i can't practice

[sir juice]

After months and months and trying I've been finding it really difficult to actually concentrate while playing scales/arpeggios with a metronome. I just haven't been able to get into it at all. But i've never been one for rigorous practice. For everything else other than speed (which i seriously lack, I get sloppy at realtively slow speeds) For all other aspects of my playing I can fool myself into doing practice (as in I play songs very slowly with my eyes closed to practice my intonation until I can play them all the way through on my fretless) But there doesn't seem to be any way of sorting myself out in this manner.

What can I do to improve my chops, my technique generally is quite good, but I haven't beeen able to develope it in the last year, and as I plan to audition for an advanced diploma at the bass institute in London in about 6 months (the 16-18 year old course) it's something i really need to sort out. Once I'm there (I'm already into the standard diploma course) I'll have a lot more time on my hands as it's a 3 day week (I'll be taking composition lessons also but still...)

I was thinking that buying a cheapo factory made upright would be difficult enough to play to improve my finger strength, but once I've got far on that, there's still no way to improve. I need some sort of obscure way to get my finger strength up or I need to find a way to get into practicing my scales.

Any suggestions?

[Deacon_Blues]

You need to try to motivate yourself more.

Find a song you now think is pretty hard, but not impossible for you to play. Set a date when you want to be able to play that song, or better - when you have to be able to play that song (i.e. a gig). Practice the song a lot and don't leave it to the last days, start immediately.

If you think your technique is lacking for the song - practice technique. The exercise sticky in the Technique forum contains has some great exercises for speed, coordination and endurance. I particularly like the first one in the first post, it has helped me a lot. Do the exercises S...L...O...W...L...Y... with a metronome. The only way to learn to play something at high speeds is to learn it slowly first.

There are no shortcuts to become a good bassist. No practing, no good bass playing. It is that simple, actually.

[sir juice]

i'm completely aware of the lack of shortcuts, but in other cases (as with my intonation work) i can seem to fool myself into think i'm doing things the easy way, because i can focus on getting a song perfect (i'm very picky on the intonation of other bassists)

[PatTheAnchor]

Agreed, there's no way you will improve or make any progress by playing straight through it and saying that "I did it".

I've had to go through the same crap you're going through right now, learning how to cope with playing scales slow. Work on a scale for one week, change up the tempos when you get comfortable, plug it into a chromatic tuner, and check for intonation. I'm still lazy about scales too, but getting a better intonation and concentration on your scales is the only way you will progress.

Technique wise, there's nothing better than using the technique on an open string, and slowly as mentioned before.


Hope this helps, and don't get discouraged or frustrated, everyone has their ups and downs, but the only way you won't get discouraged is by practicing it right and not kicking yourself later for not practicing it right.

[DocBop]

At first I was going to talk about how you practice, but I think you need to sit and think about why you are playing bass in the first place. Plus upright bass requires far more disciplined practice than BG.

[KayCee]

Originally Posted by sir juice

After months and months and trying I've been finding it really difficult to actually concentrate while playing scales/arpeggios with a metronome. I just haven't been able to get into it at all. But i've never been one for rigorous practice.

There are some techniques to help make practice more fun, but there's no way around the fact that it takes hours of hard work to become a great player. When you're ready to do some "rigorous practice", I'm sure that you'll get a lot of good advice. Until then, don't expect the pros in this forum to do a lot of rigorous typing.

[mutedeity]

Have you ever had lessons? My guess is that you aren't all that up to speed on theory either. If that is the case I suggest you go and get some lessons for a start. I also agree with DocBop that you should probably think about why you are playing in the first place. Playing songs isn't really much in the way of practice if that is all you are doing, in my opinion. You really need to be learning how to apply theory to your practice in the way of etudes and sequences. The bottom line is that nothing worth doing is easy, and being good at anything takes discipline. If you lack discipline enough to practice, you shouldn't be surprised if you fall short of what you want to do

[mambo4]

In college I practiced scales/arpeggios w/metronome every morning.

once a week, I wrote down the BPM for each exercise I was able to execute comfortably without mistakes.

so, each week I had a record of how I improved my speed. Even if it was just a little, that was motivating for me.

[Osama_Spears]

Originally Posted by mambo4

In college I practiced scales/arpeggios w/metronome every morning.

once a week, I wrote down the BPM for each exercise I was able to execute comfortably without mistakes.

so, each week I had a record of how I improved my speed. Even if it was just a little, that was motivating for me.

Great Idea.

I cannot stress enough how motivating it is when you write down your practice times/objectives.

infront of my is my bass journal, where I write down all my practice times and what I practiced. right now, im trying to get a solid bass line for "all of me", and get my intonation down for the Eb part of "So What" (on upright). I become dissapointed with myself when for a day of practice i have nothing to write. even if its just 15 minutes of warm-ups before bed, try to put something down.

[DocBop]

Originally Posted by mambo4

In college I practiced scales/arpeggios w/metronome every morning.

once a week, I wrote down the BPM for each exercise I was able to execute comfortably without mistakes.

so, each week I had a record of how I improved my speed. Even if it was just a little, that was motivating for me.

+1
Keeping a practice journal is great suggesting. When you feel you aren't making progress the journal will show you are maybe not at same rate you expect or want.

Also in beginning people make big leaps in knowledge but once you have the some of the fundamentals your increments become smaller because you're working refining playing and learning topics like theory that take more time and experimenting to sink in.

Since many ask about how to practice I saw I book that might be of interest to some. First it is written for any instrument not bass so you will have to interpret/translate things for bass yourself. It's focus is Jazz but the ideas can be applied to any scales or style. The practice formulas and how to practice are IMO very good. So if you get a chance check it out it is only $10.

Practicing Jazz A Creative Approach by David Baker published by Jamey Abersold.

[mutedeity]

I have suggested to several of my students to keep a practice journal. I would also add with the journal to have some constant warm up excercises that you start with then write down a particular excercise you are concentrating on and make it a different one each day. Also it might help to grade yourself in terms of how you feel you progressed during the practice session and whether you feel you need to concentrate on a certain thing more or less.

[stealth51]

Originally Posted by Deacon_Blues

You need to try to motivate yourself more.

Find a song you now think is pretty hard, but not impossible for you to play. Set a date when you want to be able to play that song, or better - when you have to be able to play that song (i.e. a gig). Practice the song a lot and don't leave it to the last days, start immediately.

If you think your technique is lacking for the song - practice technique. The exercise sticky in the Technique forum contains has some great exercises for speed, coordination and endurance. I particularly like the first one in the first post, it has helped me a lot. Do the exercises S...L...O...W...L...Y... with a metronome. The only way to learn to play something at high speeds is to learn it slowly first.

There are no shortcuts to become a good bassist. No practing, no good bass playing. It is that simple, actually.

I think Deacon has a great idea! I'm currently transposing/learning the the sax solo in John Coltrane's Giant Steps. First learn the solo at very slow speeds then gradually increase your speed to play it as clean as Coltrane does. This is great stuff.

[mattblissett]

You have to practice, and even if you find scales boring, they're part of learning the bg and from there, you can develop your skills beyond your level. Also jam with other musicians, find your motivation from within, because no-one will do it for you