Excercises without a bass...

[Suckbird]

So i will be on vacation for 2weeks and wont be able to play bass so what kind of excercises can i do?

[big evil robot]

play lots of video games. seriously, keeps the hands limber.

[nataku]

bring a bass?

in all seriousness, when im bored at school, i usually tap my fingers to keep up finger dexterity. ill tab it out. the thumb is 1 up to the pinky which is 5. my main exercise is picking one finger, then tapping that finger followed by every other finger on the hand, in succession. basically itd look like:

1-2-1-3-1-4-1-5
2-1-2-3-2-4-2-5
3-1-3-2-3-4-3-5
4-1-4-2-4-3-4-5
5-1-5-2-5-3-5-4

then do it on your weaker hand, then speed it up on both, then play it on both hands at the same time, then speed that up, etc.

[Daniel Baskin]

Two things: If you have scales and drills to practice and you don't have a bass, then just visualize them playing out in your mind. Second, hum, sing and think about theory, or rather, philosophize about theory. This is what I do anyway.

[gottawalk]

Weirdest thing; My wife just found this site. Sort of geared to the "guitarist", (sorry...), but worth looking at and adapting to, maybe. Haven't tried one, myself, but take a look. Might be worth keeping in your "carry-on".
http://www.fretfinger.com/

Have a good vacation. (assumption there...)

[Joe Beets]

Take an AM/FM radio with you and try to find a station that plays old standards. You know, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, Glen Miller, that kind of stuff. You will probably never have a need to play this type of music. You may even think that it kind of sucks. But that doesn't matter. This old time music usually had a melody to it. And best of all, it had interesting chord progressions. Some of these songs used 30 or 40 chord changes in one verse and chorus. Not like some modern music in which 3 or 4 chords are enough for a whole song. Here's what you do. Hum or sing the bass line along with the music. The first step to being able to play lines and intervals on your bass neck is to hear the notes in your head. The next step is to make these ideas come out of your bass. This "ear training" will help you to be able to take any musical idea that comes into your head and transmit it directly through your hands. When you get good enough at it you will be able to play any music that you hear, automatically. In prison we had a lot of time on our hands. They wouldn't let me have a guitar or bass in my cell because they were afraid I would hang myself with one of the strings. So I spent many hours singing bass lines along with old standard tunes on the radio. I'm a better player today because of it. Give it a try.

[Baryonyx]

Squeeze a tennis ball, keeps the hands strong and supple.

[Joe Beets]

Oh, you meant exercising your hands??? I thought you would be better off exercising your head. Incredible chops come more from your head than your hands.

[Daniel Baskin]

+a million

[bonscottvocals]

fingertip pushups, no kidding.

[Daniel Baskin]

Um...maybe if you're only a hundred pounds!

[lowphatbass]

Originally Posted by Joe Beets

Oh, you meant exercising your hands??? I thought you would be better off exercising your head. Incredible chops come more from your head than your hands.

YES!
You are better off using time away from your instrument listening. If you were learning how to speak wouldn't you be better off listening to others speach than exercising your toung, jaw and vocal chords?? I realize that playing bass takes more dexterity than speaking but the truth remains. You have to hear it before you can play it!!