Hypnosis for musicians

rickbarclay

rickbarclay

Inspired
Anyone here tried it?

Simply put, I don't have the requisite ability to focus on whatever I'm playing ever to be any good. I can't
count measures when I'm playing, so I always lose track of wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, whether it's
playing or singing. No matter how hard I try, I just can't stayed focused on what I'm doing. I don't have
this problem with everything I do, but when it comes to music I'm a real stumblebum.
There's a hypnotist in town, and I'm giving very serious thought to paying him a visit. Before
I do I thought I'd ask here if anyone has tried hypnosis as a means to improve your playing. If so, please
share your experiences. Thanx, all. :) Not the end of the world, of course.
 
I never count measures... I will, very rarely, count the beat in my head if it is like after a stop and it comes in on the "and" of the beat or something like.
But other than that I never consciously count beats and never counted measures.
Then again... the music I play is pretty simple worship stuff.
what type of stuff are you playing... if you don't mind me asking?
 
Ahhh... it just dawned on me you are prolly talking about sight reading music... no?
sorry... no can helpy... I super stink at that!!
 
Listen to the recording over and over and over and over.
You won't have this problem anymore.



rickbarclay said:
Anyone here tried it?

Simply put, I don't have the requisite ability to focus on whatever I'm playing ever to be any good. I can't
count measures when I'm playing, so I always lose track of wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, whether it's
playing or singing. No matter how hard I try, I just can't stayed focused on what I'm doing. I don't have
this problem with everything I do, but when it comes to music I'm a real stumblebum.
There's a hypnotist in town, and I'm giving very serious thought to paying him a visit. Before
I do I thought I'd ask here if anyone has tried hypnosis as a means to improve your playing. If so, please
share your experiences. Thanx, all. :) Not the end of the world, of course.
Click to expand...
 
levipeto said:
Listen to the recording over and over and over and over.
You won't have this problem anymore.
Click to expand...

Agreed.


For me, repetition is the key.
For me, repetition is the key.
For me......ok, it's not funny at this point.

Never tried hypnosis.....
 
I've been taking classical guitar for the last year or so and one thing my teacher has suggested to me in this area is to put down the guitar and visualize playing the piece in your mind. He says he does this when he is preparing to perform and it helps his focus and concentration a great deal. To be honest, as much as this makes sense and I'm sure it works, I haven't yet put in the effort to see how effective it is. (Only picked up this tip last week and have been too busy with work and my other class to even practice as much as I usually do.) Another thing he suggested is to read through the music without actually playing it, and to visualize the chords and notes as you are reading them, even after you have committed the song to memory.

On the topic of hypnosis, I've never tried it, but I used to meditate regularly and I know it helps your focus in many ways. I really need to get back into the practice, as it was quite beneficial. I had a friend who worked as a hypnotist a few years ago and she swears by it now. She was skeptical until she actually tried it and saw enough benefit that she learned to do it herself.
 
I think hypnotism is a really bad idea. It's a diversion for trying to fix a problem by creating another problem. If I were you I'd try to apply a new way of practicing. Take up ONE THING at a time. Go slow. Probably when you lose count you're trying to do too many things before you've mastered simpler, more basic things.

I had a student to day where I was teaching her to play walking bass with chords. It was way over her head, she thought. I had her break it down into tiny bite size chunks. EVERY single time she'd start adding these little things that added complication and she'd get lost. I'd show her what she was doing and tell her, no, just DO THIS. She'd do it for a minute then add more complication and get confused again. I had to really stay on her to do JUST THAT ONE THING until she really got it before moving into ANY complication. Just the thumb.

And before the hour was up she was doing it.

I think you only get thrown off, confused, mess up, when you've not ingested the more basic things. You don't need no hypnotist!
 
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Thumbs down on hypnosis. It makes you less aware of what you're doing. It's like drinking to "numb the pain". Definitely BAD idea.

Henry's advice is spot on. I used to have huge problems playing jazz charts. Got lost all the time and played wrong chords ... a mess. Turned out that I did not understand certain chords or their symbols so I drilled (repetition IS the key) playing chords over and over and cleared how the chords were constructed until I understood really what a bloody "Alt" chord or "Diminished" chord really was and then playing the chart was easy.

And I certainly did not resort to being put asleep by a hypnotist!
 
I am skeptical of hypnotists, so I'll vote yes because I want you to report back with your results.
 
Thanks for your replies, folks. I'm sure the problem goes way deeper than counting measures, because if you really know a song, you can
just listen and play along naturally. I think I get that, guitatrded. And then there's listening and repetition and going slow. That's all well and good when you're
in the learning stage. I get that, too. But I'm talking about songs I know. Simple songs that I've listened to so many times over and over that
I've stopped listening. Simple songs like Dylan's Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest. Doesn't get any simpler than that. But I cannot get through
that three-chord progression without screwing up at least once over the course of the song. Maybe it's not a hypnotist I need. Maybe it's a
psychoanalyst. But I can't afford one of them. So I'm opting for a hypnotist.

A good hypnotist would be just like a good drug without the addiction--even better if the results are lasting. Let me explain something. I, like a lot
of you out there, I suppose, am a child of the sixties. Been through the whole hippie culture routine and I liked it a lot. Did a lot of drugs. Never did enough to
get addicted, though. There's a certain pain I experience when I start to overdo anything that warns me to back off and take a break. But some of those
drugs I did increased my level of awareness and concentration to the point where my guitar skills became far greater than those same skills are when not under
the influence of drugs. That's what I'm looking for--a drug high without the drugs. A drug proxy in the form of a hypnotist. My problem has nothing to do
with practice technique. I think it has to do with my mind. Anybody out there relate to this? Thanks. Appreciate the help.
 
Have you been self medicating for ADD all this time ?

so your saying you play better on drugs ? Or does it just seem better ? ;)
 
Your problem may have to do with the mind, but a hypnotist does not know what a mind is or how it works. Trust me on that.
And drugs certainly do not help. Trust me on that too.
If you want knowledgable advice on this I'm willing to give it but not on the forum. PM me.
 
rickbarclay said:
Thanks for your replies, folks. I'm sure the problem goes way deeper than counting measures, because if you really know a song, you can
just listen and play along naturally. I think I get that, guitatrded. And then there's listening and repetition and going slow. That's all well and good when you're
in the learning stage. I get that, too. But I'm talking about songs I know. Simple songs that I've listened to so many times over and over that
I've stopped listening. Simple songs like Dylan's Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest. Doesn't get any simpler than that. But I cannot get through
that three-chord progression without screwing up at least once over the course of the song. Maybe it's not a hypnotist I need. Maybe it's a
psychoanalyst. But I can't afford one of them. So I'm opting for a hypnotist.

A good hypnotist would be just like a good drug without the addiction--even better if the results are lasting. Let me explain something. I, like a lot
of you out there, I suppose, am a child of the sixties. Been through the whole hippie culture routine and I liked it a lot. Did a lot of drugs. Never did enough to
get addicted, though. There's a certain pain I experience when I start to overdo anything that warns me to back off and take a break. But some of those
drugs I did increased my level of awareness and concentration to the point where my guitar skills became far greater than those same skills are when not under
the influence of drugs. That's what I'm looking for--a drug high without the drugs. A drug proxy in the form of a hypnotist. My problem has nothing to do
with practice technique. I think it has to do with my mind. Anybody out there relate to this? Thanks. Appreciate the help.
Click to expand...
OK.. But first tell if I am right. I think your brain is leaping ahead to be creative, BECAUSE your NOT jamming with another guitarist. Right? But you HAVE another artist THE LOOPER. First, turn on the metronome,a adjust the Metro vol to be that of kick drum. Set tap tempo to the beat and then quantize a looper to at least 1/4. now record a riff then play along and riff out of the box. THEN turn off the looper, THEN you play the looper riff. And back again. A couple of minutes of this daily and the metronome will sink in. Also you program your brain to WAIT till the riff is done till you go and riff away. I know because this helped me get over a similar thing. All I needed was the Axe Fx looper. Although I like the Pigtronix looper more . It can do multiple whole songs with multiple loops (but has a small footprint).
The key was playing with metronomes and loops. The more loops the less it feels like work. One last thing, real important.. Breathe. Breath control is the key to motor skill control. Most people who have trouble hold their breath when trying to learn new skills.:encouragement:
 
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I've heard some seriously bad reports about hypnotism. Had a friend who had years of terrifying panic attacks after she was hypnotized one time. Actually ended up flipping her car into a ditch during one of those panic attacks.

I like and agree with a lot of the encouraging comments above, rick. You're probably a super creative person. You might get more mileage and success focusing on some of your strengths instead of trying to improve your weaknesses. Maybe you could look to find a way to let that hippie part of you flow without needing the drugs or the hypnotism. Rock on dude. Don't be discouraged. There's always hope.;)
 
Relax Rick. Life is too short. My 2 cents? Focus on listening to your mates or the recordings you are trying to play along with, play primarily by ear and always from the heart. The rest will come.

Anything else you do in parallel, of course, to improve on your skill set is a bonus. Just make sure you are kind to yourself and enjoy. Once you stop worrying you will likely experience exponential growth. :)


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I don't know. It seems to me that's like trying to paint the house by watering the lawn. Or worse, by getting drunk. One is not going to address the other and is certainly not going to be a solution for the problem at hand. If the problem is playing the guitar, the solution can be found in practicing the guitar. If you can't concentrate long enough to play the guitar, or if you can't hold the rhythm or count, then the problem might just lie in not understanding some very basic concepts of rhythm, time and counting. A lot of guitar players, I've discovered, can play great, but have no concept of what counting really is. Or rhythm or time. And music is ALL ABOUT TIME. Therefore their playing really suffers and their ability to play with others suffers as they don't even know when to come in.

So yeah, your problem could be in the mind, but medication isn't going to help that. That's like cleaning the house by burning it down. Why don't you start by addressing the problem at hand first?
 
Forget playing along. Your brain isn't set up to memorize and mimic other peoples creative output. It's not ADHD or anything like that. You're going to see guys on here that can play other artists music flawlessly. They have amazing gifts and talent for just that: memorizing and reproducing what they see and hear end to end perfectly. I can't do that, don't even want to anymore really, but what I can do is my own thing.

My suggestion is quit trying to chase someone else's butterflies and catch your own.
 
Strictly from a spiritual perspective hypnosis is a very bad idea.

You will be exposed to all manners of evils and unpleasantness that would be challenging to cleans to say the least.

Prayer and meditation is the answer to your desires.
 
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Prayer and meditation is hypnosis. Self hypnosis.

Nothing wrong with anything that help still ones mind in order to focus on happiness.

Music is also hypnosis. Active listening or performing actually changes ones brain chemistry. Way more constructive and healthy than trying to do so chemically.
 
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