How to manage my time?

Poop-Loops · #1 10-17-2006, 07:04 PM

I started listening to Dragonforce yesterday. The guitar parts made me want to learn guitar more than just "eh, I have some time, so I'll pick my guitar up". I mean, I'm REALLY pumped now. But how do I manage it with playing bass?

Alternate days? A bit of each every day? I don't have a whole lot of time, since school is taking up most of it (actually, the 2 hours of bus rides a day are...). I have a teacher who can also teach me guitar, so I won't be self-taught in either, but I just want to maximize my learning per time invested.

markjazzbassist · #2 10-18-2006, 12:10 AM

the way i do multi instruments is this.

bass - 3 to 4 hours
sax - 30 minutes
guitar - 15 mintues

play your main axe the most, and then play the other ones a good amount, but don't let it cut into your main axe time. Even practicing for ten mintues is helpful, so it doesn't matter is you learn by just plinking around for a while.

Poop-Loops · #3 10-18-2006, 07:30 AM

15 minutes? Well, I guess since the two are fairly similar, practicing bass crosses over (I know I've gotten better at fretting guitar through bass. Err... even though I play a fretless...

)

Thanks for the advice.

Oh, but I don't want a "main axe", I want to get good at both equally. I guess that's not really possible, though, huh?

markjazzbassist · #4 10-18-2006, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poop-Loops

Oh, but I don't want a "main axe", I want to get good at both equally. I guess that's not really possible, though, huh?

in that case, split the total practice time in half, and do each instrument equally. If you feel you're already "ahead" on bass, then spend more time on guitar till you catch up.

VanillaO · #5 10-18-2006, 01:43 PM

I picked up guitar about 6 months ago, and ahve been getting better at bass still, by playing only like 1 hour of guitar a day (even if I'm watching hockey, I'm playing aimlessly, without thinking, as long as i'm practicing I don't care). I'd suggest playing more on guitar if you want to get equally good (assume you've been playing bass already for a while

spindizzy · #6 10-18-2006, 02:45 PM

I don't know if you are doing any home recording but I have found new life in my guitar playing simply by adding guitar tracks to my little bass projects. I hadn't pick one up in about twenty years but got bored with overlaid bass chords and bass synth leads on my stuff so I picked it up to breath some instrumental variety into my recordings. Well at first just playing one without trying to add it to a project wasn't getting anywhere so I decided to just dive into adding parts with whatever chops I could yank from my rear end on the fly. Well once I had a mission and something to play to I found my old chops and then some. If you are doing any recording try adding guitar to your mix and see if the added "context" helps you progress further. The hidden benefit for me (as some of this stuff ends up as band material once I am done) was that I started to be able to evaluate my bass parts from a different point of view and many were modified or sometimes simplified as a result of my trying to play the role of another instrument. Although we want to come up with the best bass stuff we can it never hurts to walk a mile in our bandmates shoes.

Poop-Loops · #7 10-18-2006, 03:53 PM

No, no recording. For now, my only playing is just practicing by myself. This trend will continue for years to come. I don't plan on starting/joining a band any time soon. One of the reasons the guitar is so alluring--it's just more interesting to play it alone vs playing bass alone.

VanillaO · #8 10-18-2006, 05:08 PM

I find the opposite. Most people (ie hot girls) don't want to hear you play a bass. They want you to serenade them via guitar :P Either way I play by myself 98% of the time, even though I'm in a band. I play as much as I can when not working

Poop-Loops · #9 10-18-2006, 05:38 PM

No, I meant alluring to myself. It's more intersting to play a melody by yourself than to pump out root notes.

I don't know. My head hurts. I don't want to give up bass, but I think I will put it on hold for a while and explore the guitar once more. I get bored easily, so I think I'll keep switching back and forth. =S

spindizzy · #10 10-18-2006, 06:19 PM

Nothin wrong with that dude...music has a multiple personality.