Shooting with music.

[Steve RA]

Pink Cadillac would be good !!

[ogiebb]

Slayer and Shadows Fall before every match always gets me amped

[jacketjoed]

i have been thinking about doing this for a while jst havent carried out with it, i would only do it while developing a plan and shooting. but i think it work as mentioned above to smooth out the over thinking problems.

[george76904]

I often listen to music right before I shoot usually not head banging stuff. But definitely no classical that's more annoying than calming to me. Then when I get up to the line I'm going over the song while running through my course of fire. It keeps me calm and loose, I find that if I don't do it I shoot worse than if I do.

[zsavage81]

I usually have a song running in my head so I figured why not listen while shooting. I don't really see any change in my scores from using music or not using music. I like it so ill probably listen more in the future, I'm still very social though.

Usually some Rage Against the Machine, 5 Finger Death Punch, or Perfect Circle jamming when I'm shooting. Most people say they need to calm down but I prefer to get jacked up before I shoot!

[snoog37]

Glad to hear about all the metal heads in the sport. My wife almost had me convinced that I was strange for amping the heavy at my age.

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[jabbermurph]

Glad to hear about all the metal heads in the sport. My wife almost had me convinced that I was strange for amping the heavy at my age.

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Tool, Opeth and Mastodon are my pregame....tell your wife you are not alone

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[Jshuberg]

I've used earbuds under my muffs as a way of acellerating the programming of the subconscious when running drills. Usually Pink Floyd, or something mellow. How it works is that I pay attention to my shooting at the beginning, while hearing the music in the background. Other the course of my shooting session, I start paying more and more attention to the music, until my conscious mind is entirely listening to the music, singing along and being completely absorbed by Floyd. At the same time I watch myself shooting in the background.

The way I understand it, there are basically two forms of meditation that move the conscious mind away from what your doing so that you can perform activities subconsciously - active and passive. You can either clear your mind, and turn down the heat on random thoughts bubbling up into your consciousness, or you can simply force your attention onto something unrelated to occupy it. Listening to music while training can be used to force your mind off of your shooting, letting the subconscious get it's practice in. Its a very cool technique that speeds up the development of procedural memory above what can be acomplished by brute force repetition alone.

[swedge58]

I tried listening to White Zombie Thunder Kiss 65 it got me DQ'd. I got so amped up when the buzzer went off I ran up and just punched and round house kicked the targets.

[mag17]

I personally listen to some classical music before the match but once I am geared up, no music and just concentrate on the course of fire.... Am I old fashion?

[pbosik]

I listen to pandora while shooting all the time. I wear pro ears slim tac gold muffs and run the cord down the back of my shirt, plugged into my cell. Never have a problem hearing conversations, commands etc.

[B_Seehawer]

Massive Attack

Angel

Feel like a badass everytime.

[rgkeller]

Apparently, I am the only shooter who rocks to the cadence of "Tiptoe through the Tulips."

[MetropolisLake]

Shoot to Thrill by ACDC pumps me up while in standby mode while visualizing how I run through the course like having my own mtv.

Kinda wondering what all kind of gun related songs are out there. Personally I like "cock the hammer" by Cypress Hill and "Down Rodeo" by Rage Against the Machine.

[OscarMike]

I've shot a few ATA matches recenty. Reallllly popular in that crowd to listen to music

[LiveShootLive]

I listen to a lot of music everyday. I have 4x10s and 2x12s at home. My neighbors hate me. I don't think I will ever listen to music at a range, zero distraction, zero bs.

[Jshuberg]

Once you've gotten past the initial learning, you need to employ some kind of distraction in your training. Some people put all their attention into their front sight, to the exclusion of everything else, to keep their mind off trigger squeeze, aiming, transitions. Some people empty and relax the mind and zone out. Some people listen to music in the foreground. It's used as a form of active meditation, a distraction of the mind that forces the subconscious to take over the act of shooting.

Focusing on your front sight blade and simply observing it is considered the best distraction, since it lends itself to shot calling extremely well. It's actually beyond shot calling to the point where the conscious mind is almost entirely consumed with the act of remaining locked onto the front sight. This is a hard skill to master though, and before you master it your subconscious still needs to get it's training in, so music is a great way to bridge the gap between occupying your mind with something distracting, and occupying your mind with your front sight as a distraction.

I suspect part of the reason that focusing the mind on the front sight is difficult, is that when doing so people tend to start aiming, rather than just observing. At which point you are no longer surrendering the operation of the weapon to the subconscious. Again using music seems to help get the mind used to the idea of operating the weapon subconsciously. Then you can shift your attention from music to observing your front sight, but you must make a point to simply observe it, and avoid the urge to begin aiming with the conscious mind.

Aiming should be done subconsciously by instinct, either our location instinct and the minds preference for symmetric geometry, of by our balance instinct and our ability to maintain level, depending on the distance to the target. If when you focus on the front sight you find yourself being concerned with maintaining sight picture or sight alignment, rather than passively observing them, you're not doing it right. Music can help train the mind to "let go" of trying to control all these things, to the point where at some point, you will be able to focus your mind on the front sight without the urge to aim overpowering you.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Jshuberg

[Gentleman4561]

Once you've gotten past the initial learning, you need to employ some kind of distraction in your training. Some people put all their attention into their front sight, to the exclusion of everything else, to keep their mind off trigger squeeze, aiming, transitions. Some people empty and relax the mind and zone out. Some people listen to music in the foreground. It's used as a form of active meditation, a distraction of the mind that forces the subconscious to take over the act of shooting.

Focusing on your front sight blade and simply observing it is considered the best distraction, since it lends itself to shot calling extremely well. It's actually beyond shot calling to the point where the conscious mind is almost entirely consumed with the act of remaining locked onto the front sight. This is a hard skill to master though, and before you master it your subconscious still needs to get it's training in, so music is a great way to bridge the gap between occupying your mind with something distracting, and occupying your mind with your front sight as a distraction.

I suspect part of the reason that focusing the mind on the front sight is difficult, is that when doing so people tend to start aiming, rather than just observing. At which point you are no longer surrendering the operation of the weapon to the subconscious. Again using music seems to help get the mind used to the idea of operating the weapon subconsciously. Then you can shift your attention from music to observing your front sight, but you must make a point to simply observe it, and avoid the urge to begin aiming with the conscious mind.

Aiming should be done subconsciously by instinct, either our location instinct and the minds preference for symmetric geometry, of by our balance instinct and our ability to maintain level, depending on the distance to the target. If when you focus on the front sight you find yourself being concerned with maintaining sight picture or sight alignment, rather than passively observing them, you're not doing it right. Music can help train the mind to "let go" of trying to control all these things, to the point where at some point, you will be able to focus your mind on the front sight without the urge to aim overpowering you.

Great way to look at it.

When practicing I try my best to do it...someday I will forget that urge to aim

[Ultimo-Hombre]

Once you've gotten past the initial learning, you need to employ some kind of distraction in your training. Some people put all their attention into their front sight, to the exclusion of everything else, to keep their mind off trigger squeeze, aiming, transitions. Some people empty and relax the mind and zone out. Some people listen to music in the foreground. It's used as a form of active meditation, a distraction of the mind that forces the subconscious to take over the act of shooting.

Focusing on your front sight blade and simply observing it is considered the best distraction, since it lends itself to shot calling extremely well. It's actually beyond shot calling to the point where the conscious mind is almost entirely consumed with the act of remaining locked onto the front sight. This is a hard skill to master though, and before you master it your subconscious still needs to get it's training in, so music is a great way to bridge the gap between occupying your mind with something distracting, and occupying your mind with your front sight as a distraction.

I suspect part of the reason that focusing the mind on the front sight is difficult, is that when doing so people tend to start aiming, rather than just observing. At which point you are no longer surrendering the operation of the weapon to the subconscious. Again using music seems to help get the mind used to the idea of operating the weapon subconsciously. Then you can shift your attention from music to observing your front sight, but you must make a point to simply observe it, and avoid the urge to begin aiming with the conscious mind.

Aiming should be done subconsciously by instinct, either our location instinct and the minds preference for symmetric geometry, of by our balance instinct and our ability to maintain level, depending on the distance to the target. If when you focus on the front sight you find yourself being concerned with maintaining sight picture or sight alignment, rather than passively observing them, you're not doing it right. Music can help train the mind to "let go" of trying to control all these things, to the point where at some point, you will be able to focus your mind on the front sight without the urge to aim overpowering you.

This is well said.

[rukwikenuf]

i've found that if i, personally, am listening to something heavy (and i prefer my music to scare children) i don't shoot that well. i'm still pretty new to this, and i don't have the solid skill set that many people have. if i, however, listen to Pink Floyd or Trans-Siberian Orchestra, where there's heavy AND mellow parts to every song, and there isn't a lot of singing, i do much better.

i was just talking to JShuberg about this on Sunday at the range. ironic

[rpacker]

I made something like these using the cheap custom molded earplugs from Amazon and some spare earbuds. http://makezine.com/projects/Custom-Fit-Earbuds/

They work pretty well for the price.

[xdcr]

Rage Against The Machine!!

[JFlowers]

I use to shoot with a gentlemen who used a simple Metronome mp3. You can download them at various tempos. None of the flair of Metal but a strong steady beat.

[GLOCK17RACER]

I thought I was alone in the "amping up" pregame, I listen to country almost exclusively except during work out or before shooting, then its heavy metal.

[A-shot]

This thread gets me so switched on.