a bad practice session

[DaveGinNJ]

What do you do when you have a bad practice session? This is where its not coming together, you feel off, and you aren't playing well. Do you try to press on or pack in in and try again tomorrow?

[yankees1]

Same as a MLB player who has a bad day ! Suck it up and start again tomorrow ! Part of learning !

[Bob Clark]

Hi Dave,

I try not to end it on a low note (pun intended) but instead admit to myself that it is going badly, think of a song I know, enjoy and play well, and play that just for the fun of it. Rather than continue to have a bad practice session, I turn it into a relaxing playing session. Sometimes your mind or body is telling you that you are just not up to working at that moment. Play instead. It is called 'playing' for a reason.

BTW, where in NJ are you? I am in Salem County.

[Paul Busman]

I call it quits. Otherwise, all I'm doing is practicing my mistakes.

[Simon DS]

Talk about MLB! I agree, but it's hard to stop when you're actually there at the match, playing. The fans don't like that.

I used to do a lot of hangliding and one day, with a crowd of friends sitting on a small hill below me, I VERY nearly crashed into this huge cliff.
That was a bad day.
Friends were very happy to see the aerobatics, 'let's see that again'! I packed up the glider and thought, I'm DEFINITELY not flying again. No, no, never.
The following morning my wife kicks me out of bed and says, 'go on, you'll only be miserable if you stop'
That day was one of the happiest flights I've ever had, not spectacular or anything, just the happiest.

Same goes with mandolin.

[Charlie Bernstein]

What do you do when you have a bad practice session? This is where its not coming together, you feel off, and you aren't playing well. Do you try to press on or pack in in and try again tomorrow?

It depends, first, on whether I'm practicing by myself or with someone else. If I'm practicing alone, how bad could it be?

If I'm practicing with others, it depends, second, one whether it's just a slow day or something's wrong. If it's just a slow day, then so what?

If something's wrong, it depends, third, on whether it's the music or the people. If it's the music, talking about it will help identify the problem and come up with a solution, e.g. the clarinetist doesn't know the songs well enough, so the clarinetist needs to put more time into the them.

If it's the people, it depends, fourth, on whether someone is having a bad day or whether there's a deeper problem. If someone is just having a bad day, it's like Tara: Tomorrow is another.

If it's a deeper problem, it depends, fifth, on whether you can identify what it is. If you can, you can decide how to deal with it: live with it, quit, fire someone, add someone, table it for later, or forget about it.

If you can't, it depends, sixth, on how well you can live with ambiguity. If you can, do.

If you can't, it depends, seventh, on why you're making music with these people in the first place. Do you have to or not? If you do, soldier on.

If you don't, it depends, eighth, on what you want. If you want to stay, stay. If you don't don't.

[MikeZito]

Practice sessions are just like live gigs - sometimes I play like I am suddenly channeling Dave Apollon through may hands, (okay, so I am being given to massive amounts of hyperbole with that comparison, but you get the idea), while at other times you wish that you could crawl into hole and disappear for a while; (that example is literal).

In short - just take it in stride. You KNOW that you are better than that bad session - simply give yourself some sort of break and get back on the horse.

[Bob Buckingham]

All of the above is good advice. You probably are not properly centered in the task at hand. I know this happens to me sometimes. I read the notes or tab and the sound is not what I was expecting to hear or I try to play and the instrument does not sound right or the pick is all wrong or the sun is not where should be in the sky. Let it go. Figure out what is going on if you can or just let go and come back to it later. Life has a way of getting in the way sometimes. I really love those times when it all comes together. We endure the times it doesn't.

[DaveGinNJ]

Hi Dave,

I try not to end it on a low note (pun intended) but instead admit to myself that it is going badly, think of a song I know, enjoy and play well, and play that just for the fun of it. Rather than continue to have a bad practice session, I turn it into a relaxing playing session. Sometimes your mind or body is telling you that you are just not up to working at that moment. Play instead. It is called 'playing' for a reason.

BTW, where in NJ are you? I am in Salem County.

Bob, I'm in Burlington Co, maybe 12 or so miles east of Philly

[UsuallyPickin]

Well …. I often change instruments , down shift on the tempo and play some old favorites for fun. Learning new music has gotten more difficult as my memory banks have filled. I find it humorous that with my experience and slow down tech it is much easier to find / figure out "things". But then harder to put "it" all together. < sigh. The frustration that brings with it can make a practice session less than pleasant if I dwell on it... Then there are those days, few thankfully, when it feels like my instruments are total strangers. When that happens I put them back in their cases and read for a bit or do some chore I have been avoiding and try again a few hours later. R/

[Astro]

quit critiquing.
just play stupid.
just play, stupid.

[Drew Egerton]

Talk about MLB! I agree, but it's hard to stop when you're actually there at the match, playing. The fans don't like that.

I used to do a lot of hangliding and one day, with a crowd of friends sitting on a small hill below me, I VERY nearly crashed into this huge cliff.
That was a bad day.
Friends were very happy to see the aerobatics, 'let's see that again'! I packed up the glider and thought, I'm DEFINITELY not flying again. No, no, never.
The following morning my wife kicks me out of bed and says, 'go on, you'll only be miserable if you stop'
That day was one of the happiest flights I've ever had, not spectacular or anything, just the happiest.

Same goes with mandolin.

I've had some similar situations with flying hot air balloons. Make a dumb decision or have some bad luck and feel like putting it away and selling it all. Then force myself to go out again and have a great time.

On mandolin I would say it also depends on what your purpose is. Are you just playing for fun or do you have a gig coming up? If it's just general playing for enjoyment I'll sit it down and walk away a while. If it's a gig you might need to tough it out! But try something like Amazing Slowdowner to alter the tempo for practice until you get it back under your fingers.

[pops1]

First of all EVERYONE has bad days. Pros have bad days and some of them performing. You know you aren't playing up to par, most others won't notice. If you play live you have to play thru your bad day and as I said most won't notice, you can play and they can't so you are already ahead of the game for them. When the whole band has a bad day on the same day then people notice. Stop take a deep breath relax for a minute and play on. No one is 100% all the time.

[FLATROCK HILL]

I used to do a lot of hangliding and one day, with a crowd of friends sitting on a small hill below me, I VERY nearly crashed into this huge cliff.

On mandolin I would say it also depends on what your purpose is. Are you just playing for fun or do you have a gig coming up? If it's just general playing for enjoyment I'll sit it down and walk away a while. If it's a gig you might need to tough it out! But try something like Amazing Slowdowner to alter the tempo for practice until you get it back under your fingers.

I've done enough hang-gliding to know that a downwind turn back toward the hill will make you wish you had an Amazing Slowdowner.

[Markus]

If I feel off and my playing is too - I always take a moment to consider if it's something weighing on my mind, if I need a snack [or had too much coffee], and even consider just taking a few minutes to step out on my deck and just take a minute to fully relax. Sometimes there's more mental work to get fully focused on practice or a gig.

When I have a gig and don't feel up to the challenging material, we put a couple easier songs into their place and just roll with it. For practice, that's not a bad idea, though I generally try to figure out what I'm struggling with and either focus on it or go the opposite way.

If I'm playing sloppy instrumentals and leads, then it might be a good day to work on chord backup or singing/playing. Try some scale/arpeggio or right hand exercises or slow playing where you are focusing solely on tone.

Sometimes those days when it's frustrating are actually more productive than you think. I know I was really frustrated with my playing for a period when taking lessons - it felt like every day I was just practicing crap very carefully. Yet hindsight showed that to be a period of really good growth where I finally sorted out most of my right hand problems.

As I've just moved from a wide nut mandolin I played for 9 years to a standard width instrument that's new to me, I've got a lot of frustrating work getting my right hand used to this mandolin. Time to go every single right hand exercise, slowly and carefully, for the second time in order to get my picking motions optimized for this string spacing [and the new gears the newer nicer mandolin has].

[Bill McCall]

If it’s ‘practice’ and not ‘rehearsal’, I choose a different exercise and change focus, including slowing down and listening ‘better’ without trying to fix anything, ie, relax.

Different goal, different outcome,less goal driven.

[Br1ck]

Just call your worst day good and move up to great, fantastic, incredible, then stupendous. Then you never have a bad day.

[LadysSolo]

If I'm working on classical or picking, and it's not coming together when I'm working on something new, I'll go back to something I play well, and try to end on a good note. If I can't get my fingers to find the notes at all, I'll play some folk songs (chords) and sing along for awhile and quit. I feel like there is no point in working when my fingers aren't cooperating. And then the next time I have time to practice, it usually all works better.

[John Bertotti]

I don't play in a band but when I practice and it all goes poorly I back up a bit and tackle something I can do with a bit of effort and stop on the positive that I was able to do that and go back to what was tripping me up the next day.

[CES]

I typically try to power through, refocus, shift what I’m working on, or shift to songs I have stone cold. Sometimes, none of that works, and I’m getting better at just calling it a day. But, I keep coming back to it the next day. As Pops1 said, everyone has those days. I remember one day in church where I felt like I just didn’t have it. We played a song we know very well, and I flubbed a couple of lead guitar parts that are the hook of the song and that I’ve played many times before very well. I was packing up afterwards, not in a very good mood because of my poor showing, and I swear I got more compliments on my playing that day than probably any other. And it was genuine, not “let’s be nice and give him a pep talk” stuff. I actually apologized to the band, and I guess I recovered reasonably well, because they truly hadn’t noticed. I still went home and played it about 10 more times before our evening service, but Pops1 is correct. Most people who don’t play really don’t notice the flubs unless they’re glaring or the whole band is off.

[Dagger Gordon]

If you're practising on your own, particularly if you are trying to learn a new piece, it may well be that you have other things on your mind and you are not fully engaging. Either go and deal with what's on your mind or play something that doesn't need quite so much concentration, and perhaps after a while you might find you're more into it and things go better.

If it's a practise involving other people, then I think everyone has to make a bit more effort, particularly if anyone has travelled or gone to some some trouble to get there. We once had a band which practised weekly. One guy could read the music we were working on but he never progressed beyond that to actually learn any new tunes, so he wouldn't be any further on when we gathered the following week. Eventually his position wasn't sustainable and he left.

I think it's quite important to play a little bit every day if possible, just to keep your playing up. I don't think of that as practise really, but hopefully it will mean you won't have so many 'bad' practises. If you enjoy playing, then practising should be a pleasurable thing. If it's not, there may be other underlying issues.

[Eric Platt]

Am like most of the others - will try to play something I know and then just put it away for the night. Maybe concentrate on a different instrument. Or just pick up a book and read.

Even had it happen tonight. Just was poor on mandolin. Thankfully was playing other instruments earlier today so it wasn't a total waste.

[DaveGinNJ]

Lots of good advice here. I was concerned that continuing to practice would just reinforce mistakes. I like the idea of ending the practice and just playing for fun.

[JeffD]

I am think maybe we get as much pushing through a bad day practicing as a good. We learn patience, we learn what is difficult or awkward, we learn what might have to change, or the inevitable results of practicing the wrong thing, or too in frequently.

I think even at the end of a bad practice, we are ahead, we have progressed, and while it doesn't feel like it, we are allowed to feel some pride at least that we did not let ourselves down, we pushed through it.

[pops1]

Pushing thru a bad practice is no different than playing thru a bad gig. You can't quit and go home just because you are having a bad day. Playing thru a bad day is it's own kind of practice that everyone will have to deal with eventually.