What affects your sense of time?

DrumDoug

DrumDoug

Senior Member
I had a gig Friday night with a band that hasn’t played out in over a year. That band uses a click. I’ve played those songs dozens of times with that band at those tempos. I don’t know what was wrong with me but every single song felt way too fast. The same thing happened last week with a different band with a click. The rest of the band said it sounded fine. I’ve always struggled with not rushing. I think I may have overcompensated and now my sense of time is slow and draggy. I am diabetic but my blood sugar was fine. I wear a CGM to check. The fact that it happened two gigs in a row is freaking me out. Maybe I’m just slowing down in my old age.
 
I think my sense of time is sometimes affected if I had a unusual slow or busy day at work, or when I feel excited/anxious or mellow for any reason.
 
It used to be marijuana with me, but I gave up toking on gigs over twenty years ago. Alcohol has never been a problem, because I very rarely drink.

If you are very familiar with the tunes, tell them to do away with the click. You probably don't need it.
 
I used to play in a good 3 piece band that used a sequencer live. On my first night, the guitarist couldnt get the rest of the band in my headphone mix. So i was playing to a musical metronome with them in the back ground. Got through it (not without experiencing a bit of terror) and was asked back. Once i stopped focusing on time and instead what the other musicians were playing, i started to relax. It also helped when after that, everyone was in my mix
 
If I haven't worked out stickings..or mildly complex patterns can affect it. Sitting down with BD snare and hats I'm cool. It's when I move limbs around that focusing helps. A draggy bass player. I'm not one of those great sence of time guys. I work on it alot. I actually hate to but I need to.
 
Emotions, over thinking the song, issues with other players...the list goes on.

I try to get in my own head & push all that out & just try to have fun. 99% of the time it works, but it's that blasted 1% that messes me up.
 
I use a click as well.

When I'm tired, every song feels fast. When I'm amped, every song feels too slow. If I have a drop of alcohol, every song feels like crap, and I want to go home.
 
People get pulled around by how they feel, by what the other players are doing, and by their hands-- like their hands try to do what feels good to them.

Once I learned a certain kind of awareness my time got really consistent, regardless of how I was feeling, and what other people were doing.

Probably the single most helpful thing for that was learning to play with a slow click-- metronome giving you the 1 only, or the 1 every two measures. Learning to be comfortable playing everything you know how to play that way. You have to subdivide all the time, so your brain learns how to conceptualize time clearly, and your hands learn to follow the timing your brain is giving them.
 
opentune said:
I bet it would have felt better without a click.
Click to expand...
I don't think that is a universal though. Certain genres definitely feel better with a click. I can't think of a dancer that asked for a song to be de gridded. There are other things that can hinder the feel. How people are playing in the groove are the songs too busy etc.
 
Be confident and don’t second guess your time. I practice with a click and usually with a setlist of song tempos.. and I use a click for count ins on gigs.. but once the band kicks in and the groove is established, I try not to look at it.. and be in the moment.
 
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I think what you're feeling is natural & human. It's just like exercise: Some days it's just engaging, moderately easy & fun. Other days, it's a grind just to get through it. If you pay close attention, it likely will coincide with how you've slept, how you've eaten, stress or not that day or prior, etc. But, we often don't connect these bigger picture things to specific activity performance.
 
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