Practice

[Bobthedog]

I am not sure if this is the right forum but I am a newish player going through the Rockschool grades. I have had today one of the worst practice sessions ever, fingers all over the place, slow and not able to control stray fingers. When you went through the learning stage and things sort of like this happened, did you carry on or stop for the day?

Part of me was saying keep going, and I became more and more frustrated, but perhaps I should have just put the guitar down and come back tomorrow?

I am determined and driven to pass each grade with a minimum of a distinction, perhaps I should just chill some. I am also at home ill today, so am not on good form anyway.

[fatback]

I had to make a vow to stop swearing. Really. My frustration levels used to get so high I used to lose my mind and rant at myself. Can you picture Basil Fawlty trying to learn the double bass?

Now, of all people, I should have known better. Too much stress is well known to interfere with learning. There's an optimal level of arousal; too much or too little and learning suffers.

My solution was to make a rule that said: when the swearing starts, take it as a signal to lower the tempo of the piece.

First obscenity, down the tempo goes. Works a treat.

Edited November 3, 2014 by fatback

[Bobthedog]

Sounds like a plan. Thx

[Coilte]

Sometimes if you over do it the brain can go into over load and continuing with the practice can be counter productive. Carol Kaye recommends no more than an hour at a time. After that, take a break and come back to it.

While it is a good thing to be determined and driven, sometimes you need to leave room to chill out.

[Horizontalste]

I agree with Coilte & indeed Carol Kaye in that too much is a bad thing. I generally switch off mentally after about forty minutes so I usually play through some scales then learn the piece I'm working on then take a break. Come back after a cuppa to polish the song I just learned & start a new one if I need to.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Horizontalste

[ezbass]

[quote name='Bobthedog' timestamp='1415038781' post='2595989']When you went through the learning stage and things sort of like this happened, did you carry on or stop for the day?
[/quote]When I went through the learning stage? Hell, it still happens, even now! For the record you never really stop learning. Some days I'm just not feeling it and that's very frustrating, but I walk away and pick it up again later or the next day which normally sorts it out. We all have bad days at various tasks, why should playing the bass be any different? However, I know how frustrating it can be and learning to deal with that is the real issue.

[Bobthedog]

Thanks Guys. I came back today and ran through some scales, technical stuff and 6 songs, incl 3 new ones: probably the best session I have had for a long time. Weird!

[matejj53]

try to brake practice into 50 minutes blocks and rest between at least 10 minutes. I had same problem and teacher told me you can't demand the information to get into your head, it is like relationship you can't go to anyone and start shouting :Hey You ,GGIVE ME THIS Quickly NOW! but treat practice and learning as a friend, aproach a friend hello how are you? Would you mind if I borrow this thing? (im writing as he said it and he s massive musician really succesfull all other teachers are saying that he is genius) he said it be possitive and patient and you wil learn anctually what seems to be slow much quicker. and it is music so it should be enjoiment

[Grangur]

I agree with the above, all of it.

OK, now to change slightly. The other advice I'd give, as I'm still going through the earlier stages too, is keep a Practise Log.

In the log set out what you plan to do over the week and use that as an agenda. Plan today what you'll do tomorrow, do it and log what you did and how well/badly you did. Put down also what speed the metronome was set at, that way you'll also see how you get faster. (Not that speed is the target, but it shows agility)

I've done this and it does give you focus and you do get progress faster.

[ras52]

Attempting serious practice when unwell - or angry - is not a good idea, in my experience, although light noodling can be therapeutic.

Don't be this guy:

[media]http://youtu.be/cubV4nELOyk[/media]

[paul_5]

Every day's a school day. Take regular breaks and spend some time away from the bass. Sometimes it's helpful to read through a piece without playing it. I find it can help me to get a different angle on problematic sections.

Regular physical exercise too - don't forget that the rest of your faculties need a workout as well as keeping those piggies wriggling...

[Bilbo]

I also think it is important to allow yourself the occasional break. A holiday from teh day job is welcome but a lot of musicians don't like to take a holiday from their instrument. It is ok to take a week or two off.

[Bobthedog]

I am starting to relax about the practice time in as much as missing a rare occasional day is not a disaster. Trouble is I am old man with a young man's attitude! My G&L was bought as a travel guitar and along with a Vox practice amp comes with me everywhere overnight. Wife not so impressed though :-)

[Hector]

In my opinion (in other words, feel free to ignore!) the two most important and valuable things (in order) you can do for your practising are:

1. Detach your self-worth from your abilities as a musician - almost every problem you might encounter in your life as a practising musician stems from this fact.

2. Keep a practise log/diary - you will find with the above mindset, that you are willing to take things slower and not rush. Thoughts along the lines of "My ego can't handle not being considered a good musician, so I must master this scale/arpeggio/16th note groove immediately" lead to rushing through the material and not absorbing it fully, whilst a healthier mindset of "This will come in time, and all I must do is focus hard on mastering a particular small task every practise session" will allow you to build up your musicality in small pieces each session, and you'll need some way of keeping track of these pieces. You need to build a jigsaw of solid knowledge.


There's loads of other great advice on this thread, but most can be thought of as stemming from the simple act of allowing yourself to take your time with practising. Take breaks to allow your focus to return, mix up your practising to keep it interesting. Most of all have fun and don't pressure yourself! It's such a mind-bogglingly special fact that we as a species that used to live in caves have created these little chunks of wood and metal that make such glorious delicious noises. Every note you create is a celebration of this

[Black Coffee]

I found that having realistic expectations of progress was a helpful thing.

Realise that it takes time and it's different for each person. You may never be as accomplished as you want to be but don't give up.

[bagsieblue]

[quote name='Hector' timestamp='1415297181' post='2598971']
In my opinion (in other words, feel free to ignore!) the two most important and valuable things (in order) you can do for your practising are:

1. Detach your self-worth from your abilities as a musician - almost every problem you might encounter in your life as a practising musician stems from this fact.

[/quote]

Can you elaborate on this please Hector? - I can't grasp the concept (genuine question by the way).

[Grangur]

I can understand:

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]"1. Detach your self-worth from your abilities as a musician " [/size][/font][/color]

[size=4][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]This makes sense as if you make a total hash of playing a bassline, this doesn't make you a useless person, just one who needs more practise.[/font][/color][/size]

[Black Coffee]

Don't beat yourself up if you make a hash and certainly don't be the guy in the video in the earlier post.

Each crash and burn bass line is a reason to plug in and play more.



Nobody is perfect and unless you are playing for long spells in the totally wrong key, the only person who will really notice the odd bum note is you, (or some smart ass unhelpful guitar player).

Edited November 30, 2014 by bassman344

[Hector]

[quote name='bagsieblue' timestamp='1417383107' post='2619894']


Can you elaborate on this please Hector? - I can't grasp the concept (genuine question by the way).
[/quote]

No problemo.

I was talking about practising specifically, but it goes a bit deeper.

The idea is to stop caring about how good you are. Because then you're in the best mental state for playing or practising.

An example applying to practising is structuring your practise time effectively. It can sometimes feel like there's an overwhelming amount of things to learn, and not enough time. I used to feel a lot of subconscious pressure to be a great musician 'right now',and as a result would rush over what I was practising in order to practise more stuff. I was really harsh on myself, and this made practise sessions a lot more fraught and stressful than they needed to be.

But mastery of anything, especially music, is about depth not breadth of knowledge. I switched to practising fewer things, but with more focus. I got a little kinder on myself. I started telling myself almost constantly that it was ok if I wasn't playing that particular exercise to a great standard yet, that I would get it in time with more practise. I even did deep breathing exercises to help me relax. Letting go of my fear of not being a good musician allowed me to practise in this way, and there's no rush to be great immediately - no more problem with sticking at something till I really nailed it or kidding myself that I had learnt something well enough when I hadn't. Worrying less abouy being good and being content to practise in a way which seems slower at first really helped me progress. Really made a difference for me, and I enjoy practising now - each session I feel relaxed and happy, practising with calm intent and patience. It's really rewarding.

I hope that helped explain a bit? Not really talked about it much with anyone, so hard to explain properly in writing!


Edit - Just to add: you must strive for perfection. Don't think I'm saying it's fine to lackadaisical or sloppy. Acknowledge your weaknesses and mistakes, but work hard to eliminate them. You just gotta be kind to yourself in the process, it takes time!

Edited December 1, 2014 by Hector

[bagsieblue]

Excellent Hector, Thanks for that.

[sarah thomas]

To explore what Hector's saying, you could try out the exercises and principles of 'The Inner Game of Music' by Barry Green. Great book.

[Hector]

Thanks for the tip Sarah, will check it out!

I would also add that I strongly recommend Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner, which had a big impact on me.

[Bilbo]

+1for the Green and Werner books.

An example: I always want to play like a monster and waste hours cocking about up the dusty end. Recently, I spent half an hour playing straight quarter notes at about 120 pm. The difference it made in the way I connect to the bass was astonishing!!

[Bobthedog]

I had unsubscribed from this thread, but glad to see some stuff still coming through.

[Grangur]

I've been reading a book this week; "The Practicing Mind" by Thomas M Sterner.

This is a book I came across as it was recommended to my practice group (Scotts Bass Lessons Academy) by Anthony Wellington when we were on a webinar with him. What's interesting in the book is it tells you to stop thinking about the "end game", and tells you to live "in the process" not in the product. After all, if you're learning to play and instrument there is no end product.

We all talk about "when I can really play", but when is that?
We will continue to learn all our playing lives, so there is no "end". So we need to learn to think only about the task in hand as we practice. We also need to break that task down into sections and practice those sections and work towards improvement.