How to achieve consistency in musical performance?

General Music Discussion
#41

Hmmm these Nathan Cole videos are pretty good. Check this out:

He’s talking about a high degree of repetition of playing things correctly. And that makes sense! If you play something over and over again and constantly muck it up, is it ever going to be good? Or maybe it’s slop 20 times and then you get a good one and say “ah, finally!”, then it’s onto something else lol! He’s finding ways to play successfully, even if he has to do what he refers to as “change the rules” in order to get this success. Then he repeats these successes over and over again until he loses focus. I can’t say I’ve tried that often, and it sounds like his bedrock.

#42

There’s not a default. Whichever technique we have to use for a lesson. I can do wrist-forearm motion like Doug Aldrich, but it feels basically the same to me as a more Gypsy form where you flex the wrist and have an air gap. The arm position is slightly different but the skill feels the same. I can do various wrist motions. I have spent the most time using the Andy Wood / Di Meola style, but I can also do the Molly Tuttle form with the thumb anchor, and also the EVH / Albert Lee form with the supinated arm position and the three-finger grip. They all they feel the same to me. I wouldn’t make a big deal out of thinking of them as different techniques, because if you can do any of them, I think you can probably do all of them.

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#43

I can absolutely relate to this.
Achieving consistency and especially cleaning up performances consistently, once you’ve got in the ballpark, is something I’ve been struggling with forever. Honestly, I don’t think there’s a solution.
I’ve come to think that this is what really separates the true virtuosos from normal people - executing the toughest techniques at a high level consistently, and at will, or at least without the need for a 1000 takes.
I believe it takes some inherent focus or some other quality that I can’t quite put my finger on.
The good news is the bar of what can be done consistently can be raised, but for me it feels like only up to an individual limit.

My solution ? be realistic on what can be achieved with the limited time I have, and not get too hung up on what I can’t achieve with reasonable effort. Sometimes I will try to mess around with the really difficult stuff with occasional breakthroughs, but I don’t get too invested and set my expectations accordingly.
The upside - I have more fun with things I can actually do!

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#44

Are you guys having issues with your own stuff? Or other peoples?
I can play my own stuff well everytime as it’s literally all my own comfortable movements that feel right for me.

But playing other peoples can be a pain in the ass, as I’m not them mentally or physically.
Paul gilbert himself even struggled with eddies music as they both are very different people.

(obviously he’s flying through that, but it’s very Paul and not Eddie)

I think that consistency issues really are just us trying to get something too perfect.

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#45

I struggle with everything :joy:

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#46

Lol, though I’m sure you have an easy time just being you.

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#47

I find accepting what you can currently do is the way to express yourself and flow.

I feel this might be to dudeish lol, but I am expressing an honest thought (dispite being drunk n high, right now) and thats how you get consistently, you let go of the small details and you go with the flow.
I struggle a lot with this too regularly if I’m trying to be something I’m not. If I do it my way it works. Just like Paul gilbert did in that vid.

#48

Both!

Although I agree with this (the perfect getting in the way of the good, I’m talking about where you’re playing completely melts down for no apparent reason, not just a few flubbed notes here in there.

I have managed to calm down from my earlier ranty posts… I spent last night meditating on all the issues with my playing and trying to see the positive side of things. I think there are a few key areas that suffer this inconsistency issue and I’m either focussing too much or too little at any given point. I’m gonna hatch a plan tonight…

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#49

Just thought of this again, and I think an issue could be — counterintuitively — over-practice!

Disclaimer: this is not scientific, just plausible based on my own personal experience.

Sometimes, if I practice something too much in the same day it may improve initially but then it can start getting worse as you keep hammering on it. Similarly, very often my best recordings happen in the first handful of takes of the session, and after that they start deteriorating in quality.

Perhaps we should be more conscious when this starts happening and stop immediately. It may be beneficial to go back to “the thing in question” later in the day or even better the next day.

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#50

I’ve found over practice a limit too, I think you can focus on something so much that you acually create a pit, or dip where you get stuck. I have never in my life focused on a phrase verbally as much as I have a guitar line.

I would imagine if you practice saying something to much, it also loses that loose flow, it comes across as practiced and fake.

#51

Probably too much foucus, in my experience.
Our conscious focus is slower than our automatic reactions. (unless you’re on something)
Every unbelievable preformance I’ve seen, the person is just being theirself, thats part of the enjoyment, someone just enjoying themself and expressing themselves. And it has a subconscious flow to it. Just like talking, everytime we rant we rarely think about what we’re acually saying it comes from the subconscious and we just rant.

#52

I’m not sure why I didn’t think of this, but back when I was doing studio work, as an engineer not guitarist, for the most part, musicians first few takes were often the best. Even the most straightforward of things seemed to become harder the more we did it.

#53

I don’t seem to experience this that I know of (as in it slowly getting worse) technique wise, mine is more like it either works on some level or is the musical equivalent of faceplanting. If its working on some level, it generally improves for that session and stays at whatever level it gets to. However, learning/memorizing parts/songs is where I definitely hit a wall!

There is extra pressure in that situation - often a time one. Still a valid observation though.

Lol he was dudeish! It has some good points that apply to live playing (where one could see a performance as a ‘test’ to be anxious of, but I wasn’t sure how it matched with my experience playing at home. Do people get anxious playing at home? It never crossed my mind, but now I think of it, can excitement to play create similar issues that anxiety does? My instinct is that excitement is a positive view of the immediate future which would be a good thing to get you into the flow, but is still an expectation (preoccupation???)… does that make any sense?

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#54

I think the more you focus on something the more you get anxious of it.
Creates a sticking point. Gravity is just foused matter right? Essentially :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

#55

So is specifically the memorization of material that’s tripping you up, or more inconsistent playing ability in the technical department?

#56

Memorization of parts and pieces has always been something I struggle with, but I’m mainly talking about inconsistent playing abilities in this thread.

#57

For inconsistent playing, describe the feeling. do you feel like it’s an inconsistent pick grip, the way you are hitting the strings? Too much movement and force? Fatigue in different areas like your shoulder or arm? Is it a feeling of just being fatigued? Sluggish left or right hands (synchronization issues)? Etc.

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#58

Lack of smoothness and speed in picking hand is the easiest one to pinpoint - the motion is all off.

Sometimes its just what I call ‘alien guitar’ - where its as if I have never played it before (obviously its me not the guitar). Synch problems?

#59

For me, personally, it’s mostly a feeling of excessive tension in the picking hand wrist, slight difference in the attack and sound of down/up strokes, and just sluggish movement of the wrist.

I’ve stopped practising for a few days, and I’m just messing around with variations of dart-thrower and other more flextension-y wrist motions.

I’m getting relatively certain the main reason for my own inconsistency is unconsciously switching between different wrist motions while playing, with slightly different “force drivers”, I guess, the point where I feel the motion originating, and the point I feel as a pivot.

On the motion tests, I consistently get the highest speed and smoothest feeling from the “scribbling with a pen at 45-degrees” flexion/extension, but on an actual guitar body I default to a more side-to-side deviation, mostly in the radial part of the motion curve.

#60

Okay. You mentioned you played quietly at night due to not disturbing the family. Is this something that is more noticeable when you are using the load box you bought? Do you ever play without the load box? Do you always hold the pick the same way? And attempt to move your picking hand the same. Does it feel like you are missing strings or it’s tough to pick through them?

By synch I mean left and right hand synchronization.

Sorry I’m asking all these questions, I’m trying to get the best picture I can.

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