Hitting the Wall

[Mr Fretbuzz]

What do you do when you hit the wall with your practising, playing etc? Put the bass aside, do something different, have a break.... Do some theory.... Polish your bass...keep going but do something different? Grab a different book and play a different style? Is there ever a stage where you won't get through the wall, accept that or give up?

Me..I just do something different and go back to it at a later stage..... And keep going, sometimes with a swig of Jack :-)

[Kiwi]

Take up guitar.

[Donnyboy]

Practice some shapes!!!

[steve-bbb]

if i get bored going through our set list i just go and learn a new standard that ive not bothered yet to dissect just in case you ever get asked to pull it out the hat

just the one tune at a time usually and just listen through it and figure out all the lines and dynamics and then its stored in the memory banks

[uncle psychosis]

The key to improving is methodical practice and repetition. If I'm trying to learn something new then I try and spend a few minutes (or longer) on it everytime I practice. If you get stuck then there's no point getting frustrated---that doesn't help---just move on and come back to it another time. Doing one or two minutes of something every day before moving on is better than spending a frustrated hour on it once a week.

[Lfalex v1.1]

Change instrument.
Upright, Fretless, More Strings, Less Strings, and approach tunes from a different angle. Jam along to mp3s and improvise/harmonise against the original melody/harmony and bassline.
Works even better with songs you thought you knew...

[Lord Sausage]

As they say in my neck of the woods 'Keep gooin wi' yed down!'

[bluesparky]

I get that, a lot.
It's very depressing, especially when I play with some outstanding musicians and I feel like i'm the weakest link.
I tend to practice something utterly different to what I have been doing recently.
i.e. if i've been concentrating on mastering certain difficult pieces then I'll practice walking for a couple of weeks, or try concentrate on trying out new finger dexterity exercises instead of transcribing etc...
Essentially I just mix it up and dig out some inspirational music too.

Good luck, I hate it when it happens to me.

[Doddy]

It depends....are you talking about hitting the wall in tbe long or short term?

If it's short term, like in one practice session, I find it best to put the bass down for a bit and come back to the exercise later.Maybe, just play a
couple or tunes or jam for a bit before tackling it again, but definitely step away from the instrument for an hour or three.
I don't like to just plough through-not for technical reasons, but because it's easy for your head to get fried, so you need to just step back and
chill for a bit.

Long term, hitting the wall usually comes from being complacent and/or not knowing what to practice. It's easy to get comfortable with what you
like playing and what you need for your band and you stop pushing yourself. Lessons will help here-they will give you things to work on. If you can't
already, learn to read. Grab a Real Book and learn melodies or walk over the changes. Have a go at Slap technique. Play chord tones/scales all over
the finger board in different positions and inversions.Study harmony.
There are just some examples of how to get out of a rut, the truth is that there will always be something that you can't do that you can work on.

[BigRedX]

As some who has never practiced for the sake of practicing I find this concept quite hard to understand.

If I have come up with an idea that my fingers are not capable of executing then I simply play it slowly and often, taking breaks until I suddenly I find that I'm playing it perfectly more times than I am not.

The one thing I've not been able to nail in 35+ years of playing is to be able to play everything while not looking at what my hands are doing. I get so far and then I either have to look or I find that I'm a fret sharp or flat. People go on about muscle memory, but I just don't seem to have it. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is another symptom of the condition that most obviously manifests itself as dyslexia...

[Coilte]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1360329066' post='1968682']
The one thing I've not been able to nail in 35+ years of playing is to be able to play everything while not looking at what my hands are doing. I get so far and then I either have to look or I find that I'm a fret sharp or flat. People go on about muscle memory, but I just don't seem to have it. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is another symptom of the condition that most obviously manifests itself as dyslexia...
[/quote]

I'm sure that no one plays through a whole gig without looking at the fretboard. As for being a fret either side of the
correct one, well... we are only human after all. Again, I am sure that even the top bassists dont have an error free gig/concert.

Everyone makes mistakes, the trick is to recover fast from it.

[Doddy]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1360329066' post='1968682']
The one thing I've not been able to nail in 35+ years of playing is to be able to play everything while not looking at what my hands are doing. I get so far and then I either have to look or I find that I'm a fret sharp or flat. People go on about muscle memory, but I just don't seem to have it. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is another symptom of the condition that most obviously manifests itself as dyslexia...
[/quote]

Everyone looks at their hands at one time or another. If you are familiar with your bass you can get a feel for the neck and where
you are,but everyone looks where they are at times especially if they need to make big jumps.

[Roger2611]

I join a band playing guitar, 4 years later I realise I hate playing the guitar and should still be playing the bass so fire current bass player and take on bass duties. I now realise I can play better than ever before and the circle of life continues

[lurksalot]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1360329066' post='1968682']
As some who has never practiced for the sake of practicing ........................................... People go on about muscle memory, but I just don't seem to have it. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is another symptom of the condition that most obviously manifests itself as dyslexia...
[/quote]

I am similar to you but I have started to do a bit of scale practise based on the fact that you only develop muscle memory if you give it something to memorise. I can pretty much play Summer of 69 blindfold , and that only comes from gigging it week after week for ???? years .

[steve-soar]

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1360313138' post='1968335']
Take up guitar.
[/quote]Brilliant.

[Lord Sausage]

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1360351719' post='1969250']
I am similar to you but I have started to do a bit of scale practise based on the fact that you only develop muscle memory if you give it something to memorise. I can pretty much play Summer of 69 blindfold , and that only comes from gigging it week after week for ???? years .
[/quote]I don't go in for all this muscle memory stuff, it's just the brain. We don't have muscles in our fingers!

[kevin_lindsay]

I like when Roger Waters hits the wall in this clip. Hahaha

http://youtu.be/hUYzQaCCt2o

Edited February 8, 2013 by kevin_lindsay

[lurksalot]

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1360353765' post='1969303']
I don't go in for all this muscle memory stuff, it's just the brain. We don't have muscles in our fingers!
[/quote]
I always had the impression that muscle memory is just training the brain by repetition of the muscle movement. its kind of why you can pick your nose without really thinking about it ............. and then your mum shouts at you , then your wife , and then your kids , the dog ...........maybe not such a good analogy

[Lord Sausage]

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1360358383' post='1969460']
I always had the impression that muscle memory is just training the brain by repetition of the muscle movement. its kind of why you can pick your nose without really thinking about it ............. and then your mum shouts at you , then your wife , and then your kids , the dog ...........maybe not such a good analogy
[/quote]The way out of that is to just gross them out by eating it!

[louisthebass]

A lot of sense in this article:

[url="http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2013/02/07/setting-yourself-up-for-success-in-the-practice-shed-part-1/#.URQRXEZxjO0.twitter"]http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2013/02/07/setting-yourself-up-for-success-in-the-practice-shed-part-1/#.URQRXEZxjO0.twitter[/url]

[TheGreek]

Watching videos on Youtube..so many great players and lessons that I find that I'm inspired or that I can pinch a bit of technique which I can use. I'm hoping to get a 5 string in the next few days which will hopefully inspire me to learn a few more scales.

[bengreen49]

I'm at the stage of giving up. I just can't get the theory to sink in, even the basics. I'm really starting to think there is something wrong with my brain. It's maddening.

[xgsjx]

[quote name='bengreen49' timestamp='1360442778' post='1970625']
I'm at the stage of giving up. I just can't get the theory to sink in, even the basics. I'm really starting to think there is something wrong with my brain. It's maddening.
[/quote]

Get a tutor (this, coming from the guy whom never took lessons).
Getting the basics of music isn't hard & there's a good techniques section on this forum.
Rmemember, YouTube is your friend.

[BassTractor]

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1360353765' post='1969303']
I don't go in for all this muscle memory stuff, it's just the brain.
[/quote]

Of course!
I've known that forevaaah.
I thought.
... and what happened two or three days ago? Some or other scientific report seems to indicate that they've now found some or other form of memory in ... wait for it ... our muscles!

Not that I'd just easily accept that that would explain musicians' abilities, but at least it would be interesting to read more about it.

best,
bert

[nicklathambass]

I tend not to force it.. sometimes we just get bad days. Sometimes bad weeks!
Being English, a cup of tea often solves the problem. But if it doesn't, I just put my bass down and walk away for a while. Just doing something else. Relaxing, watching videos on YouTube, anything really. Oh. Apart from bass videos. Don't watch bass videos after you've had a bad day's/week's playing or you'll never want to pick it up again. I've had that before... Damn you Victorrrrr!!

But yeah, in general, I just say "don't sweat it". Go do something else for a while and the wall will fall over. Silly wall. You weren't even there in the first place.
THE POWER WAS INSIDE US ALL ALONG!!!!!!!
*inspirational music*