Stuck in a Rut,

Now I have been playing Bass for about 3 years and have progressed alot from when I first started, but now I feel REAL STUCK and REAL HELPLESS to see any improvement. I practice for about 2 hours a day and Love it I play everything with a Met to keep time, I work on finger exercises to warm up and work out tracks from various records. BUT I JUST CAN"T Seem to get better these days. I record my Practice and often the timing sucks or the notes are messy I scuff up, man I am seriously discouraged and NEED inspiration. Does anyone have a good suggestions on what I could be practing in my two hours daily to get my playing up there??? I am into Funk R&B Jazz type music with a bit of rock for good measure. Any Suggestions would be VERY VERY VERY Welcome. PLEASE HELP!!

Well. Id say work on things youre unfirmiliar with. Can you read bass clef? If not learn that. If you can learn to read treble clef. Start learning harmony(chords and why they go from one chord to the next) and melody of the songs you like to play. Arrange a song from a jazz context into a solo bass piece(PM me or check out the michael dimin if you want any help with this) Learn a bach cello suite or something. Theres endless possibilities for learning. Also check out Todd Johnsons forum. Hes got some great practice methods and would be great to help you out.

Edit: buy a metronome or even better a looper to help your timing. Set the metronome for about 40 Bpm or as slow as it can go and just play with it untill its steady move the tempo up untill you can play at a fast tempo consistently and evenly.
Everyone has plateaus we just have to force ourselves through them with new things.

[ Arrange a song from a jazz context into a solo bass piece(PM me or check out the michael dimin if you want any help with this) Learn a bach cello suite or something.

That would be great how would I go about this?? I would love to do that?

Any ideas on how I could would on getting that real funk groove, I really love it when the bass lays it down but I REALLY stuggle to hold that funky groove, It tough.

Do you play with anyone?
If not, find some others to play with.
If you do, do you enjoy them? Are they good?
If not, find others to play with.

Practicing that much and NOT having anyone to jam with is very much like... well... let's just say you could go blind.

That would be great how would I go about this?? I would love to do that?


Well first of all you should get a real book. The learn the melody of a fairly simple song . Next learn the chords to the piece. I would suggest summertime. Its a fairly easy song and a standard everyone knows. Then you create your version by combining the melody with the chords. Go to michaeldimin.com and click on Hot licks and cool stuff and then audio and video clips. Watch one of the videos and youll get an idea of what youre going to be doing.

Thanks A lot Clay Bass, I have a copy of The Real Book and Audio, I will go straight to the site and get on that. Thisis something I am really excited to get on with, I have wondered how to get into this for so long thanks man. Any other tips you can think of would be also GREATLY appreciated thank you!!!!!

i think if your practicing 2 hours a day, you might be burning yourself out a bit, i'd do something else for a week and come back to it just for enjoyment and maybe you wont' be as critical of your playing and it'll leave you open to the aura of creativity

Here's one of my favortive things to do when I am in a rut - go to a CD shop (I usually go to a used place) and buy 5 new-to-you CDs. Pick a couple you want; pick a couple a random. Then work out to them. Good stuff!

you might have unstable basics

buy some cd's and learn new basslines.
find some people to jam with (drummers preferably)
start learning to read or (if you already know how) read bass clef
buy more cd's and learn more basslines
branch out into other styles and learn their basslines too.

If what you are practicing isn't right in playback, then I suggest you practice it until it is right.

Seriously though, you must be doing something wrong. I'm in the same boat, but now I slow everything down until I can do it perfect, and I mean exactly like I want it. Then I spead it up gradually until it is at the tempo I want it at.

When I get in a rutt, I take a lesson :) Barring that, pick some music you are unfamilar with, and try to transcribe it. Or pick a new technique to learn, do you know how to slap, pick, thumb mute, and tap? How about chording?

You could always take a musicdojo.com course if you are unable to find a local teacher. I really like what they have to offer.

Well KY you've had a lot of advice. If you made it this far, I'll throw in mine 'cause I have a similar situation. When the joy goes out of it, it's time for a change.

I'd do two things:
Simplify. Scale back to something simple (a 12 bar blues maybe) and do it in the simplest way you know how. Heck R-3-5. No speed, no fancy stuff. Do it till you can do it in a relaxed way and then start building on it. If you find yourself noodeling, take a break, re-focus.

-- You said 'various records' cut that down to 1.
'Finger exercises'? just do a spider up and down the neck and get into the music.

Set an attainable goal. Learn a new but simple song. Re-learn an old scale. Short, simple, do-able.

I see Sean B said something similar, great minds ... :)

I push to learn something new each day, but at some point I have to gather up what I think I know and just do something simple and slow. It's a kind of vacation practice.

Good luck.
And let us know if you bounce back.

John

Yeah, John is right! Good advice.

I've also found out recently, that getting something "good enough" or to the point where you think you got it but still make mistakes is one thing. You learn an infinite more when you actually get it down perfectly and can do it without so much concentration.

For example, I wanted to learn "If I like it, I do it" by Jamiroquai the other day. Sure, I could play along with the song, but then I recorded it. Yipe! I spent the next several hours (over a few days) working on each individual part until it was _really_ and I mean REALLY under my fingers and in my ears. I'm still working on some parts, but what did I learn? I learned some different rhythms that I wouldn't normally use, I learned the sounds of some passing notes in certain sequences that I wouldn't normally use, etc.

Practice with a drummer. Play the songs you are learning or improvise something simple

Gives you a chance to interact with the rhythm more and will help you get tight. You said your timing was off, so id say that should be your biggest priority not learning a solo or bass clef. You mentioned you liked R&B and funk. Well in music and R&B especially the music theory you learn doesnt mean anything unless you can get it rhythm wise and make somebody move with it.

here ya go.
http://www.adamnitti.com/motivation.shtml
by the way, hes got some great lessons on his site.

paintballjunkie

Nice Posting!

Hey Thanks everyone for the advice, It great and VERY helpful advice. The take it slow thing is really good advice and I am seeing some results in this area, but it is slow, and tough to keep at it slow but I can see it paying off alot. I also record the practice parts and have those moments of ARRRRRRR!!!!! but it just helps me SLOOOOW DOWN.

thanks ALL!!!