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Obsessed with practicing?


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  • Members
Posted

Hi everybody,

 

I have this thing with practicing that I'm very obsessed with it. This goes even to a point where I seem to prioritize practicing above almost everything else.

 

I'm very disciplined, which most of the time can be seen as a benefit, but in my case sometimes I'm too disciplined and even feel bad when I skip a day of practicing.

 

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the practicing, but it almost seems like a complusory disorder at times, and my social life suffers from this.

 

Like I can't take a week of vacation and go somewhere cos I don't wanna miss practicing, and I think I will lose so much of what i have practiced for if I skip a few days .... I know it is not so, but I still feel like I should not skip days of practicing.

It is very difficult for me to find a "healthy" balance.

 

I have arguments with my g/f about it, even my musician friends don't understand me when I don't join them going out 'cos I need to practice instead.

 

Anybody else have this problem?

 

I'm not trolling, this is serious ....:cry:

 

Most of the times I'm fine with it, but sometimes when my private life becomes troublesome because of my practicing, I see that it IS a problem.

 

Any ideas/suggestions/opinions?

  • Members
Posted

Practicing isn't a problem until it starts to hurt the people you care about. It sounds like you are at that point.
I agree with I_am_an_owl. You might want to consider waking up earlier so you don't hurt the people you love.

  • Members
Posted

Practicing isn't a problem until it starts to hurt the people you care about. It sounds like you are at that point.

I agree with
I_am_an_owl
. You might want to consider waking up earlier so you don't hurt the people you love.

 

 

This is exactly the problem. You're right with what you are saying, I'm actually hurting people I love, and that is not good ....

 

But lately I've been practice late at night, and I already don't get enough sleep (4-6 hours per night).

The problem is more that I don't want to take days off from practicing. Well maybe one, but not more than one in a row ..... this goes espeically for the technical practicing. On other topics I don't have that much of a problem when skipping days, but for technique practicing I think it needs to be repeated every day .....

  • Members
Posted
This is exactly the problem. You're right with what you are saying, I'm actually hurting people I love, and that is not good ....


But lately I've been practice late at night, and I already don't get enough sleep (4-6 hours per night).

The problem is more that I don't want to take days off from practicing. Well maybe one, but not more than one in a row ..... this goes espeically for the technical practicing. On other topics I don't have that much of a problem when skipping days, but for technique practicing I think it needs to be repeated every day .....



It's hard to ask this without sounding like a tabloid show host but....

What are you afraid of?
Is their a void that you are using music to fill?


On a lighter note...

I don't think I'd have the strength to turn down a beer with my pals for the guitar. You must have super powers.:D

  • Members
Posted

I'm going to venture out with a theory about this.

 

It has to do with endorphins. When you practice your guitar your brain is secreting endorphins which act like a "narcotic". The pleasure these chemicals give you is akin to an opiate.

 

You have thus become addicted to the feeling produced by these chemicals.

 

It's like a runners "high". That's why some people get addicted to exercising.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphin

 

You need to take two or three months off from guitar to break this.

 

Or see a doctor to discuss this situation.

  • Members
Posted

Or something less drastic, maybe try to limit practice to half an hour of drills for a couple of weeks. Otherwise, maybe Virgman is correct - take some time off to explore other facets of your life. The guitar will always be there for you! (kind of like Ray Charles' Baby Grand song)

Posted

Even if you take a week off, all that technical facility won't just go up in smoke. It make take a day or two to get things at exactly 100% again, but you won't lose anything.

  • Members
Posted

Now that I'm thinking about it, I've been kind of obsessing lately too. (*All that should be fixed though in the fall once college football starts again... ) Practicing can be addictive because it allows you to focus your mind on one discreet task and blocks out all of the extra noise in your mind (kind of like meditation - I used to get similar effects while working out on speedbags when I used to kickbox competitively. You're just so focused on one thing that nothing else enters your mind. Does this sound familiar?). It may be worthwhile spending time on other areas in your life and learn to still your mind in a similar while in other life activities.

  • Members
Posted

Even if you take a week off, all that technical facility won't just go up in smoke. It make take a day or two to get things at exactly 100% again, but you won't lose anything.

 

 

Very good point. To which I might add that sometimes the best thing you can do for your development as a musician is to take a break. Maybe even a long one. The thing that happens then is that your muscles "forget" their habits, with a little bit of luck the bad ones too, and you can start afresh afterwards.

 

You can keep practicing by training your ears. you don't need an instrument to do this. You can also practice mentally by thinking, visualizing the patterns and phrases you want to play. I practiced a melody that way this weekend. Went through it note for note in my mind before playing it and that really helped. There was no other way for me to practice right then before the performance.

  • Members
Posted

People go through the same thing when they get into a really regular work-out routines. You feel unbelievably guilty when you miss a workout. You get the feeling that you'll lose all of the muscle that you've worked so hard to gain. Some people's symptoms are more severe than others, but it's generally a negative thing, even though you're getting in better shape.

  • Members
Posted

Thanks everyone for their input !

Let me make this clear again: I don't see my practicing as a "chore", I do love doing it.
So, for me, actually to go on vacation for example, I would feel like I'm being punished, 'cos I can't practiced.

Yes, I will try to cut down the pure technical part of my practicing-routine.
I'm struggling with alternate picking, so here's where most of my practicing time goes these days, trying to get somewehre at least near "shred" speed ....

Again, thank you for your opinions and advice ! This really helps ! :)

  • Members
Posted
Hi everybody,


I have this thing with practicing that I'm very obsessed with it. This goes even to a point where I seem to prioritize practicing above almost everything else.


I'm very disciplined, which most of the time can be seen as a benefit, but in my case sometimes I'm too disciplined and even feel bad when I skip a day of practicing.


Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the practicing, but it almost seems like a complusory disorder at times, and my social life suffers from this.


Like I can't take a week of vacation and go somewhere cos I don't wanna miss practicing, and I think I will lose so much of what i have practiced for if I skip a few days .... I know it is not so, but I still feel like I should not skip days of practicing.

It is very difficult for me to find a "healthy" balance.


I have arguments with my g/f about it, even my musician friends don't understand me when I don't join them going out 'cos I need to practice instead.


Anybody else have this problem?


I'm not trolling, this is serious ....
:cry:

Most of the times I'm fine with it, but sometimes when my private life becomes troublesome because of my practicing, I see that it IS a problem.


Any ideas/suggestions/opinions?



My girlfriend told me I was obsessed yesterday - so yeh, i guess I have the problem. I actually take guitars on vacation with me LOL. More or less all my time outside work is taken up with practicing/playing/rehearsing with my band etc.

I think there's worse things to be obsessed by and without that drive and obsession I probably wouldn't achieve my full potential, but - yeh - when it starts affecting your relationships it's time to take a step back and examine things.

  • Members
Posted

My girlfriend got annoyed with me last night because I was running through scales on my guitar as we were watching TV...

  • Members
Posted
My girlfriend got annoyed with me last night because I was running through scales on my guitar as we were watching TV...



LOL - happens to me too... she wants me to spend more time with her, and then when i do she tells me go practice guitar in my music room... women :rolleyes:

  • Moderators
Posted

My wife is starting to notice (read as "be annoyed by") my "air guitar" playing. Sometimes to give her a rest from my practicing, as I sit watching TV with her, I practice visualizing scales, arpeggios, etc. As I visualize the fretboard my left hand "moves" through the fingering. She sees this as a sign of a deeply troubled mind.

It a difficult thing for a non-musician to understand how long and how much work it takes to be really good on the guitar.

  • Members
Posted
My girlfriend told me I was obsessed yesterday - so yeh, i guess I have the problem. I actually take guitars on vacation with me LOL. More or less all my time outside work is taken up with practicing/playing/rehearsing with my band etc.


I think there's worse things to be obsessed by and without that drive and obsession I probably wouldn't achieve my full potential, but - yeh - when it starts affecting your relationships it's time to take a step back and examine things.



Exactly! We can talk about all of this when your GF has left you because all the sex you ever have is with that guitar of yours...

:)

  • Members
Posted

It a difficult thing for a non-musician to understand how long and how much work it takes to be really good on the guitar.

 

 

The fact that you've worked long and hard doesn't automatically make the music great.

 

I swear to God, if you spent half the time you now spend on guitar playing on singing (and {censored} I need to take my own advice on this... ) you'd be a much better musician in much less time.

 

T-Bone Walker, my favorite blues guitarist of all times, wasn't such a great guitar plauyer really. He was pretty basic in his approach to the instrument and technically his playing was pretty lousy.

 

But he was a fine singer and he knew what he wanted to hear from his instrument and that's what he played.

  • Moderators
Posted

The fact that you've worked long and hard doesn't automatically make the music great.


I swear to God, if you spent half the time you now spend on guitar playing on singing (and {censored} I need to take my own advice on this... ) you'd be a much better
musician
in much less time.

 

 

I'll assume you are addressing me in the "royal" sense (meaning people in general and NOT me specifically). Since you don't know me and hence don't know that I was a singer long before I started to play guitar and you have no way of knowing how much time I spend on playing vs singing. FWIW I attended Beklee as a Voice major and minor'd in Guitar. I don't mean to imply that fact means much except as an indication that I probably get the point about the importance of singing and ear training, etc vs just playing an instrument.

 

But to what I expect was the point of your post. There is only one entity called music. And it is based on the human voice. The other instruments we choose are typically designed to imitate the human voice - so yeah, singing is important even if someone's voice sucks. We sing to train the ear and the mind so we can play any instrument we want.

 

And yes, hard work, diligence and time spent studying music by themselves mean little but they are often the only way to become a really good musician.

 

cheers,

  • Members
Posted

I'll assume you are addressing me in the "royal" sense (meaning people in general and NOT me specifically).

 

 

Yes, I was adressing "you" in that sense.

  • Members
Posted
It a difficult thing for a non-musician to understand how long and how much work it takes to be really good on the guitar.



Yes, I agree.

And for me it's even like this: I just "need" to practice at least a few hours per days to feel good. It's part of my life. And I love it.
I don't see anything wrong with this per se, but I see it can cause a lot of problems with people around me.:cry:

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