making mistakes

[RockyRacc00n]

I've been playing consistently for about 3 years now. Prior to that, very sporadically, on and off. I like to learn pieces from various sites out there, mostly flatpicking stuff. For example, this is the current piece I am working on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnoyEoAz-KI&t=86s

I would say this is right at my level. Challenging enough but not to difficult... or may be this is a difficult level for me since I am posting about this.

Here is my problem. I learned everything, but I can't seem to get through the entire thing without making a mistake. I know that one kind of response I might get is, just play through the mistake. Sometime I can, but most times, the mistake throws me off and I go off rails. Benjo Ben here plays it pretty fast, but I'm playing it at about 110 bpm.

In case playing too fast is the issue, I tried playing slower, like at 90 bpm. But still mistakes... in fact slower doesn't really seem to make it better. Too slow, the mistakes get worse. Whenever I make a mistake, it's usually because my mind wonders or I have a brain fart, even in sections that are really easy.

But in the 1 out of 100 times I do actually get through it without making a mistake, it's because my mind was zoned in, and not really thinking about anything... kind of fine line between being in the zone (not thinking about anything) and mind wondering off.... does that even make sense?

I've been working in this piece day and night for about 3 weeks now, but just can't seem to get through it without making a silly mistake. This happens to be what I am working on now, but this is a typical problem I have with all the stuff I learn.

How do you guys overcome this issue? Just more practice? There must be some practice method that can help with this issue.

[TBman]

More practice. I remember when I used to flat pick (I play finger style now) that going too slow is can be as bad as going too fast. Find that sweet spot where you make minimal mistakes and concentrate on just the areas where you do make the mistakes. Practicing the whole song is of limited use if one or two spots ruin the whole thing. Work on those spots.

[Gordon Currie]

My own view on mistakes are that there are two types.

One type is the mistake that keeps happening the same way. These are HUGE red flags to me, and based on my knowledge of psychology and learning, it is critical to AVOID repeating them - as you are then rehearsing the mistake.

A rehearsed mistake becomes habitual quickly. Have you ever tried to change a bad habit? It can be incredibly difficult. Essentially you are fighting your own memory ability (muscle and otherwise).

The other type is a momentary flub that never happens again. I don't worry about these much, although if there is an underlying reason (losing focus, pain, fatigue) I do like to take care of the underlying reason ASAP.

It sounds like you are making mistakes mostly due to lack of focus. You may need to 'practice' playing consciously. Perhaps saying 'Focus!' out loud during section transitions might train your mind to concentrate better.

[srbell]

For me it's practice, but also understanding the song structure and how the chords in the key work together. Once I had a good grasp of the theory behind how the chords on a key are built and related, it made playing easier as I pretty much knew what the chords for a song were as soon as I know the key. The reason this is so helpful is it helps you know what chords are coming up in a song just by how it sounds.
There are certain patterns of chord progressions that show up over and over in songs. Once you're familiar with them you'll recognize them when you hear them, and you'll already know how to play it. Why is this so important? Because many songs are very similar, so each song you learn helps with others you'll learn later, which means you'll make less mistakes as you've already been practicing very similar songs as you've progressed.

[Dog Shape Cloud]

When you make mistakes, don't just play "through" them—embrace them, and play with them. Make the same mistake again, deliberately. Learn what your fingers are doing when they make that mistake. That can help you learn to do something else.

Don't try to make a perfect replica of a mental representation of a pattern, that's like trying to trace perfectly over a signature. Sure, you can learn to do that, but it's more instructive at first to just scrawl a new signature. Invent a simpler melody that's similar to that one and build it up by degrees, that way it'll be yours when you get there.

[Su_H.]

I make mistakes all the time even when playing easy pieces.

The part about getting derailed, I can make a suggestion. You'll just have to keep playing the piece until you know it inside and out...and even then, it's not a guarantee you won't get derailed.

Oftentimes, we think we know something or have something down but the reality is we don't know it well enough or have it down enough. I'm not saying you have that problem but I think it's safe to say many practicing musicians have had this problem.

[Pitar]

Glad to read about you're claim to being the average joe learning through his mistakes. It's the road to the skills you seek by employing what's gained to iron out what isn't.

[tupper]

You might try this. Until you have memorized a tune, go ahead and concentrate when you practice. After you have memorized the tune, get a recording of the tune. Make sure it is at a slow speed. Now LISTEN TO THE MUSIC and relax. Try not to think about anything. Just relax, listen to the music, and play the tune along with the recorded music. See if you start making fewer mistakes. Don't be surprised if you play something differently, and it sounds fine.

[Silly Moustache]

hi, I'm not a fan of learning by tablature, but I admit that Ben Clark does his pretty well.

First thing to say is that I've seen and studied with some of the finest flat-pickers out there - and EVERYBODY makes little flubs now and then, and YES it is necessary to play though. I learnt that when you do make a flub, your audience (even other guitarists) will rarely notice and if they do, they've forgotten it seconds later.

As already remarked - "listen" to the melody and try to take it away from the Tab as quickly as possible.
Also, as this isn't classical music, the order of notes, accents et,. are not "RULES" and you are fully entitled to make your own arrangements, and
after a while - your fingers will develop muscle memory.
Of course sometmes that muscle memory can inculde a repeated flub, and this must be dealt with, so play it thgou util you hit that place and stop and rethink it until you can get past it.

I liken it to planning a hurdle race. Play the piece until you hit one hurdle.
Stop, go back to the beginning and work on that hurdle, then continue to the next hurdle and after a little while there will be no hurdles ...Ok even the best sometimes flub, don't worry about it too much.

[RockyRacc00n]

Thank you all for the thoughtful responses.

With regards with playing through mistakes, I do acknowledge there will always be mistakes. If a mistake doesn't throw off my timing then I can play through and it is hardly noticed, but more often than not, a mistake throws off my timing and that certainly is noticeable. How to overcome this? I don't know. I suppose I will have to try to fight through it with better internal sense of timing and a mistake will otherwise throw me off.

With regards to practicing method, it's not like any of the pieces I learn are all that technically challenging. There isn't a section here that I struggle with. If I take any given 4 measures, I can play that section no problem. It's just that when I try to string them altogether into a complete piece I run into problems.

I think it's mental. Typically mistakes seem to happen in parts that are similar that happen in other parts of the song. A line that is a variation of a similar line somewhere. So I need to conscientiously tell myself, OK, this is that part from before, but it's different here. So maybe it's focus?

The thing is, like I mentioned before, that 1 out of 100 times that I do play without a hitch, it's usually when my mind isn't thinking about anything. But to focus, I need to think. I am not making any sense, am I?