Auto Pilot

[Zed]

I find myself quite unhappy with my playing these days and have been trying to identify exactly why. I've come to realize my biggest problem is playing on what i'll call "auto pilot". By that i mean allowing the hands to unthinkigly play patterns and sequences they've learned, with little if any thought given to creating a cohesive, intentional phrase. Sometimes this is ok... some pretty cool lines can be spewed out at times.

Now, these patterns and sequences are in key and in time and make good musical sense (based on scales and chord changes). You can turn your hands loose any time at all and put out a pretty good sounding result. I've been doing this on all instruments i play for years and it works quite well.

But.... i really believe that in order to play more meaningful phrases and build them into meaningful breaks... and basically play with more intent and presence, you have to play more from your heart... more from what you "hear" in your head. #The trick is getting that to your hands and expressed thru your hands.

Playing on auto pilot might work but it's output soon gets pretty stale and hasn't much heart or life. It also results in some flubbed notes and generally lacks direction.

Anyone else relate to this... or am i just totally insane? If you've been here and have found a way out i'd sure like to hear about it. Or if you're here and thinking about working on it, i'd love to hear about that, too.

[JiminRussia]

No, you are not insane. Playing on autopilot is probably one of the first steps in becoming a good mando player. I am just arriving at that point with a some of the songs that I know. I look forward to the time when I can listen closely to what I am playing without concentrating on what my fingers are doing and then think ahead a little bit. I suspect that this is the point where I will become able to inprovise spontaneously.

[Jasper]

I have the same issue when trying to play slides or double stops where I haven't before...I really have to slow down and think about what I am doing. The music quality is probably more interesting, but it's just too slow. Unfortunately, I am not a natural at this and probably have to practice twice as much to be half as good. But I do enjoy the instrument so!

[Zed]

I guess what i'm most after is a better connection from what i hear in muh head to muh hands. The age old quest, it would seem. I just so often let my fingers do the leading by default without paying much attention to what i might hear in my head at that moment. And that might produce some neat stuff sometimes but overall lacks cohesivness and intent.

Stringing notes together from scales and/or arpeggios is a great improv tool... but like i said, i want to play more deliberately than that.

[Pete Martin]

Practice singing as you play. Do it very slowly at first. Learn to play what you sing. Practice this every practice session.

You'll like the results. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[solerydr]

I dont know if this would help or if Im even missing the point,but my band records a lot of demos. I usually listen back for the phrases that I like,and try to mix them in with improve. I think that keeps me fresh but consistent. Or at least in my own mind it does. We however only do a handful of shows per month.

[Zed]

Practice singing as you play. #Do it very slowly at first. #Learn to play what you sing. #Practice this every practice session.

You'll like the results. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
By golly, Pete... I've set out to work on this several times and always end up nowhere with it. What happens is that i end up singing what my fingers are playing, not playing what my voice is singing! Which very clearly shows my problem... being led by my fingers.

But, i do think this may hold the key to breaking that habit. I need to stick with it longer until i see some results.

Thanks....

[duuuude]

... but like i said, i want to play more deliberately than that.
Yeah, "deliberate" notes and playing is a good way to look at it, I've been working on just that lately, it seems that once ya learn how to throw all them notes in then ya gotta go back and learn which ones to take out. But alot of it has to do with how ya want the tune to flow.

[Ken]

I do a lot of autopilot playing also. On one hand it's fun and somethimes amazing what comes out, but on a bad day it's stale or really flubbed. After years of backporch playing I've just started to be able to think some things out before hand and to take some of the more interesting accidental playing and build on it. It's a whole new world.
Ken.

[Zed]

it seems that once ya learn how to throw all them notes in then ya gotta go back and learn which ones to take out.
Well said, duuuude. I've heard that many times, that at some point learning what not to play is what becomes important. Space is as important, or more important many times, than the notes.

[Zed]

I do a lot of autopilot playing also. #On one hand it's fun and somethimes amazing what comes out, but on a bad day it's stale or really flubbed.
That's exactly where i'm at, Ken. When it's good it can be really good, but when it's bad, ack. If i can't get into that certain zone where things really click, then it's no good. And i'm finding that playing live in front of people makes it very difficult to get into that zone. I can do it pretty often here practicing, but get out on stage and the brain cells and hands go south. I need something much more controlled.. controllable... than that.