Originally Posted by dcuny
As a computer programmer and a musician, I have experienced is crossing over from "still learning to do it" into "performing with little effort". I assume anyone who drives a car or rides a bike has the same experience.
My experience is similar but a tad different.

There is perhaps just one song that I can play along to on the bass where a) I have it so memorized and that I have such "relaxed conscious control or supervision" that it's as if I'm on some kind of auto-pilot and b) where I experience a state of near-euphoria. This song is Song on the Radio by Al Stewart. Others may call this "being in the zone". It's more than just locking in with the drums, it's like riding a wave of vocals, keyboard and sax with your fingers knowing you won't fall off the surf board. Maybe another way to express this is being part of a "larger truth"; that is, the band. I am able to improvise on this song but only a little bit; my bass skills hold me back from fully improvising without error. The funny thing is that I have yet to reach this "zone" with any of the stuff I've actually composed and recorded.

Likewise, over my career there were times where I'd be in a similar "zone" while writing code or working a tough engineering problem late at night when only the janitors were around. But I can't say that I reach a similar zone while riding a bike, driving a car, or speaking/writing English. Perhaps, the "danger" of messing up or a real sense of accomplishment needs to be present. Or maybe joy has something to do with it. Riding a bike or speaking is so easy there's no danger, joy or sense of accomplishment involved.

Perhaps this isn't about intensive hyperfocus on a task or relaxing one’s focus but rather some combination of the two. In any event, this is a fascinating subject.

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For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.