# Musicians - What Frustrates You About Your Playing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [April 28, 2024, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-what-frustrates-you-about-your-playing/1000859 "2024-04-28T10:32:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-what-frustrates-you-about-your-playing/1000859/21 "2024-04-29T13:57:51Z")
Guitar player here. I have a slightly fucked ear/pitch. Something I really enjoy doing is just improvising off of scales, and I have a blast doing it. However, if I’m trying to replicate a riff I like, and I don’t have good tabs, I could play every note on the fretboard, and no matter how many times I hit the correct note it doesn’t seem to jump out at me. And another thing is that my tastes are not, in general, popular tastes, so there don’t seem to be any good books that line up with what I like to do. ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-what-frustrates-you-about-your-playing/1000859/22 "2024-04-29T16:21:45Z")
> [@K364](#): > > @Moonrise - are you doing [don’t have a good name for it] Slow and Careful Practice? > > That is, when you learn and practice pieces, ensure that you are not making mistakes and ensure that your muscle memory is learning correct notes, not bad notes. If you do the opposite which is smudging up a bar or two then your muscle memory is defective and is confused. > > Like your ornament, play them at one quarter speed. Learn it that way, and then it will be much easier to ramp up to the correct tempo. Even when I’m playing through a piece at normal tempo for myself, I’ll slow down and be careful about ornaments and tricky passages. Thanks. I think that’s what I need to do, indeed. The thing is, I’ve now reached a level where there are many rewarding repertoire pieces within my technical reach. So, I’ll listen to a piece, read the score, realize it’s doable and add it to my daily routine. Net result, I now have about 20 works that are anywhere between more or less reliably mastered and “stuck at measure 5 for a year”. I must learn to be more selective. Fewer pieces, more careful practice. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-what-frustrates-you-about-your-playing/1000859/23 "2024-04-30T02:18:56Z")
There’s a number of things, but the main thing that irritates me is my tendency to rush. I have to really, really pay attention to my playing and make sure I hold back just a tad. I guess it reflects my personality a bit. Anyway, I just got myself a cheap-ass bass (Glarry), so I’m having fun playing bass for the almost the first time, and when I record, a groove can sound good to me and feel good to me as I’m playing, and then when I play it back, I hear all those rushed little syncopated bits that throw the groove off, coming in like 1/64 note too soon. And it’s not just because I’m playing an unfamiliar instrument. I do the same thing when playing piano/keys. My hands just want to get to the next note, and my brain has to hold it back. It’s just most noticeable with the bass, trying to hold the rhythm section down. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-what-frustrates-you-about-your-playing/1000859.md?page=1)