Anyone keep a journal or log of their bass playing?

[BassActionBtard]

My bass teacher told me to keep a journal of everything corresponding to the art of electric bass playing, but I have yet to implement anything aside from getting a notebook.

I think that it makes sense to have a journal, sort of a carbon copy or maybe its just the act of taking what ever concept that has been learned or is currently being studied and bring it into the physical world by writing it down.

Does any of you TB'ers have anything resembling this? I'm going to the ball rolling and I need some more ideas of what to put in there aside from the basics (music theory, songs I know and are working on, and the random bass facts I come across).

[Rytch]

i write down every bit of practise i do; date, time and what i have been working on. It really helps to look back at your own progress, and is a great motivational tool. I have only started this in the last 3 weeks, and i can already see my progress.
For example, my sightreading has gone from being non-existent to being bad! but its still progress :-)

It also means that you dont waste time going over things you already know.

Rytch

[Mike Saville]

I'm just getting into bass but this is something I've done for years on other instruments. First in a notebook but now I keep the notes on my laptop. I also make sure I record metronome marks with things so I can check progress at a later date. I'm currently using a piece of free software called TreeDB which seems to work nicely for this.

[kesslari]

I do a rudimentary version of this - a chart of the 5-6 things I want to work on for the month, done by week. then I check off what I do daily. It lets me see if I'm skipping things (like reading ) or if my priorities need to change.

[lindseyp]

BA Btard, thanks for asking this; I do it for other things, and sometimes include bass practice and playing in those journals. It didn't occur to me to dedicate a journal to my bass; which I will immediately start.

[20db pad]

Following a suggestion from Marcus Miller during a chance meeting on 48th street, I've been taping myself playing and working out ideas for a very long time. I started with cassette tapes, but a computer makes this much easier as you can do recordings as well as notes that accompany the audio file.

[dhemstra]

That's a good idea. I'm going to start doing this

[onlyclave]

I used to do a "future journal". On Sunday I would decide what I was going to work on for the week and then break it down with milestones to try and reach each day. About every 6 weeks I would have a review session and rewind a few pages in the notebook and do that week again. As I made progress during the week I would make notes to myself on how things were going or things to pay careful attention to as I played.

[Joe Gress]

Yup.

[WholeLottaLovin]

I've been keeping a "log" for 3 months now. I've been playing 8 months. Its a very helpful learning tool and inspirational to see what you've been progressing from to what you're playing now.

I made a challenge to myself to learn something new every day; either a riff from a song or a scale or whatever and then build on it. then move on. its helping greatly.

also! recording practice also helps, I use a 1/4 to 1/8 converter plug into my computers sound card and then use windows movie maker to capture it; listen to it and then delete it. good stuff.

[BradyEB]

Currently I'm on uni holiday so I'm not playing as much as I would usaully when I'm at uni (studying jazz preformance) but I'm still writing down my daily goals I wanna achieve!

[Honk'n_down-low]

Funny to logon and see this question - I was just rereading the Bass Player Interview with Esperanza Spalding (who I believe is very very talented) and one of the questions was relevant to this topic on how she helped her students get to the next level. Here is the excerpt for Bass Player:

"How do you help your students get to the next level in their playing?

By organizing how they’re going to practice. A lot of my students are overwhelmed by what they have to do in a week. I have them keep a practice journal so they can keep track of what they’ve done, and what they need to do the next time they pick up the instrument. They can see where they left off and see what they have to do next. When you do it in that kind of focused way, you learn a lot about your strengths. At home in your room, you refine what you can do.

How do you advise students on making musical connections with other players?

If you’ve done your homework, you don’t have to think much. The fundamental things are that you have rhythmic accuracy and agility on your instrument. Those are the ideals; that’s what I strive for. You’re going in to listen and converse with what’s being given to you. You have to be confident enough in your knowledge of the “topic” that you don’t need pre-prepared information. You have your own fundamentals down and, depending on the context, you’re open enough that you can literally respond in the moment. If you hear something that someone plays, you know the appropriate way to respond. I learned that playing with Joe Lovano, because he’s so free and has really complicated song forms. It’s also in knowing the song so well that you allow it to sound like itself."

Here is the whole interview

http://www.bassplayer.com/article/on...z/may-08/35479

[Ric5]

I've been playing since 1968 ... I haven't started my log yet ... I must be behind ...