How do you deal with perfectionism?

[Yair Matayev]

We practice, practice and practice. And when the time to record comes, we realize how much more we have to practice to reach the desired result.

I believe many other players here are trying to be less of a perfectionist regarding recording and performing. Still, they love their playing without getting upset later about the mistakes or imperfections.

Coping methods are different and depend on each person's personality type.

For example, as a person who analyzes things in depth, I can delve more and more into what can be improved, removed, or added. The answer is probably counterintuitive, which means thinking less and feeling more.

What do you think?

 

[Dismalhead]

I'm a dedicated practicer. I don't perform until I have it down so I can do it every time.

I learned the hard way many years ago in high school when I tried out for drum major in the band. I didn't realize you were supposed to have a set routine down and went into it figuring I'd make the thing up as I went. Didn't work out and I didn't get the position; devastated me for probably a year. Ever since then I'm too worried about making an ass out of myself so I practice hour after hour until I get it down. Probably drove the family nuts over the years; still do the same to my fiance.

I do have a mental thing where I don't practice segments of songs. If I screw up I have to start all over at the beginning. Rinse and repeat, sometimes the same song over and over again like 40 times in one practice.

I'd guess that I've played all the songs in my set at least a thousand times each.

 

[klasaine]

I'm a bit of a perfectionist but my idea of "perfect" actually includes some rough edges and the occasional unexpected result.

I can deal with a little tuning/pitch issue as well as the odd note or odd phrasing. The things I don't let slide are parts that I know that are not in time, not grooving and just plain wrong. And I have no problem fixing those things, as well as learning from them and doing my best not to repeat them.

 

[arlum]

I don't play many songs other than my own so I don't have to meet the same goals as cover bands, etc. What's mine is mine. I don't settle for allowing myself to make mistakes but, when an opportunity arrives to try something new, I don't always stick to the script. If it doesn't work I'll go back to the original. If it's better I'll change the song to incorporate it.

 

[andy__d]

Listen to what other people are saying: and ask them for their feedback. Often what we think was wrong and needed more practice, they might have totally missed, but call you out on something we’d totally not even thought was an issue. It doesn’t mean you have to practice any less, and sometimes it can be a nasty surprise - but it helps with focusing that practice where it’s needed. So often the issue can be more with the rhythm / phrasing than the actual notes. Your drummer knows best (I never thought I’d say that…), listen to any feedback they can give you.

 

[Jim622]

It hasn't seemed to have presented itself as yet.

 

[cyclopean]

For me, it’s reminding myself that there is usually not one perfect, but many equally very good variations on any given piece of music, film, or photography you may be working on.

That and how flawed/weird/funky so many of my favorite things are, and how much i hate when you make something airless and “perfect”.

You know that one descendents song where the one guy screws up the harmony vocals and blurts out “sorry” and they left it in? I love that.

 

[sax4blues]

When it comes to recordings either studio or live for me the best way to deal with perfectionism is to not listen to the recordings.

 

[Engine Swap]

 

[LOSTVENTURE]

How do you even know when you have something "perfect".
For example, I've been working on an instrumental version of Elanore Rigby for at least 15 years. Just when I think I've got a perfect working arrangement, something new will pop up. And so the search goes on. Will I ever get it perfect? I'll let you know when that happens.

 

[Dik Ellis]

If you can get the essence of the song across to listeners, your job is done.

 

[NeverTooLate]

Thankfully, my job involves (research) writing and (professional) writing can be perfected ad nauseum so long as time allows (and so planning and discipline are key). So now that I am learning to play...it is so very different.

In my area, publications have a very long shelf life. So I do strive for "perfection" though family members do not normally appreciate its pursuit. Getting that last 1% right is hard to appreciate from the outside.

But when it comes to speech...perfection is irrelevant. What matters is getting your point across, as others said for music, and also presentation skills and impact.

Back to music, there are mistakes (not that I can personally catch them) by Eddie Van Halen and Whitney Houston. So in a traditional studio setting mistakes are simply unavoidable and perfection is a dream. Today, with all the tech...aren't things fixable?

I know that singers get autotuned even against their own will in some settings (like TV).

 

[acousticnitemare]

I sit down to play every day.
I always start with warmup scales and grabbing chord forms up and down the neck.
I also work in riffs and/or chord changes that I've been stumbling over, into the scales and chords.
It generally takes 3 weeks or so for me to nail a tough "spot" that I've been stumbling over, but it works itself in after a while.
I was advised to warm up daily this way by a guy I knew who took his first check for playing lead on an album and bought a new corvette with it.
With tunes I cover, I can get comfortable with my arrangement fairly early on and it just stays that way; stuff I write from scratch gets changed every time I cycle through it in rotation, like what @LOSTVENTURE said. That never ends...
I can play, and it's fine, audience or no, but when the record button goes red, I practically freeze; the mistakes line up and fight with each other to see which gets to screw up the tune next, as if I had nothing to do with the process [sigh]. I've never figured that one out.

So how do I deal with it? I'm not sure that I deal with it.
AFAIK, I'm not beyond dealing with good advice, however .

 

[rdjones]

"I'm not a perfectionist, I'm a precisionist"

Perfection is an immeasurable and therefore impossible task.
Precision is simply perfection within an identifiable and therefore measurable level of tolerance.
Aim for precision and forget about obsessing over an unobtainably perfect goal.

 

[Timbresmith1]

I gave it up in favor of sanity.

 

[telemnemonics]

By valuing the raw violence and emotional expressive potentials in music; more than perfectionism which opposes those other things.

Have to apply different solutions in different parts of life, some areas I just accept my fear of the imperfect.

What kinds of art do you like?
Take some of those values for your own.
Perfectionism and flawless execution is really a low grade value, high art is not attained by eliminating flaws.
Content intention and meaning are higher values.
IMO!

 

[Bob Womack]

I've spent my career in recording sessions, and that means under deadlines. That environment teaches you that there is never perfection and there is a certain point beyond which people don't even like near-perfection. As a result, you simply can't let the pursuit of the perfect get in the way of the very, very good.

Bob

 

[Monoprice99]

Just live with my best efforts. If I disappoint myself, I'll go back and do it right, keep on tweaking it.

 

[archtop_fjk]

Here you go:

10 classic Beatles songs that are hiding mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes, even The Beatles.

faroutmagazine.co.uk

 

[Engine Swap]

Aside from being a lousy guitarist, I’m also a so-so ceramicist.

One of my fellow students was a woman well into her 80s and she once to me “art needs freedom, not perfection”.

I find this holds true of many things, practice will get you close, but you need to accept some “freedom” and let it do its thing. Letting go of the idea of perfection can be difficult.

All of these have flaws, but I’m happy with the end result. In many cases things didn’t go to plan.