how to practice.

[mrchief128]

i've been playing bass for over a year and a half now, but i still consider myself a beginner...(although i've just about mastered hysteria by muse...not that hard, but it sounds hard) i'm self taught, but i've reached a problem, i get to this point where whenever i sit down with my bass, i have no idea what to do, and i just play a bassline that i've already played a billion times...sometimes i learn a new bass line, but whatever...my problem is that i need to know how to practice. What do you guys do in your practice routines? should i play/memorize scales? oh, and yeah, i know i should have lessons, but i'm in a complicated situation, and can't really get lessons...

[mrchief128]

ugh...sorry, i just realized theres a nice sticky on this...i should've checked...but still, i would like some more personal opinions...

[jsingles]

im sure you have heard it a million times, but SLOW and perfect, not fast and sloppy

and if youre practicing any right hand techniques, apply them to playing scales, and on all strings.

pretty insignificant advice tho

[grieverOSOK]

perfect time to start working on theory and technique!

i ran into the same block at that point in my playing, but getting involved in the more detail oriented aspects of playing definitely opens up a lot of doors for practicing.

so i would advise searching online for theory, fret hand strengthening and right hand dexterity developing lessons. there's plenty of them out there and they'll take your playing to new areas. hope that helps

[ibanezshredder]

Lately what I been doing, I just been putting on tracks of bands that have good bass players and id sit there and figure out the songs note for note then play along with the track. Then after that I set up my drum machine and improv with that. Then usualy I do scale runs up and down the neck practice my chord progressions sometimes ill write a slap riff I dunno it depends on what type of mood im in.

[Insanity^2]

I'm in a similar situation, only I'm 6 months behind you.
I'm trying to play YYZ but I'm still having trouble with 16ths, but hey, at least I can manage the first page of it
I just play through songs I like, do the first 12-bar-blues I learnt, practice my exam pieces and basic improv, and when I get bored, I do the Hazard technique (See technique sticky) and just hammer-ons and tapping till I cry

[j.a.e.r.i.p]

I always start by warming up, for me this means, two octaves of all the modes, the hazard technique, etc. stuff to get my mind and hands going.
next sight reading, if you're not learning to read, you should be, i wish i had started sooner, read anything, dots pages, anything will do.
next i work on a tune, for instance today i started learning power by marcus miller.
next i hit the scales, gotta learn'm, it sucks but they are important
after that i usually jam with a loop in garageband or something of that nature.
then i usually go watch tv and i bring down my paul chambers book to practice reading out of and for the benefits of playing some PC
thats my routine

[PocketGroove82]

MrChief, keep in mind that asking how to practice is totally different from asking what to practice. There are numerous threads out there about individual people's routines and how they allot their practice time, so you can find a ton of stuff if you use the search button.

As to what you should be practicing, well that depends on what you want to learn, how far you want to take your bass playing, and what your weaknesses are. At your level, I think it's time to find some other musicians, jam and work up some songs. Since you feel you can hold down a couple tunes, you should seek out like minded individuals and utilize the skills you've already developed. Hitting a block will happen many times over your career, but when you're playing with others you will notice things and learn from the experience.

Also, I agree with the others who say that if you learn more about music theory then you will see that there are hundreds of things out there to practice. But it can be hard to make sense of it all in any real, tangible way without a real mentor.

There's a million things to practice...ya just don't know'em yet!