enough is enough, I want to take practicing seriously and get better.

[Ryan Smith]

I can play bass. I play in a band infact, but I would never call myself good. Unfortunetly finding enough time to practice and even knowing what is the right stuff to practice is really difficult for me. I do have a grasp of some theory, but I think it might be more of that I frimilarized myself with patterns and specfic moves in certain keys and I would really like to just get faster and better at just knowing the entire fretboard inside and out. One big issue with practicing is that my parents are divorced and I spend equal time at both houses and bring my one bass between each house isn't exactly convinent, but motiviation and time are also factors too. I did have teacher for awhile and I will probably resume that, but he suggested I put more work into what he has already laid infront of me before I return. I do have a few books, but I can't decide if the educational value from them is fully worth the time, at any rate what do you guys recomend?

[rockwarnick]

meet and play with as bands musicians as you can, and as many styles as you can. just keep playing. if you are like me and you see music as a language you need to have "conversations" with others to improve your vocabulary. dont just stick to books, there are always elements that texts could never teach. "feel" for example.

[skaismyhero]

Get a cheap bass used or a new squire so you always have one at the house you are going to. What kind of music are you into?

[Ryan Smith]

Im mainly into metal and rock bass playing.

[lomer]

At one point I had asked the same question. Ask yourself this, does the music you play/learn actually challenge you? Once I realised that I wasnt challenging myself and started practicing harder stuff my skills started to get better almost immediately.

You like Metal and Rock, learn some Mastodon or some Lamb of God, definately very challenging stuff.....

[Beej]

My main piece of advice:
Relax, don't rush it.

If you're still young enough to be living with your parents, you have plenty of time to work on your theory and chops. My oldest boy will be working on scales or riffwork on the guitar in our studio and then he'll practically be in tears over how he 'sucks and just can't get any better' until I remind him, fer chrissake, you're ONLY 13!

I agree with what was said above, music is a language, and you need to have as many conversations as you can with as many other speakers as possible. Jam with others, play along with your stereo, watch DVD's, practice techniques and try all styles of music. There is a great deal of generalizability between musical styles.

Bottom line is, if you love playing, it will love you back. Life is what you make it, the more you put in, the more you get out...

[refinedbass]

Originally Posted by Ryan Smith

I can play bass. I play in a band infact, but I would never call myself good. Unfortunetly finding enough time to practice and even knowing what is the right stuff to practice is really difficult for me. I do have a grasp of some theory, but I think it might be more of that I frimilarized myself with patterns and specfic moves in certain keys and I would really like to just get faster and better at just knowing the entire fretboard inside and out.

Just glad to know that I'm not the only one in that boat. Hope something works out for ya soon.

[Depth_Charge]

I have time contraints too, so I try to find ways to maximise the outcomes from the time I do put in, and I try to set goals...learn x scale better, or learn x songs this week, or work on an original tune etc etc.

Recently, I read something about practicing just after you get up in the mornig or just before you go to bed.

I've been doing this for the past two weeks now and I have noticed quicker improvement than before.

[DemoEtc]

You can do a lot of the 'theory' stuff without an instrument; some basic concepts, the way scale fingerings 'overlay' chord shapes, thinking and memorizing what certain intervals look like on the fretboard - 5ths, major 3rds, minor 3rds, 4ths, major/minor 6ths, where the 7ths are, etc.

You might also be able to devote the time spent with one parent as 'theory time' and when you're with the other it could be all about 'chops.'

It might actually work to your advantage, like taking two separate courses in music.

[Beej]

Thinking back on my own experiences in the beginning as well, I started out playing metal and hard rock in my early teens and continued in that genre for years, trying master Slayer, Metallica and others. The biggest advance I made was starting to sit in with a jazz quartet. The changes I learned along with transposition, scale tone chords, working around the beat, et cetera made me a MUCH better player when I brought that stuff back to our metal bands. I can't stress enough how important it is to learn multiple styles inside and out, they'll round out your playing more than you realize...

[lomer]

Originally Posted by Beej

Thinking back on my own experiences in the beginning as well, I started out playing metal and hard rock in my early teens and continued in that genre for years, trying master Slayer, Metallica and others. The biggest advance I made was starting to sit in with a jazz quartet. The changes I learned along with transposition, scale tone chords, working around the beat, et cetera made me a MUCH better player when I brought that stuff back to our metal bands. I can't stress enough how important it is to learn multiple styles inside and out, they'll round out your playing more than you realize...

+1 While metal and rock are good, dont limit yourself to these styles cos you need to explore all the various styles to become versatile.....

[Sir Edward V]

Originally Posted by Ryan Smith

I can play bass. I play in a band infact, but I would never call myself good. Unfortunetly finding enough time to practice and even knowing what is the right stuff to practice is really difficult for me. I do have a grasp of some theory, but I think it might be more of that I frimilarized myself with patterns and specfic moves in certain keys and I would really like to just get faster and better at just knowing the entire fretboard inside and out. One big issue with practicing is that my parents are divorced and I spend equal time at both houses and bring my one bass between each house isn't exactly convinent, but motiviation and time are also factors too. I did have teacher for awhile and I will probably resume that, but he suggested I put more work into what he has already laid infront of me before I return. I do have a few books, but I can't decide if the educational value from them is fully worth the time, at any rate what do you guys recomend?

Practicing is boring, messing around is fun. Keep playing the bass fun. If you get to the point where it becomes a chore (and you aren't making a living off of it) then you shouldn't bother anymore.

I haven't practiced anything in ages, but I have a bass in my hands on average of 2-5 hours a day. Playing at all will help you improve.

[WillPlay4Food]

Originally Posted by Ryan Smith

I can play bass. I play in a band in fact, but I would never call myself good. Unfortunately finding enough time to practice and even knowing what is the right stuff to practice is really difficult for me. I do have a grasp of some theory, but I think it might be more of that I familiarized myself with patterns and specific moves in certain keys and I would really like to just get faster and better at just knowing the entire fretboard inside and out. One big issue with practicing is that my parents are divorced and I spend equal time at both houses and bring my one bass between each house isn't exactly convenient, but motivation and time are also factors too. I did have teacher for awhile and I will probably resume that, but he suggested I put more work into what he has already laid in front of me before I return. I do have a few books, but I can't decide if the educational value from them is fully worth the time, at any rate what do you guys recommend?

If you don't know the fretboard cold, this is the first problem to attack. I'm working on this myself and as I get more comfortable with the fretboard I get more comfortable making larger jumps, working in 2+ octaves, etc. It's helped me a lot and I still have a long way to go.

Since I bring my bass to work with me every day so I can practice during lunch (the only time I have for serious practice), I can't sympathize with you not wanting to lug your bass with you. After all, you have to bring it to band practice and gigs, right? If you can't afford a second/beater bass at the other house then do the sensible thing and bring your bass with you.

If you want to be able to play faster, then get yourself a metronome. Here's a great article on building up speed that I found yesterday. This is going into my practice routine starting today at lunch.

This is how I'll tie all this stuff together so I can be working on multiple things at the same time. In my warmup period I set the metronome to a slow speed, like 70BPM.

I'm working through the pentatonic minor scale in all keys so today will be the key of D minor. I start on the lowest note possible (F in this case) and work to the highest note. To learn the fretboard I think each note I'm playing (I'd sing them but I'm in a cubicle so that wouldn't work too well).

During this scale practice I'll run into areas of the neck or parts of the scale that are difficult for me. So I'll spend extra time moving through these parts. Remember I'm hitting quarter notes at 70BPM. The important things are to be able to play in the scale while thinking the correct note name and stay in time with the metronome. If I'm having trouble at 70BPM I'll slow it down until I can do all this while keeping steady time. Then I'll increase the speed.

Next I'll work on the obvious shapes that I see while playing the scale. Pentatonic minor for example has a couple of (to me) obvious shapes. The first is the same fingering as a minor scale, minus the 2nd and 6th notes of the scale:

Minor Pentatonic, Index on Root 4 fret span
    | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
G|  | - | A | - | - | C | - | D | - | - |
D|  | - | - | F | - | G | - | A | - | - |
A|  | - | - | C | - | D | - | - | F | - |
E|  | F | - | G | - | A | - | - | C | - |

Minor Pentatonic, Index on 3nd 5 fret span
    | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
G|  | - | A | - | - | C | - | D | - | - |
D|  | - | - | F | - | G | - | A | - | - |
A|  | - | - | C | - | D | - | - | F | - |
E|  | F | - | G | - | A | - | - | C | - |

Minor Pentatonic, Index on 5th 4 fret span
    | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
G|  | - | A | - | - | C | - | D | - | - |
D|  | - | - | F | - | G | - | A | - | - |
A|  | - | - | C | - | D | - | - | F | - |
E|  | F | - | G | - | A | - | - | C | - |

[edit]
I only bolded the positions for explanation. I should know where every note in the scale I'm using is on the fretboard. If for some reason I'm not in my preferred fingering that shouldn't mess up my ability to play in the key or work my way back into my preferred fingering. The point is I don't want to be limited to only playing in certain boxes so I can move more fluidly around the fretboard. I'm just using these as a starting point as well as roadsigns to help me remember where I am on the neck.
[/edit]

For me the next step is learning to tie these fingerings/boxes together so I can move around the fretboard but still know where I am in the scale at all times. Once I have the scale down the next thing to practice is common chord progression.

In this case, there's much 1-4-5 music the pentatonic scale easily fits over. So this progression is the first I work on. The cool thing with working on progressions in different scales is the fingerings and scale relationships are the same so while you're working to learn all the scales/chords/fretboard/patterns, you're really drilling your ability to play chord progressions in any key deep into your head. The intervallic distance stays the same, but today you may move between D & F (minor 3rd) and tomorrow you'll move between G & Bb (minor 3rd). This is helping me to recognize intervals.

This has become much longer than I expected and I don't know if this will help anyone so I'll stop here.

[BillMason]

Originally Posted by WillPlay4Food

If you want to be able to play faster, then get yourself a metronome.

Speaking of metronomes and learning feel - it's typical to have the "tock" of the metronome represent a beat in a bar, like a quarter note in 4/4 time. To help you learn feel, you can also experiment with this too, like having each tock represent beats 2 and 4 of every bar, or just beat one, or if you're into country, beats 1 and 3. :-) Beats 2&4 will help you develop the swing feel of jazz. Try setting it faster and having each tock represent an eight note to develop a really tight rock or metal feel. Not as good as playing with a good drummer, but much, much better than having crappy timing!!