Over thinking when playing - is it just me?

[discreet]

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1407419470' post='2520302']
I used to smoke "funny fags", and my improvisation and overall playing was at a much higher standard than it is now... So I think there is a lot of truth to this
[/quote]

My fags are bloody hilarious and I never have a problem over-thinking things...

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited February 22, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[christhammer666]

I do it all the time.im not a flashy player at all but I spend the whole time thinking should I be playing more

[discreet]

[quote name='christhammer666' timestamp='1407420635' post='2520319']
I do it all the time.im not a flashy player at all but I spend the whole time thinking should I be playing more
[/quote]

When really you shouldn't be thinking at all and playing less!

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1407419470' post='2520302']
I used to smoke "funny fags", and my improvisation and overall playing was at a much higher standard than it is now...
[/quote]

My playing was mostly unaffected during my 'funny fag' smoking years.... but my ability to eat jamie dodgers imporved markedly.

[Doddy]

As far as I'm concerned this basically comes down to one thing....Practice.
If you are thinking and worrying about what to play next,while playing music that you regularly play, then you probably
don't know the material well enough. Likewise, if you've learnt a cool lick or line and you try to force it into a song, chances are
you haven't practiced it enough because if you had it would become a part of your playing without having to think about it
and force it. Minds wander and mistakes happen but when they do, you know what you need to practice.
This brings me to another point....If you're thinking about your own playing, you're not listening. If you're not listening, you
probably aren't grooving. When you're on the bandstand you should be listening and reacting to the music and the other
musicians. Leave the conscious thinking in the practice room

[deepbass5]

Doddy - on the button there mate.
I am a Bill Wyman - I tend to go to sleep at the back. But I am listening like a Jedi and will jump on anything that changes. It sometimes feels like I am intercepting their brainwaves before the message gets to their fingers, but that comes from playing together for years. But sometimes I have played the first 8 or 16 and think what the fcckk are we playing I hope it comes to me before the chorus. Sometimes it is best not to let your brain get in the way. But that brings us back to Daddy’s point. Practice

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited February 22, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[Osiris]

Some interesting responses here folks.

I think it's fair to say that my issue tends to be when playing material that I am already familiar with. I think I tend to get a bit complacent probably because I know that I know the song inside out, so my brain goes on walkabout. It's not that I'm not listening, it's just that my mind goes elsewhere. So in that respect, I'm probably listening, but not listening 100% - if that makes sense?

Like a couple of you have commented, when playing dep gigs (which is something I only do infrequently) I tend to be a lot more focused. This, I suspect, is being down to the fact that I am not as familiar, and therefore comfortable, with the material being played and am more conscious of what's going on.

I'm in now way a flash player and I firmly believe in playing what the song needs instead of trying to be clever for the sake of it. So I'm not thinking 'what [i]can [/i]I play here' but rather 'what [i]should [/i]I play here'. Usually muscle memory or my in-built auto-pilot saves me, but rarely in time to avoid a bum note!

[Doddy]

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1407430042' post='2520503']

Good point too that if you're still unsure of the song, the groove and interaction is impeded, although on the other hand, you can still end up with some great grooving and interaction with duff notes along the way- schoolboy errors, as it were. I've done this when the band leaders asks 'do you know such and such?'. As I reply 'no' he's already starting it, shouting 'ah, it's fine, you'll pick it up!'.
[/quote]
The difference there though, is that in those moments you have to listen to what's going on and you're not focusing on yourself as much as focusing on the music as a whole and are hopefully using the knowledge of harmony and ear training that you have gained in the practice room. The reason you can still groove is because you are listening and reacting, not consciously thinking about your own playing.

[Merton]

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1407428111' post='2520472']
As far as I'm concerned this basically comes down to one thing....Practice.
If you are thinking and worrying about what to play next,while playing music that you regularly play, then you probably
don't know the material well enough. Likewise, if you've learnt a cool lick or line and you try to force it into a song, chances are
you haven't practiced it enough because if you had it would become a part of your playing without having to think about it
and force it. Minds wander and mistakes happen but when they do, you know what you need to practice.
This brings me to another point....If you're thinking about your own playing, you're not listening. If you're not listening, you
probably aren't grooving. When you're on the bandstand you should be listening and reacting to the music and the other
musicians. Leave the conscious thinking in the practice room
[/quote]

Spot on. I know I don't practice enough and that's precisely why I sometimes overthink things and they don't come off. Whenever I'm just letting the music flow and grooving with the band without trying anything extra-clever it is all grand

Basically I need to practice more, something I am now able to address after many years of excuses why I can't!

[discreet]

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1407428111' post='2520472']
If you are thinking and worrying about what to play next,while playing music that you regularly play, then you probably don't know the material well enough.
[/quote]

Yes. I forget who said it, but 'amateurs practise until they get it right; professionals practise until they can't get it wrong'.

I practise A LOT. So when inevitably I have a 'hunh?' moment I just let it go and trust my muscle memory.

Edited August 7, 2014 by discreet

[Lozz196]

Only happened to me once, last year when I was suffering with stress & depression. My mind was in such a state I couldn`t - or at least thought I couldn`t - remember what key choruses etc were in, on songs I`ve been playing since 1980. Luckily when it got there, I went to the right notes automatically, but it was just a sign of racing thoughts which is a symptom of what I was going through.

[Roger2611]

I agree with much of the above, once I am going I just know what is coming next so I rarely make mistakes during the song, what still drives me potty is looking at the next song on the set list and thinking yeah that starts in C well G...no definitely C or is it G at which point muscle memory takes over and my fingers start the song in D where it has always been...doh!

[deepbass5]

Playing songs in different keys in too many bands can have its down side. I play the intro into Sweet Caroline and the guitarist joins me on the second phrase but the other week I was a tone out. (wrong band ) The art is to switch back while they still think its them.

[r16ktx]

[quote name='deepbass5' timestamp='1407441779' post='2520660']
Playing songs in different keys in too many bands can have its down side. I play the intro into Sweet Caroline and the guitarist joins me on the second phrase but the other week I was a tone out. (wrong band ) The art is to switch back while they still think its them.
[/quote]
+1
Staring at them suspiciously helps too :-)

[BILL POSTERS]

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1407416876' post='2520276']
I play with a drummer who has this problem more than many. .....

He could be so much the better player if he'd just shut the hell up in his own head,
[/quote]

I think thats the hard part for a lot of people though, isnt it ?
Some people cant switch off and let it flow.

Edited August 8, 2014 by BILL POSTERS

[Bilbo]

Any playing is a mixture of instinct, practice, thinking, intuition, spontaneity, rehearsal, improvisation etc. It is all of these things and much more. You prepare as much as you can but not over prepare. You practice everything but sometimes play new stuff on the gig. You improvise on tunes you know easily but struggle when someone calls a tune you are less familiar with. You know Jazz inside out but struggle with Latin grooves. YOu are instinctine with reggae but have to think harder when playing ska. Its a dynamic process and that is what makes it all so wonderful.

[BILL POSTERS]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1407489660' post='2520985']
Any playing is a mixture of instinct, practice, thinking, intuition, spontaneity, rehearsal, improvisation etc. It is all of these things and much more. You prepare as much as you can but not over prepare. You practice everything but sometimes play new stuff on the gig. You improvise on tunes you know easily but struggle when someone calls a tune you are less familiar with. You know Jazz inside out but struggle with Latin grooves. YOu are instinctine with reggae but have to think harder when playing ska. Its a dynamic process and that is what makes it all so wonderful.
[/quote]

Yep. But you missed out the natural feel some have naturally, and some just dont get

[casapete]

I play with a drummer who has this problem more than many. Perhaps it's a confidence thing, perhaps it's because he's an intense worry-wart, and I think he also watches too many drumming technique videos instead of just paying attention to the flow and groove of music. Anyway, you can just hear him [i]thinking[/i] in the way he plays. I keep telling him to chill and let it flow, but it's like he's forcing the drum parts into being, beat by beat, and then trying to chuck in some 'triplets over a half-time quarter note feel' in a fill when a simple 'bip-bap-crash' would do. Always bloody thinking, and it drives me nuts sometimes. He could be so much the better player if he'd just shut the hell up in his own head, and [i]let[/i] it happen, instead to trying to [i]make[/i] it happen.

This ^^ is so true!

[inthedoghouse]

[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1407411134' post='2520183']



I make a concerted effort not to think ahead but to concentrate on the moment. Fail miserably sometimes though and that tends to be on the simple ones, that I've played countless times before, suddenly realising that I'm thinking about something that has nowt to do with the song and then mentally scrambling about and trying to get back on track.
[/quote]

+1