Bad practice days

Playing Technique
#1

Hey!

I’m practicing double escape motion three notes per string and I had a question:

Yesterday when I was practicing I had no problem getting to a high bpm while playing it clean without mistakes, but today I couldn’t even come close to that (around ten - twenty bpm less), and I played very sloppy (pick hitting the string an extra time when descending, B - G string etc.). I was wondering why sometimes practicing goes really well, and sometimes the opposite. Sometimes it stays this sloppy for a few days before it gets better again, but sometimes the day after it’s all normal again. This is not the first time it happened. I practice it everyday for about thirty to sixty minutes, should it be more?

Thanks!

#2

I feel ya, it’s the same for me sometimes. Actually I hit one of those days today. Last couple of weeks every day was flawless and fast but today it just feels rusty as hell. I remember someone else here mentioning the same phenomenon, maybe it’s just how our brains process and learn those motor functions but likely someone has a more precise answer than me. But yeah, you’re certainly not alone with this.

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#3

Welcome to motor learning. Its frustrating, but it is normal. Try to see your practice time as a long term game, not a day to day one. In the long term, like over the course of weeks or months, you want to see your gains trend upwards, but don’t get hung up on consistency from day to day especially when developing new abilities.

4 Likes
#4

Was your warmup the same both days? You could try having a strict warmup regiment (play the same songs and/or licks over a set period of time) before jumping into your dbx practice in order to rule out warmup routine as the culprit.

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#5

Thanks for the info, and good to know that I’m not the only one facing this problem:) yeah I think so, I think tiredness also has impact on someone’s playing capabilities haha

#6

Thanks for the info:) as far as I know and feel, my skills were better then a month ago, so that should be a good sign haha!

#7

Hey! No, my warmups are almost always different from day to day. I’ll start doing that haha, thanks!

#8

Definitely the case for me, yes. That’s why I’m always impressed with touring musicians who perform day in day out with jetlag, sleep deficit and whatnot.

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#9

Hi Max,

I see that you are a MIM subscriber, so I’d recommend that you open a Technique Critique on the platform - have a look at all the details here

It is usually very hard if not impossible to guess what the issue may be without some good quality video to analyze!

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#10

I never throw “time” at a problem. The amount of time is irrelevant. Sometimes you get something right away if you do it right. So I always look at motions. If they are not correct, I change the form or technique and try again. Repeating things for reps or adding more minutes without changing the technique in some way doesn’t do anything.

As @tommo suggests, definitely make a TC and we’ll take a look!

Edit: Sorry, I see that you did make one - responding to it now.

4 Likes
#11

Thanks! I’ll do that:) I’m not home right now so I’ll do it as soon as I get back!

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#12

Thanks for taking the time and explaining:) haha no problem, thanks! I do have to say that everything described on the platform really helps understanding everything:)

I did ‘change’ my dbx technique since the whole ergonomic mouse aspect was not visible when playing haha. It does feel a lot better now, still new, but better

1 Like
#13

Ah, you seem to like metronomes! If so, you might enjoy this free book, it includes details on how to practice:

#14

What have you changed now? Focusing more on making that ergonomic mouse movement? That’s still also RDT, right?