Does anyone else have problems practicing music?

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I love music--although considering where I'm posting this, I imagine that that's a given.

But I can't practice it. The mistakes I'm making as I'm learn to play are unbearable. The music is supposed to sound a certain way--I can hear it in my head, reverberating in my blood--but I'm not good enough to match it.

Obviously, I can't get better without practicing, but the way I'm mangling the music as I try to practice is making me nauseous, and I have to stop after only a few tries because I just can't bear to hear me anymore.

Does anyone else have this problem? Aside from having Asperger's, I have some other issues (most notably, depression). I've begun to dread sitting down and actually trying to play, and just trying to finish practicing can drive me to tears.

Is there anything I can do to control this? Is it something I just have to try to push past? Is this something other autistic people have problems with, or is it due to one of my other issues (or just a personal idiosyncrasy)?

Thanks.

I've always wondered if everyone can learn to play an instrument. For some, like me, learning to play stringed instruments came easily. The piano was a different story, though! It just amazes me how these 3 and 4 year olds play the piano like they do in YouTube. It's depressing. I suppose if I had an instructor I'd learn, but I'm self taught. I actually looked at music as my ticket out of poverty so in that sense I took my practice seriously enough to devote over 8 hours every day for it. Good luck.

About the same as any other instance: just stop, spend a few seconds breathing, then work through the sections you bumped, but more slowly.

If it helps, you're not alone: when I sit at a piano and set my hands to the keys a part of myself (actually a distracting part that isn't really helping) keeps going "I hope I don't screw up, I hope I don't screw up, I hope..."

My hands are clumsy as they get, ive had to learn to compensate by playing badly on a MIDI keyboard and then editing the notes later in my software of choice. You'd be amazed at how real it can sound nowadays.

I've grown accustomed to making mistakes. It's how you learn.

Well put! Life is about learning from mistakes.

If you mess up a part, do it half speed or keep halving the time signature until you can get the note pattern right.

I can somewhat sympathize because while I can do very well at bass, my clumsy fingers sometimes hit the fret above or below where I was aiming. Oh well, not very noticeable.

The best way that works for me is to remember the sections I tend to make mistakes on and forget everything that came before while playing them. After they are over, your brain could return to relying on mechanical memory. Also, it may be helpful to play challenging sections of a piece the exact same way each time (even if your imagination could think of newer ways to perform them). The position of your wrist, the location of your hands on the instrument, the distance between your fingers, the use of force and release of tension, the transition to other notes, the speed of approach to the keys, and the combination of these things need to be similar each time something is technically challenging. Once it becomes less intimidating and there is a memorized technique which could be built upon, it is better to play it spontaneously.

What I find helps is when you play the piece concentrate on just one element, like the melody or rhythm and forget about all the other elements. Play it a few times and then concentrate on another aspect of the music and forget everything else. Eventually you'll have all the technical stuff downpack and you'll be able to play the music as you feel it.

Also it helps to split the music up into small segments, around two bars to a line and perfect them, then work your way through the whole piece like that.

If I find I'm getting upset with not making any progress then I just get out a really easy piece that I know well play through it and really feel the music. It reminds me of the progress I've made from when I found that piece hard and sort of inspires me to go on.

I really dislike practicing things slowly. That feels so much like cheating, and distorts and fragments the *music* too much.
The problem is of course that if you practice at the correct tempo and keep playing wrong notes, your muscular memory kicks in and you are in fact practicing the mistakes.

I love playing, but I'm not very good at it.

Definitely. Not to sound arrogant, but I have a lot of raw musical talent, according to others. I can pick up pretty much any instrument and start playing it (except drums... my coordination is just too poor and I end up sticking one of the drumsticks in my eye while the other one beats me over the head. ) I also have good pitch and a 3.5-octave soprano range. I often tried to pursue music seriously when I was younger because I love to play, but it just doesn't work out, for exactly the same reason Unspecified says:

It's the same for me. I play because I want to hear what the whole piece sounds like and enjoy it. I don't have the patience or focus to practice technique enough to really improve, so I start off strong for a beginner and never really move beyond an intermediate skill level. I had professional lessons for years in both piano and voice and ended up basically throwing my toys out of the pram and refusing to go because I was so frustrated with not being able to play everything perfectly!

Nowadays I still play for pleasure-- mostly folk guitar/singing-- and my very sweet partner loves to hear me (or so he claims) but I have a rule for myself that I never listen to my own recordings because I get too mad at myself and refuse to play anymore. I think it might be a touch of OCD that afflicts me in this regard.

My advice? Find some other musicians to play with. You will make mistakes, they will make mistakes, but you'll have a fun time anyways and realize music is about more than not making mistakes.

Other musicians? You mean, like... people? In a group? Doing stuff? With me?

*runs screaming*

Jamming is my favorite way to socialize... it plays to my aspie strengths, not my weaknesses.

Its much better to practice about 10 mins a day rather than an hour every few days. It will eventually get easier and more fun. I've been playing guitar for a long time and don't really force myself to practice anymore. I can't read music but I've reached a point now that I can pick up songs by listening to them.

Same here! Sometimes, especially when plain improvising, there can be new musical ideas to be experimented with - plenty more than if you were just by yourself! As for practising, paddy26 put it best: