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View Full Version : Taking breaks & silly mistakes!



Kegs
08-03-2010, 02:39 AM
Having adequately, to my mind, finished to the end of lesson three, I had a week or so off from TMBG. I've had to start all over again. Now, the problem is that, mentally, I know I need to press on and subconsciously I'm trying to catch up to where I would have been had I not had the break. I'm just finding out how wrong this is as I'm making all kinds of silly mistakes like trying to play too fast and sliding between notes in the scales instead of using the correct fingering, silly stuff like that. I have to retrain the grey cubicles a bit and I'm having difficulty with that. It's all a matter of time & concentration but I do feel that I'm not catching up or progressing as I did the first time around.

Anyway, that's my report, onward & upward.

coachkip
08-03-2010, 06:51 AM
Anything that is important to you (an by you I mean all people) there is a definite benefit to practicing everyday. When you skip a day your skills diminish, it does not matter if it is academic, sports, or especially music. It is especially true when you are learning something new.

There is good news. There is a point in the learning where the actions become unconscious. Skills are ingrained into the brain and the only retraining is the muscles. Good news there too. Musicians and athletes have long called it muscle memory where your skills and actions come back quickly.

The point is this, if it is important to us we want to do well. When we take a break we need to expect to regress a little before moving forward. acknowledge this, take a little time to retrain, and then move on.

Best of luck and my guess is by the time you read this response you will have already retrained and are accelerating on your normal pace.