ups and downs all the time, I cant keep the line upward, either playing songs that I know, timing or improvising. I loose it.

I am not a pro, but I am definitely not a beginner.

Does that happen to you?

 

[two fingers]

If you have serious time constraints, just slow down. Play your bass when it brings you joy. Don't worry about "right", or "better".

If you get to a point in your life when you have more free time, then you can set goals for getting better at it.

Do not stress over things you can't control. If your lack of time to practice bass is something you can't control right now, either adjust your lifestyle or simply wait until you have more time.

 

[Malcolm35]

Yep, as we get older certain things have to be left behind. Work around them and keep going. Instead of four note bass lines, roots and fives do work.

Good luck.

 

[AGCurry]

The prescription for this malady is to practice every day. You will still have periods where you "lose it" but they will be milder and shorter.

 

[chris_b]

IMO two or three steps forward and one step back is the usual progression for learning an instrument.

If you feel you are "stagnating" or not progressing, set yourself a challenge.

During the lock down I decided to push myself in different directions. I worked through all the Stevie Wonder albums. I charted them all and, apart from one crazy instrumental, I played the lot. It made me think differently and worked my playing in ways I wasn't used to.

So pick someone outside of your comfort zone and do the same.

 

[vindibona1]

No matter how much I practice, I always get to a point where I say " hey you are doing it right!!", I get better in several aspects but then when something happens and I can take the bass for a week or two, I loose those improvements and in that moment I refuse to take the bass again because I dont like to see myself failing in things that I used to do right. And to get back to that point where I was doing it right it takes so long!...

It's an ups and downs all the time, I cant keep the line upward, either playing songs that I know, timing or improvising. I loose it.

I am not a pro, but I am definitely not a beginner.

Does that happen to you?

There's a lot to unpack there, but I'll take a shot.
1) You're not a beginner. Beginners improve in leaps and bounds and buckets until they reach a point. Once past that point improvement comes in thimblefuls. That's where you're at now.

2) Finesse in playing is a "depreciating skill" if not maintained. To keep what you have you have to continue to practice. Allowing your disappointment in your playing to curb your practice is counter-productive. You just have to push through. If you think skills degrade quickly on bass, you should try playing trumpet or a brass instrument where you have to make the notes with your face and keep facial strength up and coordinate that with air flow just to make notes. Youhave to practice to keep your precision, but if you're going to grow musically your technical precision must be maintained.

3) Improvement is often not related solely on technical skill, but understanding the musical nuance of what you're trying to play. If you have a deep understanding of the musicality of the music, your body will react accordingly and you will play better and improve faster. UNDERSTANDING THE MUSICALITY FOR SOME IS THE HARDEST THING TO HEAR AND GRASP. Some folks have a natural feel for it (i.e. Michael Jackson) and for others it is a learned skill (i.e. ME). Listen to recordings and try to identify the nuances of playing, which will help you reverse engineer stuff into your playing. It can be helpful to listen to more than one person playing the same thing and identify the differences in musical interpretation, tone, attack.

4) Pay more attention to what your right (plucking) hand is doing, not only technique wise, but how it contributes to the musicality of what you're playing. Work on the different ways you can pluck the strings and the resultant sound from the different plucking approaches. If I may use myself as an example, I would now consider myself primarily a bass player almost 3 years in; formerly an average guitar player and semi-professional trumpet player. It took me a long time to understand how important versatility of my right hand is and how it contributes to not only precision, but musicality.

 

[10emmanuel]

There's a lot to unpack there, but I'll take a shot.
1) You're not a beginner. Beginners improve in leaps and bounds and buckets until they reach a point. Once past that point improvement comes in thimblefuls. That's where you're at now.

2) Finesse in playing is a "depreciating skill" if not maintained. To keep what you have you have to continue to practice. Allowing your disappointment in your playing to curb your practice is counter-productive. You just have to push through. If you think skills degrade quickly on bass, you should try playing trumpet or a brass instrument where you have to make the notes with your face and keep facial strength up and coordinate that with air flow just to make notes. Youhave to practice to keep your precision, but if you're going to grow musically your technical precision must be maintained.

3) Improvement is often not related solely on technical skill, but understanding the musical nuance of what you're trying to play. If you have a deep understanding of the musicality of the music, your body will react accordingly and you will play better and improve faster. UNDERSTANDING THE MUSICALITY FOR SOME IS THE HARDEST THING TO HEAR AND GRASP. Some folks have a natural feel for it (i.e. Michael Jackson) and for others it is a learned skill (i.e. ME). Listen to recordings and try to identify the nuances of playing, which will help you reverse engineer stuff into your playing. It can be helpful to listen to more than one person playing the same thing and identify the differences in musical interpretation, tone, attack.

4) Pay more attention to what your right (plucking) hand is doing, not only technique wise, but how it contributes to the musicality of what you're playing. Work on the different ways you can pluck the strings and the resultant sound from the different plucking approaches. If I may use myself as an example, I would now consider myself primarily a bass player almost 3 years in; formerly an average guitar player and semi-professional trumpet player. It took me a long time to understand how important versatility of my right hand is and how it contributes to not only precision, but musicality.

awesome thanks!! Good advices

 

[mambo4]

Steve Martin wrote in Born standing Up:
"Anybody can be truly brilliant once in a while. The trick is to be pretty good, all the time. That takes practice."

It is often said that you shouldn't practice what you can already play, but I sort of disagree.
Being pretty good, all the time requires practicing such that the huge scope of stuff that can go wrong at a gig is less likely to throw you off. In other words practice for reliability not occasional brilliance.

 

[Jeremy Crockett]

...I always get to a point where I say " hey you are doing it right!!"...

Does that happen to you?

No.

 

[vindibona1]

Steve Martin wrote in Born standing Up:
"Anybody can be truly brilliant once in a while. The trick is to be pretty good, all the time. That takes practice."

It is often said that you shouldn't practice what you can already play, but I sort of disagree.
Being pretty good, all the time requires practicing such that the huge scope of stuff that can go wrong at a gig is less likely to throw you off. In other words practice for reliability not occasional brilliance.

A couple thoughts on what you said, related and semi-related...
I made my living as a professional photographer, and for the first 15 or 16 years of my career shooting film before digital was a viable medium. People always associate being a "professional" with getting money for what you do. I disagree. I have always said that what makes you a professional is BEING ABLE TO DO A GOOD JOB ON YOUR WORST DAY. And yes, that takes practice as you become consistently consistent.

Practicing what you can already play isn't the issue. It is wasting time playing things you can already play well, stealing time from the areas, even within the same piece that need work, given a finite amount of practice time.

As an anecdote addressing the above, I got recruited to play bass in an old man's folk-style band. They had been together about 5-6 years, had the same play list for all of that time. You'd think they'd have everything nailed. But no. It was like they were "phoning in" the music. I may have pissed some or all of them off when I joined because I wasn't having it (and wouldn't/won't be annoyed one bit if they wanted to kick me out). When they schedule rehearsals now I demand to know what specific goals the of the rehearsals. If they choose an old piece, I ask what they think they should be working on within the piece and generally I keep them moving and only focusing on the areas that need attention so we can cover more ground. The pieces that they've done together for 5+ years suddenly have a musicality and emotional impact that had been missing all that time- only because they've been forced to focus within each tune that had been overlooked. I must be doing something right because I've gotten no beefs (so far) and I think they can hear and appreciate the improvement that selective focus/practice provides.

 

[10emmanuel]

A couple thoughts on what you said, related and semi-related...
I made my living as a professional photographer, and for the first 15 or 16 years of my career shooting film before digital was a viable medium. People always associate being a "professional" with getting money for what you do. I disagree. I have always said that what makes you a professional is BEING ABLE TO DO A GOOD JOB ON YOUR WORST DAY. And yes, that takes practice as you become consistently consistent.

Practicing what you can already play isn't the issue. It is wasting time playing things you can already play well, stealing time from the areas, even within the same piece that need work, given a finite amount of practice time.



As an anecdote addressing the above, I got recruited to play bass in an old man's folk-style band. They had been together about 5-6 years, had the same play list for all of that time. You'd think they'd have everything nailed. But no. It was like they were "phoning in" the music. I may have pissed some or all of them off when I joined because I wasn't having it (and wouldn't/won't be annoyed one bit if they wanted to kick me out). When they schedule rehearsals now I demand to know what specific goals the of the rehearsals. If they choose an old piece, I ask what they think they should be working on within the piece and generally I keep them moving and only focusing on the areas that need attention so we can cover more ground. The pieces that they've done together for 5+ years suddenly have a musicality and emotional impact that had been missing all that time- only because they've been forced to focus within each tune that had been overlooked. I must be doing something right because I've gotten no beefs (so far) and I think they can hear and appreciate the improvement that selective focus/practice provides.

My way to practice is polishing known stuff and getting better at new stuff. One because I think that there is not "easy" stuff in music, so even the songs that might be considered easier than others have something personal to achieve in it. I might be playing right some more "difficult " songs than other "easier" So that's why I always go back.
And my frustation comes when I see that I am not doing it right in the known stuff when before I used to be good at it.

 

[vindibona1]

My way to practice is polishing known stuff and getting better at new stuff. One because I think that there is not "easy" stuff in music, so even the songs that might be considered easier than others have something personal to achieve in it. I might be playing right some more "difficult " songs than other "easier" So that's why I always go back.
And my frustation comes when I see that I am not doing it right in the known stuff when before I used to be good at it.

As a retired professional photography I have coined a saying in Photoshop that aptly applies in music as well:
"Things that appear easy are often difficult. Things that appear difficult are often easy".

The thing to understand is that music that is technically easy can be much more demanding musically- and often is. Nuance is demanded. Stuff that is technical is often more difficult to nuance, but the nuanced musicality is often overlooked aurally.