Does anyone else have this problem? I can't play through a song (well, rarely) without messing up. It seems like the answer would be just to practice more, but even the pieces I have practiced for months this happens with. This is why lately I don't want to play in front of family members, etc. because I'm so scared that I'm going to make mistakes. I even try to relax and not be so tense while I am playing, but it doesn't seem to help me much. This isn't only with the violin, because when I was playing piano, it was the same way. But it doesn't happen for some reason when I am singing or on stage for another reason, like acting, etc. Just when playing an instrument. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips? Thank you so much!

KEEP ON PLAYING. make sure you don't pull faces when you do make a mistake, i used to do that! it gives it away when you do. a lot of people will not realise you made a mistake, unless of course your family has heard you for months and months, and even then they won't mind really. but audiences, unless they are uber classical (or fiddling) nerds will not know if you have made a mistake, so just keep playing. if you have to pause until you can start a bar, don't rush through notes to catch up with timing, because again thats obvious. make it look like you were meant to pause. just take a breath and keep going.

Here is a question for you, Do you make the same mistakes or are they always different mistakes?

#1.If you play musically no one is going to care about a mistake here or there.
#2. If you make the same mistakes then you have practiced them incorrectly. Find a piece you make the same mistake on, take a picture or scan it and send it to me and I will tell you how I would practice it.
#3. If you make different mistakes, again somehow copy the music and send it to me and I will tell you what I thnk might be happening.

When we do silly mistakes (aka stupid mistakes) I believe it is either because we are distracted and not paying enough attention or we are paying too much attention. Often when I find myself making mistakes I take a deep breath and just focus on producing a good sound. The fingerings and positions tend to take care of themselves when you don't think about them.

Now there are a bunch of common mistakes we will make that has to do with what our brain is doing and how it is thinking and working. An example is when you have a series of triplet runs changing notes every other run. The brain wants to do 3 runs of each note sequence, not just 2 runs. So that can be challenging even though it seems as though it is simple.

Different mistakes-- maybe it is because I'm paying too much attention to not making the mistakes and I end up making a bunch of mistakes because I'm trying too hard. Also I think it might be the rhythm and mostly it is on the pieces that are to be played faster so maybe that has a lot do with it. Like I am trying really really hard not to mess up the rhythm by making a mistake, and that's what makes me mess up?

i'm glad i ran into this topic. i have this problem too. and it is so true that family members would notice if you made a mistake since they always hear you...there was even one time when my sister asked me why i still make mistakes even though i have already played it plenty of times before...