PlayJazzGuitar.com Forum

[JakobWithTheExplorer]

Hi everyone!
I'm just wondering if anyone of you have had some kind of a "performance anxiety"? Not the kind of anxiety where you are afraid to play in front of people, but more like you have to learn all this and that, practice this, show of this at the next gig and so on.
I've had a hard time getting myself to pratice my intrument the past 1½ years. Not that I got tired of playing or so, I still love playing and enjoy so many different aspects of music. But when I sit down, to practice, I find myself under great pressure. I think about all the different things I want to master, and even if I start with a great attitude (determinated to practice and understand something), soon I realize how much I still have to learn. And I mean MUCH. I see this huge mountain, and the next plateu is close to unreachable. I get very stressed, and in response, I'm like "man, I can never reach there anyway, why bother?".
I can't apriciate anything I hear myself play on the spot( but often get suprised when i hear recordings of myself afterwards).
So practicing the guitar has now become very, VERY stressful, and I just can't seem to figure out way or, more imprtant, how to change this.
It has come to the point when thinking about practicing, I think about all the things I could have accomplished in these 1½ years, but haven't and I fell depressed. It's a hellhole.
I just want to love playing again, without all that pressure.

So, I need your help, wise jazzers. There must be someone out there who has had a similar experience.

Btw, this forum has pretty much kept my jazzspirit alive during this period.
Thx
_________________
If practice makes perfect... well, I guess I haven't been practicing

[Alexo66]

Hey man. I know what you mean- sometimes it just feels like so much we have to learn. The best suggestions I can make:

1) Keep listening- ALL THE TIME. Sometimes hard, sometimes just in the background, but ALL THE TIME. (When the guitar's not in your hand).

2) Start practicing things you really love and things you genuinely WANT to do, not stuff you think you need to.

3) Make a practice routine and follow it everyday- DISCIPLINE!

4) Within practice, routine or not, I find it's important to focus on one or two big things at a time. For example, work on vocabulary and transcribing for a month or two, or technique for a while. But keep it focused on one or two major things or you may end up diluting your learning.

5) Be goal focused. Don't think too much about how many hours you practice for, but more along the lines of what you actually LEARN, and how much you can actually apply in a playing situation.

And also keep listening and transcribing all the time! Jazz music is an Aural art form, we learn it by learning what those before us have done.
Learning other people's solos and lines is a good way to avoid becoming "stale", and it mysteriously seems to be the answers to most, if not all of my guitar playing problems.
_________________
"The first thing I played was boogie woogie, then I had to do a lot of rock and roll. It's all the blues anyhow." - Grant Green

[jamester]

I can certainly relate. In fact, I'd say jazz more than any other style has this built-in to the art...i.e., are my chord voicings hip enough, am I doing the appropriate substitutions, am I nailing my altered dominants with the coolest of modal/symmetrical scale choices etc etc... All to be improvised in real-time, on the spot amongst your peers!

I think Alex said the most important thing with point number two: Practice what you WANT to play, not what you THINK you should be playing. It's taken ten years out of music school for me to come to grips with this, but I think it's hugely important. Not that you shouldn't be pushing yourself to take on new and different things, cuz that's a part of the game too. But keep the focus on your tastes, and you'll probably find a nice mix that works for you.

In fact, to expand on that...after music school I developed actual performance anxiety, and this is after years of being in bands and playing the Balto/DC metro area. All of a sudden I felt like the audience was judging my every note, and I developed a bit of stage fright. Not to a crippling degree, but to the extent that I wasn't really enjoying performing. When I started doing regular duo gigs with another guitarist, I noticed that he would often play the simplest things, and get the best response from them. That really taught me a lesson: Don't worry about what others might be thinking, cuz they're probably not thinking that at all. Play how you like, and they'll like how you play.

[jazzerchick]

I also know how this feels. It seems to be like practice anxiety.
Picking up the guitar to practice and just playing stuff you already know
because there's too much to learn, and putting it back down.
That's when I like to play along with recordings of the greats. Doesn't have
to be just guitar players. It seems there will always be something to
catch your ear that you can bring into your playing. Even something
like some cool sub changes or a nice line. A little jolt.
Most times, that's enough to give me inspiration to move forward.
Try not to let this get you down, because pushing thru these low spots
is what will make you a better and stronger player. You will always
have low and high times no matter how great a musician you become.

[sunflower]

[JakobWithTheExplorer]

[M]

[JakeJew]

[JakobWithTheExplorer]