| Loop Pedals and practice
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I'm sort of a new member her so if I'm re-hashing an often discussed topic I apologize.....
I've read a lot of people on here who have trouble applying what they learn from scale practice to actual playing. In my experience I really couldn't grasp it either until I bought a loop pedal around 5 years ago. It really helped me to understand the way music really worked and practice at making good bass lines in a setting where I was by myself and comfortable. To me, it's really hard to take what you learned in practice and immediatley try to make it work in a band context. Sure you may know where all the right notes are but many lock up when they're put on the spot.
What I found was a good way to practice was to pick a simple chord progression( I would make it a point to do a different one each time I practiced) record it and then play lines over it. I'd play melodic lines, root and fifth lines, walking lines almost any style I could think of. It was only at this point that I began to understand how i could effect a song by the choice of note selection(pitch and duration). This was also very beneficial in my phrasing and improvising skills.
Scales, modes and the like are only tools to teach you the right notes in a particular key---sure some may be able to read, remember and apply just by practicing them but others may need to do it in a more musical way.
I bring this up to see if any one else felt the same way I did and to pass on some thing that has been helpful for me. | 
