Practise and Performance

The band, which has been in rehearsal mode for far too long, had a gig recently. But that's the subject of a later post.

Behind working on the songs, I've been plugging away at improving my bass playing. There's plenty to work on, but one area I struggle with is fluidity of playing. I'm not sure if it's confidence, ability or just too much mental clutter, but when playing lines, even ones I know well, there are too many bumps in the road.

Two things have helped though. One is Noa Kageyama's podcast series, 'The Bulletproof Musician'. I discovered him while reading articles in this year's BBC Proms book. His podcasts (and teaching) covers the interesting ground where music performance and psychology meet. His work is based on research, not opinion, and in my experience, it can make a huge difference. He also has the calmest voice of anyone I've heard in a long time.

In a different but connected way, I've also found the following video helpful.

 

Janek Gwizdala, awesome bassist and man of many opinions, is an inspiring guy. In this video he introduces a simple descending and ascending pattern to be played in all twelve keys. But his advice to play it everyday for (in my case) 30 days and record your progress, has been illuminating. I should be doing this anyway. After all, I find some time each day to work on something bass related. Original songs, standards, Bach, learning melodies, and more good stuff. But, concentrating on making this exercise work has brought together all kinds of techniques, even if my family are probably getting sick of hearing it.

Firstly the notes. Getting it right (and embarrassingly, noting that I was playing seven sequences instead of eight when I started). Adding dynamics, making sure I'm playing cleanly, being aware of tempo, and that all important (to me) fluidity. Yesterday was day 10 and although I'd improved the recording made me aware of everything that could be better. This morning, up early, coffee and pastry consumed, I picked the bass up and playing it perfectly. One fluid stream of notes. I was astonished.

The secret, possibly, was finding the right mental space. Not clearing my mind (how?) or thinking about what I was doing, but just focusing on something else (I think it was the pile of washing up) so there wasn't a chance for me to fill my head with 'that was good' or 'uh-oh, that could have been better'.

Does this mean I need to take the washing up to gigs? Let's hope not. But it does point the way to improving, and enjoying the process. We do 'play' music after all.