Muusers' 10 points of music improvement

[Muusers]

There we go, my view on how you should practise your music.
This is the stuff that helped me get into Amsterdam School of Music (which I later turned down to study Mechanical Engineering:P). In no particular order:

1. Take lessons from an experienced teacher. Someone that can show you proper technique, theory (including scales, reading, rhythm, chords, etc.) , musicality, the works.
2. Practise songs you like. This will motivate you to practise more and get better.
3. Learn to (sight)read both bass clef AND treble clef. For advanced musicians; learn the C clef (or whatever you call it).
4. Get a rhythm book; this is a book with all kinds of rhythms on a stave that you have to tap with your hands, one hand the sign, the other the beat. example:

So with your left hand you tap 1 2 3 4 on the beat. Your right hand taps the actual rhythm. START OUT EASY. Coordination gets tricky if you rush it.
5. Sing your lines so you know what they sound like, the biggest problem is often not how they sound, but how they should sound. For advanced musicians; sing new lines BEFORE you play them.
6. Get a metronome. Yes, I said it. Get one, now! Play simple grooves to your metronome at first. Later play known lines to the metronome and finally play unknown lines (sightread) to the metronome.
7. Practise a good half hour straight a day, then take a break, to continue if you wish. Start your practice with playing stuff you already know and like, then continue onto scales, chords, whatever your assignment was from class, then proceed to songs you need to learn.
8. Break down your songs/lines according to theory. Look at the staves, what do they actually say, and more importantly, why? Why is that note an F# instead of a Gb? And why are you playing in Amin instead of Cmaj?
9. Learn how to recognize chords, scales, intervals and rhythms by ear. You can do this with a handy program like this one: http://www.solfege.org/Solfege/Download
10. Have fun while playing! I can't stress this enough, if you're not enjoying yourself while you're playing a song you like, you won't get better. Also, no one ever said scales should be fun.

Optional: get special theory (solfege) lessons if available in your region. They teach you the lingo and stuff you need to know for any instrument, ranging from circle of fifths and how to apply it to sightreading, tapping rhythms and writing down chords to a line.

Enjoy playing!

[Nashrakh]

Great list! You sir, have my approval lol.

Anyway, I think number 4 can be substituted by listening to songs and imitating the drums (=clapping major rhythm elements). You don't have the visual aspect these books have, but I think it's more practical.

Number 1 is fine too (although I'm self-taught), but that kinda implies that teachers are available and you are able and willing to pay for them. Where I live, the potential candidates for being a bass teacher are either:

1. Guitarists that think they can also teach bass. Nothing against the ones who can do it, but I have yet to talk to one of them...
2. High class players that only teach for top dough and/or have a limited time schedule, which means you have to be lucky to become their student because of limited slots
3. Local bassists who don't want to teach you because they are inexperienced in teaching and most of the time, self-taught.

Sadly, the only one guy I REALLY want to take lessons from is type 3 and doesn't want to teach me

How ironic.

Anyway, I especially concur with number 10. The one thing that keeps us playing!

[Muusers]

The trick with number 4 is that you read the rhythm instead of just hear it. Repeating a rhythm that you hear is something completely different than reading the rhythm and then producing it. Number 4 and 5 essentially break down reading into two smaller and easier components. You can see that if you add them together, the only thing you need to master for sightreading is your instrument.

Yeah, I've had a very priviledged life when it comes to music. In the Netherlands we have special music schools that you can attend as a kid. These schools have graduated "professional" music school (conservatory) people that teach all kinds of instruments. I was lucky that my parents forced me to at least one year of lessons on an instrument of my liking.

[varunkapahi]

M! i have never taken you seriously before this!

[DudeistMonk]

Originally Posted by Muusers

The trick with number 4 is that you read the rhythm instead of just hear it. Repeating a rhythm that you hear is something completely different than reading the rhythm and then producing it. Number 4 and 5 essentially break down reading into two smaller and easier components. You can see that if you add them together, the only thing you need to master for sightreading is your instrument.

Yeah, I've had a very priviledged life when it comes to music. In the Netherlands we have special music schools that you can attend as a kid. These schools have graduated "professional" music school (conservatory) people that teach all kinds of instruments. I was lucky that my parents forced me to at least one year of lessons on an instrument of my liking.

My instructor gave me a similar but cheaper exercise for this...Just write all the derivatives of the quarter note out on note cards (2 8ths, 8th 2 16ths, dotted 8th 16th, 4 16ths...ext) and then shuffle all 9 of them and play what ever comes out with a metronome.

[Muusers]

That's a good trick too, but then it gets hard to play over the bar, eg, not playing the "one".