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Double Bass Practice burnout

crl0078

crl0078

Feb 13, 2011
12
0
#1
I have been trying to practice recently and have been feeling kind of burnt out, unhappy with my sound, blaming external factors, and just overall frustrated. Does anyone have experience with this who can give me some advice? Many thanks -C
 
#2
Scales. Arpeggios. Fingering speed exercises. Positioning exercises. We all need these building blocks to be effective musicians.

Go back to basics, all external factors will be removed and you can hear yourself for real. No external factors needed. You won't even have to pick something to play.
 
#4
crl0078 said:
I have been trying to practice recently and have been feeling kind of burnt out, unhappy with my sound, blaming external factors, and just overall frustrated. Does anyone have experience with this who can give me some advice? Many thanks -C
Click to expand...
When I feel like that, I find myself playing melodies on the instrument, just digging the tone and the feel of the tune. Its often a slow waltz.
 
#6
crl0078 said:
I have been trying to practice recently and have been feeling kind of burnt out, unhappy with my sound, blaming external factors, and just overall frustrated. Does anyone have experience with this who can give me some advice? Many thanks -C
Click to expand...
Take some time off. Live some life and relax for a minute. If you've been banging your head against a wall, you might need some time to heal. There's no shame in taking a break.

When you're ready, the next step is to sit down with a pen and paper and do a very thorough self-analysis. Write down every conceivable factor in your playing and give an honest statement of where you are now and what you need to do to improve. This should include not only technical issues, but issues pertaining to mind and body.

Once you've done that, you should take a look at your short, medium, and long range goals. See where you want to be in five or ten years, and craft your medium and short term goals around that. The short terms (the next 6 months, next month, next week) should get progressively more specific as the time frame closes in.

Before you practice, write out your goals for the day and make a precise schedule where you have specific goals for each hour or half hour increment. You don't necessarily need to keep yourself to it exactly, but if that's what you need then that's what you do.

Finally, as you're practicing, you should always know what your specific goal/task is at that moment. This requires real mental focus and discipline, but it's so much easier when you can see the moment-to-moment repercussions to your long term goals.
 
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#9
Remember why you picked up an instrument in the first place. Was "needing" to practice anything in particular on your mind then? Play what interests and pleases you. There's so much to know that if you have any sort of true calling to this you can move forward doing things that don't bore or burn you out. If you can't work on tone for the sheer joy of the sound of the instrument then do something else. If you can't tear a tune apart for the sheer joy of deeper understanding of making more pleasing music then do something else. The music business has kinda shaged us by making people think it's gotta happen on a schedule set by clock time and a calendar....that you have to do certain things. You don't. Slow right down, make the joy of it your motivation like it was in the beginning and you'll be fine. Beginner's mind.
 
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#11
I am also at this point right now. Even thinking about stopping my lessons and only practice on my own for a while. It just happens every once and a while and it is not a bad thing. I purely want to focus on my sound and bowing and not thinking about notes or compositions. What I do is playing some expressive slow phrases out of my head and really focus on what my bow is doing and how it relates to the sound. I make up my own exercises and play the same phrases all over the neck going from the lowest notes on the E string to the highest notes on the G string and try to make it sound good and controlled.

What also can help is playing a different style of music so you get inspired again by that.
It is not always easy to keep yourself motivated all the time and sometimes a break is needed. Good luck!
 

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