Getting worse the more you practice

mellowsun

Is this just me or is this a common phenomenon? I'm currently working on a Piazzolla piece (Verano Porteño) and the first few times I was playing it through haltingly but recognisably. Now I've started breaking it down slowly but I swear I am getting worse the more effort I put in!

Because I have been working in small chunks, I can play some individual 2 bar phrases OK, but when I try to play them in sequence it all goes to pot.

And now the knock on effect is that my playing on other pieces has gone downhill too. Stuff I could play well a few months ago are now a mess. My rasguedo was going well but now I can't do it at all. It's like my right hand is completely seizing up!

octatonic

You have accelerated the tempo too quickly- it is a common problem.
Slow down for a week and then start to ramp it up at 5-10bpm a week.

mellowsun

octatonic said:

You have accelerated the tempo too quickly- it is a common problem.
Slow down for a week and then start to ramp it up at 5-10bpm a week.

Thanks, yeah, I have a tendency to do that, impatience!

unlearn I need to

octatonic

mellowsun said:

octatonic said:

You have accelerated the tempo too quickly- it is a common problem.
Slow down for a week and then start to ramp it up at 5-10bpm a week.

Thanks, yeah, I have a tendency to do that, impatience!

unlearn I need to

It isn't a natural thing to do, but it is a necessary one.

Rocker

There is a much stated fallacy in Golf that "the more I practice, the luckier I get".  Total BS.  What happens is that you start thinking about the individual actions that happen automatically when you swing a golf club at a ball.  So in concentrating on the minutiae of hitting the ball, you lose sight of the purpose of playing the game of golf.  Magazine articles can make you believe that if you do everything 'right'. you will play golf better.  The actual result is paralysis by analysis.  You might as well pack up and drive home.

IMHO guitar is no different.  If you must play a piece 100% accurately, for a show or similar, then get the sheet music for the piece.  Otherwise think of the overall desired result which might well be that 'close enough'  is good enough.  Always ask yourself why do you play guitar.  If it is for enjoyment combined with a degree of challenge, enjoy your playing.  Try not to get bogged down attempting to nail some piece.  If playing it is a struggle, the audience will sense your discomfort.  So nobody will enjoy listening to you playing it.  Being reasonably good and enjoying playing beats being very good and losing whatever the musical message of the piece is.

GuyBoden

The mechanics of moving the fingers can get too far ahead of the actual ability to hear the music, you need to practice the ability to hear the music in your mind and play it simultaneously, singing the music without the guitar helps enormously. Listen intently to the music either in your mind or on recordings.

Many guitarists can move their fingers fast, but few have well trained ears and hear exactly what they play. 

Sporky

My cello teacher once suggested a Rubik's cube analogy for learning. You start off getting one side of it right. Then you start on the next side, but to get that right you have to mess up the first side. As you learn more complex skills you need to also keep working on the basics or sommat. Made sense at the time.

stratman3142

Sporky said:

My cello teacher once suggested a Rubik's cube analogy for learning. You start off getting one side of it right. Then you start on the next side, but to get that right you have to mess up the first side. As you learn more complex skills you need to also keep working on the basics or sommat. Made sense at the time.

I like that.

For me, progress sometimes feels like two steps forwards then one step back. Occasionally, when I start to think about the finer details of something I'm working on, it seems to get worse. But then I get through it and ultimately it leads to a more robust (i.e. less error prone) technique.

mburekenge

So frustrating isnt it? Been there pa million times. Have you tried recording and videoing yourself?

Although it is a bit painfull, i find it has a two fold advantage 

1) you can spot visually/audibly where you are cocking up

2) you may find that in actuality, you are improving... but you are more aware of how much further you have to go.

bingefeller

You can post a video of yourself playing it somewhere and see if anyone can give you pointers?  

mellowsun

bingefeller said:

You can post a video of yourself playing it somewhere and see if anyone can give you pointers?  

Thanks, I will try to do this soon.

clarkefan

Sometimes you miss simple but critical things.  With me it's rhythm. Trying too hard to play Shaft with a wah, or the tapping bit of Eruption, I could not get this stuff "right".

It dawned on me after bloody ages (should have taped myself) I was playing the right stuff, in the right tempo, but not with the correct "swing"/rhythm/whatever it's called.

So back to the couch and slowed the xxxk down.  It's already a lot better.

mike_l

I've said it before, I'll no doubt say it again, start and finish every practise session with something you can play without error, this way you're subliminally saying "I CAN do this", start high, finish high, the bit in the middle improves an amount each time.