Bad Day

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Bad Day

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Niklas

Posts: 96
Joined: Aug. 27 2005
From: Finland (Living in Dublin)

Bad Day

I'm having an exceptionally bad day at the moment. Well...acctually the last two days have been terrible when it comes to my playing.

Yesterday my whole right hand felt very "numb". I could not "feel" the strings like i usually do. My arpeggios were not accurate, my rasgueados were inconsistant and i'm not even going to mention my thumb or my picados. After a half hour of desperate playing i set up my left hand in to the ugliest diminished chord i could find and strummed the guitar as hard as i could (later i almost felt sorry for the guitar...)
Today was the same thing. I just could not get any feeling to my playing. It didn't feel.... round... it was a constant strugle to produce a half decent sound.
I guess i'm not the only one who this has happened to. So what do you usually do when this happens? Just take a break and come back later, or stick to the playing and realy think about every note you play and try to overcome it?

Thanks for any help. I really feel kinda messed up at the moment.

Niklas

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 8 2006 15:25:09

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: Bad Day (in reply to Niklas)

Yeah Niklas,
That happens to me every time I pick up the guitar..

Most of the time I sort of "thaw out" after an hour of so.
Other times just everything I do feels awkward and has an ugly sound.
I don't know what causes it?
I just leave it until I'm more in the mood.
Also I think your ear tends to become more educated than your hands and stuff you thought sounded good last week, now sounds crap.

Don't worry about it too much, I'm sure your enthusiasm will return.

cheers

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 8 2006 16:23:26

Gecko

Posts: 218
Joined: Jan. 2 2006
From: New Mexico

RE: Bad Day (in reply to Niklas)

I usually try to sober up and dry out for a day or two.

Seriously, like Ron I don't play for a day or so. This seems to regenerate my interest, but more importantly it regenerates my concentration as well.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 8 2006 20:11:42

Francisco

Posts: 879
Joined: Jun. 13 2005
From: SW USA

RE: Bad Day (in reply to Niklas)

I usually just buy a new set of strings, take my time about changing them as well as tuning the guitar so that it takes most of the day. Then the next day I just start again allthewhile believing it was just the strings.

If that doesn't work, I place my guitar next to my piano, and practice my piano for a while. During this practice session, I praise my piano endlessly for sounding so good while occasionally glaring at my guitar.

If the previous two suggestions don't work, then I just start a new piece. The begining of which is usually a slow process anyway, it masks the fact that my playing sucks at the moment. In fact, all of this is an attempt to keep me from thinking my playing sucks. It's a mind trick, but if you start to think your playing sucks, you might find yourself in the middle of a self fulfilling prophecy. Not that you think this way, but it's a constant battle for me to not think this way.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 8 2006 21:42:31

Miguel de Maria

Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ

RE: Bad Day (in reply to Niklas)

I think it's very important not to get emotionally caught up in the inevitable highs and lows of learning the instrument. I don't know anyone who says their learning progress could be described as a long and steady climb. In any case, most people do hit plateaus and even backtrack. I know I sure have!

I have found it easier to handle in my singing, because I don't have that much invested in it. On the days I can't hit the notes, I just say oh well, and do something else. Probably that would be a good idea with guitar. Maybe work on theory or ear training or something that doesn't rely on motor skills.

I tend to get frustrated on "bad picado days" and dig in and really grind, with the result of overworking my hands!

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 8 2006 22:51:04

Jon Boyes

Posts: 1377
Joined: Jul. 10 2003

RE: Bad Day (in reply to Niklas)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Niklas
I guess i'm not the only one who this has happened to. So what do you usually do when this happens? Just take a break and come back later, or stick to the playing and realy think about every note you play and try to overcome it?

Happens to us all Niklas. In terms of practice/playing for enjoyment, when this happens I usually recognise it for what it is and do something else instead. I find trying 'overcome' it leads to exactly the sort of frustration you describe and gets me nowhere. Every minute you spend with the guitar counts, so just one hour of 'bad practice' when you can't get it to work means you have just spent an hour teaching yourself to play that way. Don't fight it IMO. If you really want to use the time to improve your flamenco do something else - listen, go and transcribe something, work on your theory, whatever.

What's really tough is when this happens and you have a gig (right Mike?). In this case you have no choice and its a real slog.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 9 2006 8:46:27

Niklas

Posts: 96
Joined: Aug. 27 2005
From: Finland (Living in Dublin)

RE: Bad Day (in reply to Niklas)

Thanks for the help guys

.

I picked up the guitar later that evening still and it felt a little better. Today i have a lesson and i guess it will fine after that.
I just need to practise alot these days. I got a zapateado i need to work on since i'm going to try and get in to a music school here (not sure what school "level" it would be in the other parts of the world but here in Finland we call it "lukio"). I need to be able to play it well in the auditions which are just over a month from now...

Thanks again!

Niklas

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 9 2006 12:08:36

mkhn

Posts: 37
Joined: Mar. 2 2006

RE: Bad Day (in reply to Niklas)

Ive just been playing a short time. My teacher who is 81 and started when he was 7 says that my 7months is equivalent to about 3/4s of a day ;). I agree with him, but I practice everyday that I can and take this learning very seriously all for personal enjoyment and just trying to attain that sense of control when I pick up the guitar.

This morning I had one of those mornings, where my fingers were tripping over the strings on songs that I have played quite well. Songs that my teacher says I am pretty darn good at. Not sure what causes this. Im the type of person that cant get over things like this easily. I will beat myself over this and force myself to play extra slow to get it just right, but who wants to play out of time? You end up just being frustrated and this is suppose to be enjoyable so I tend to walk away for awhile and just come back with an open mind that this is a journey and with the lows comes those highs that can only come from that struggle. Its definitely a love-hate thing for me, but definitely much more love than hate.

Im glad to hear I'm not alone in those times.

Thanks all.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 9 2006 20:57:13