Getting Better?

[wilberthenry]

I am a decent player, but have endeavered to become a better player in 2012. I would like any tips in the following areas:
-Endurance--I sound a lot stronger earlier in a tune (especially more complex and funky tunes) and tend to lose a little intensity as a tune goes on. How do you keep the intensity up throughout a tune, especially a longer tune.
-Timing-My timing is as good (or bad) as the drummer I am playing with. When trying to play sans drums I struggle. I use a metronome some, but I don't think I use it effectively.
-Noodle man-I tend to noodle and play stream of consciousness stuff way too much when I practice. It REALLY helps me lose the stress I have when I get to play. How can I get a more productive use of my limited practice time?

[nostatic]

1) use a metronome or drum loop most of the time rather than some.
2) have a routine of tasks to practice. Good ones include playing every note on the fretboard one at a time (ie E in every position, F in every position, F# in every position, etc), setting the metronome at 40bpm and playing one note per beat, then two notes, then 3 notes, then 4, then 5 all the way up to 12 (11th notes are a pita).

Maintaining intensity is all about starting at a reasonable pace for the song and just playing *a lot* so that you have stamina. One way to get at this is another exercise where you can do stream of consciousness but you have to play for 15 minutes straight without stopping at all. Anything goes - riffs, solo, chords, whatever - you just cannot stop for 15 min.

Those have helped me a lot over the last year.

[RocketMusic]

Originally Posted by wilberthenry

-Noodle man-I tend to noodle and play stream of consciousness stuff way too much when I practice. It REALLY helps me lose the stress I have when I get to play. How can I get a more productive use of my limited practice time?

If you're looking for a single silver bullet, I'd say you've already identified the problem in the sentence above. If you spend your practice time playing what you're already good at (and we all do it), you're not really practicing.

I love the way Anthony Wellington encourages his students to approach practice. Identify something specific you want to work on, develop (or find) an exercise that isloates that thing, and then do every single combination and permutation possible to wring every last bit out of the exercise.

As an example, say you want to master the major scale. A lot of folks learn it up and down in a single octave and in one position, and then they call it a day. I would suggest to you that those people have not yet mastered the major scale. Step 1 would be to start playing it over 2 octaves (or 3 if you have an extended range bass that allows that). Step 2 would be to learn it in every position. Step 3, start working in all 7 modes. Once you've got it working linearly up and down, then start working on playing alternate notes within the scale (broken thirds), alternating directions, etc.

So what starts out as a seemlingly simple exercise could easily consume weeks or months of your practice time. But once you've taken it to the nth degree, you're gonna know whatever it is you're attempting to master inside and out.

[PaulNYC]

For scales, also try playing chordal scales from the lowest notes to the highest. ie. for a G major scale, play the arpegiated chords up a chord, then down the following chord:
Em7 - Fm7b5 - GMaj7 - Am7 - Bm7 - Cmaj7 - D7 - Em7 - Fm7b5 - GMaj7 - Am7 - Bm7 - Cmaj7 - D7 -.... - Gmaj7

say the chord name for each chord

then try other scales.

[wilberthenry]

Thanks for the advice guys. I meant to post this elsewhere on talkbass, but the pain meds I am on incapacitated me a bit.

[RocketMusic]

Originally Posted by wilberthenry

Thanks for the advice guys. I meant to post this elsewhere on talkbass, but the pain meds I am on incapacitated me a bit.

No prob at all, I love having these kinds of threads here in this forum! There are a bunch of excellent players in here frequently, and they're all happy to share their tips and experience.

[VroomVroom]

If I can be so bold, this really dovetails nicely with a blog I just started. I haven't actively taught in over 12 years, but I try to stay in touch with a few trusted low noters that do preach what they practice, and vice versa. That, and I'm hoping my nearly 30 years of playing have some kind of value to someone...anyone....Bueller? Anyway, if you're so inclined...the link is in my sig, below. I'm having recurring formatting issues, for which I totally blame Google. However, my most recent post covers practicing and hopefully will offer a bit of help.

[RocketMusic]

Very cool, Jerry! Thanks for sharing. I'll be checking in there regularly, fer sher.