How do you practice?

[mcfrankson]

I'm mainly a jazz double bass player and I have trouble with how exactly to practice the electric bass. What do you guys do? The cross to electric is weird for me, because I don't have to work on intonation and stamina is less an issue. Looking for tips from you guys who'd know better than I. Thanks for the help.

[Jim Nazium]

I practice by playing music. I'm not trying to be a wiseguy, but I don't practice scales, arpeggios, or technique exercises. And, as you said, there's no need to work on intonation or long bowed tones. So, I put the metronome on beats 2&4, I get out a chart, and I play walking lines, focusing on the time and on coming up with an interesting part. Or I try to copy lines from a recording. The instrument is so much physically easier that you can focus more on the music, IMHO.

[MalcolmAmos]

I've been playing electric bass for just over one year. I was able to hook up with a rhythm guitar and we play every Thursday for an hour at the local nursing home. It's pure jam no sheet music so...... I'm jamming (assuming) a I IV V and watching, listening and changing chords - as the song develops. He, the vocalist - rhythm guitar, is not using any fake chord or lead sheets just the lyrics - so he too is winging it. I mention all this as this is not a normal situation.

It's ole time Country - the residents enjoy the attention we give them and Tom and I have fun. Our time together at the home is the only time we practice together during the week. I guess I should mention Tom and I play together in another band and have for over 10 years. He on bass and I'm on rhythm guitar in that band. I pretty well know what he is going to be doing.....

Practice. Start with some pentatonic runs just to warm up then move on to chord tones. I'm working on getting generic major and minor bass lines into muscle memory. For example:

Major - R-3-5-3, R-3-5-8 or R-2-5-6 generic notes that can be used over any major chord. I visualize a major chord progression and then grab one of the generic bass line I've stored in muscle memory. So I work on moving that pattern around in the different keys Tom will be singing in. C-F-G7 -- G-C-D7 -- A-D-E7. etc. Place my root on the 3rd string (4 string bass) then work the I IV V from that location.

Chromatic runs to the next chord is another exercise I do. Experimenting on different ways to accomplish the run. That is after the muscle memory segment.

The Country we do is basic chord tone with chromatic runs so that is what I work on.

Then for my own enjoyment I noodle melodic phrases. Working on incorporating this into our songs as echo melody. Augmenting the melody - echoing what the vocalist has just done. Long way before this goes public.

How much? Hour or so three days a week. Counting the hour we play every Thursday that makes 4 hours a week on bass. The other band - we've been doing the same 35 to 40 songs for over 10 years now. We average 4 gigs a month with this band and only practice together if we have something special coming up. We've got over 200 songs in the gig book and if the director is adding one of those he lets us know by E-Mail -- Christmas time saw some new stuff and of course we all practiced those at home.

For what that is worth.....

[zachoff]

By myself... I noodle around on bass or guitar until I hear something that sounds cool. If I remember it, I record it and send it out to the rest of my band.

With the band... We hit record, noodle on a riff or the drummer starts playing, and if we have anything cool we rewind, listen, and go from there.

[Elrend]

When I practice electric I do a subdivision exercise (think of it as 1 time signature per beat eg: 1/4 - 2/4 - 3/4 - 4/4 - 5/4 - 6/4 - 7/4 - 8/4 and then back down) at a low tempo (40-ish is good). You don't really need an instrument for that though, so when I practice my electric, I'll generally work on phrasing, chord voicings and well, speed.

[sammyp]

personally i split my time between tecnique exercises and playing tunes or working with play alongs ....

my technique exercises are taken from a couple sourse: Bass Playing Techniques - Alexis Sklarevski MI Press and 101 Licks for Bass Guitar (mel Bay) as well as stuff i pick up along the way from vids or whatever.

then i'll work on the grooves in Grooves for Electric Bass MI Press and stuff like YYZ, Runaway (Jamiroqaui), Only So Much Oil in the Ground, tunes for my band etc ....or maybe learn a new blues pattern ...

[Roy Vogt]

I assume you probably read well, so here's some things to look at:
Standing in the Shadows of Motown has a load of great Bass Line oriented transcriptions. It will help you think like an Electric Player. Ditto for some of the Carol Kaye material.
Maybe a good Slap Book is in order if you want to get that in your trick bag. I favor Slap It! by Tony Oppenheim and Funk Bass by Bill Dickens, but there are a lot of choices out there.
The two things that I see some of my peers and students that are Jazz Upright specialists struggle with are "Feel" and "Style" issues. The key there would probably be listening, transcribing, and playing along.
Because you've spent a lot of time (I assume) dealing with Jazz Harmony, Walking Lines, Reading, and Improvisation you're at a significant advantage when adding Electric Bass, IMHO. Because of the ease with which Electric Bass can be played and length of notes, don't forget that there's great solo material in Jazz Saxophone, Trumpet, Guitar and Piano transcriptions as well.
Finally, IMHO practice should not sound good! If you're working on something you can't do until you can do it, any further playing of that material is performance, not practicing. Give yourself a pat on the back and move on.
Congratulations on your decision to become the most versatile player you can.