What's happening to my playing?

[The Bassist]

I really hope this is a problem I can get over quickly, but I guess I'm also wondering if this is something that happens that is common. As of the last half hour-ish of last band practice (Sunday) my double bass abilities died for some reason. I don't use double bass too much in our music, and the speed that I play can be done on one foot, though much more quietly, so our upcoming shows are safe even if I can't regain the skills, but this is so frustrating for me. It's like my technique just vanished.

Early that practice I was doing triplet 8th notes at 125 bpm fairly comfortably, and then all of a sudden my legs stopped working right the next time we played the song. They kept trying to go faster, and would start to speed up and go completely out of tempo. I'm not certain why this happened, maybe someone else who's gone through something similar can share some insight. I feel like this is more of a mental issue where I stopped believing I could play right, and thus can't. I'm just having a lot of trouble telling myself I can do this just fine.

I also at first thought, hey maybe it's just because I'm not used to doing three hits every beat, but I tried playing another of our songs which I've been rather comfortable with for months with some double bass doing 16ths at 95 bpm (which I found to be the exact same speed as the 125 bpm 8th triplets - go figure!) and I just couldn't, and can't, do it. Maybe if I keep practicing something will click and I'll be able to play again!

Any advice or similar stories are welcome.

[Pocket-full-of-gold]

Originally Posted by The Bassist

I don't use double bass too much in our music

Originally Posted by The Bassist

........hey maybe it's just because I'm not used to doing three hits every beat

Originally Posted by The Bassist

Maybe if I keep practicing something will click and I'll be able to play again!

Mate, in all honesty, I think you've answered your own question.

[picklebarrel]

Yeah dude, just seems like your legs got tired.

[The Bassist]

Originally Posted by Pocket-full-of-gold

Mate, in all honesty, I think you've answered your own question.

Haha, maybe I have. I just really want to vent a bit, you know? My legs have been out of it for nearly a week now.
Thanks for the responses anyways, I hope I get get past this in time for my band's gig in a couple weeks.

[dairyairman]

that's an interesting problem. i went through something similar a couple years ago. i went through a period where i could play double bass patterns slowly, or relatively fast, but not in between. for some reason, i had a lot of trouble with double bass rolls and patterns at around 120 bpm. eventually i got over that weirdness and now i don't have any trouble with any tempos i play at. for me it was just persistent practice that got me over it.