Practice Regimine for 08'

[student4life]

Here's my situation; and before anyone suggests getting a good teacher, I do have one , a great one....but I'm still trying to figure out the mystery of not neccesarily what to practice but how to practice.

Here's my situation:

I'm a working adult who gigs on electric bass regularly. I started playing double bass 2 years ago and, although I've greatly improved over that time I haven't found the best way to optimize what little time I to practice.

I have Simandl etudes, walking lines to work on, etc.

But I find myself pummeling through a lot of info but not feeling like I'm RETAINING the information.

Here's an example; primarily on upright, I still shy away from flat keys, a get lost in changes.

I know that I have to have an agenda when I sit down to practice. I'm usually armed with a metronome, tracks and an egg timer.

I'm frustrated, looking for some insight.

What kind of realistic workout can I put into use to see some serious results this time next year?

[student4life]

just thought of something -

ok, let's say one of the things that I need to really work on is arco playing.

I'm working on a F Major etude. Sounding like crap the entire way though.

I say to myself "play the first four bars over and over...."
still sound like crap....

then it takes me a week to get through the whole 36 bars and it still sounds like crap. at what point do I move on?

What do I focus on?

mind, there's a whole lot of other stuff on my plate also ?

quitting is not an option

[Marcury]

You say you have a great teacher, have you broached this issue and your frustrations with him (her)?

If your working hard on something for a week or more and it consistently sounds like crap, perhaps you need to work on something simpler. Slow down. Don't move on till what you're doing doesn't sound like crap or as above do something simpler. It sounds like you may be putting to much pressure on yourself to work on things that you're not ready for.

BTW this is probably posted better in the Jazz or Orchestral Technique threads in the Double Bass forums.

[Michael Case]

First question, how much practice time do you have?

Split your time up, if you have 1 hour a day spend 15 minuets on Arco sacles/arpeggios, then 15 on an etude, then 15 on jazz. You can adjust the time frame to fit your schedule, but you get the point. One other thing, arco is HARD, it requires a lot of work and a bass set up that works well for it. I have Spiros on my bass and my arco sounds decent for practice, but I spend more time working on jazz stuff. If you want to get through a tune without getting lost, you need to study tunes. On the DB jazz technique forum their is a thread titled "REALLY learning a tune" by Ed Fuqua, it offers some great advice on learning standards.

[student4life]

hey thanks alot!

[mutedeity]

I think one thing you could try is keeping a practice journal. That way you can give yourself a series of excercises you want to get though in a given time as a goal. It will help you keep track of your progress and let you see where you have worked on certain things and where you haven't. You can make observations and comments about what you were hoping to achieve and where you think you need more work. That way you will have a record of what you have done and how you have progressed.