Practising structure??

bubinga5 · #1 06-09-2006, 05:43 PM

Hey people.

Any one have a schedual they stick to when practising..At the moment i tend to play a few songs i know then maybe try a few i dont.Not sure if learning bass lines from songs is benefiting me.I do some quite hard stuff and eventually get them,but is learning stuff parrotfashion doing me any good,or pushing me in the right direction?

Also i do a little theory (i mean a little) like going over scales(two octaves)..What other options do i have(not the dreaded modes)....Also learning slap but my bloody index fingers about to fall off!

Does any one warm up, what do you do? sometimes i will pick up the bass and i feel really sharp, but other times i just dont feel connected to the bass.

I just feel as if im not doing as much as i could,or pushing myself economically in the right direction.Think i need a bit of structure
Any ideas??? Much abliged

AndyG...

**WillPlay4Food** · #2 06-09-2006, 05:52 PM

Check out the Practice, Practice, Practice thread stickied at the top of this forum for some great ideas.

Ever play a minor scale? Surprise! It's a mode of the major scale.

Each mode gives its own distinctive sound, it would serve you well to at least check them out.

My latest practice sessions have been warming up with 2 octave scales, some mode practice, walking through different chord progressions and trying to learn songs.

In order to get the most out of learning a song, you'll probably need to transcribe it. Then you can break it down note by note to figure out how the notes fit together. For me this has been slow and painful but I have been learning stuff by doing this.

DaemonBass · #3 06-10-2006, 12:27 AM

I would definately recommend that you warm up before playing each time, if you want to avoid potential hand/wrist injury. There are many warm up excercises. to be found on the net.

Second, I would recommend you practice each time with a metronome.

Thirdly, I would evaluate exactly what I wanted to get better at and focus on that each time until you are satisfied. For example, you want to increase speed? Memorize the parts then practice with the metronome always increasing the speed, once you have that riff at a certain tempo mastered. Or, you want to learn more scales? Then practice these scales with the metronome. Ect, ect. IMO you can't effectively practice everything at once you really need to pick a specific thing your trying to do.

fr0me0 · #4 06-10-2006, 05:33 AM

check out intervals to!

Bassist4Life · #5 06-10-2006, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubinga5

I just feel as if im not doing as much as i could,or pushing myself economically in the right direction.Think i need a bit of structure
Any ideas??? Much abliged

AndyG...

Your practice routine really depends on your musical goals. It also depends on how much time you have.

I recently got a gig playing jazz standards in a combo. Now, my musical goal is to create walking bass lines on the fly. That's what I spend my time on right now. I got Todd Johnson's DVD to help me along with that. Also, I work a full-time job as a public school orchestra director and I have two kids. There isn't a lot of time for practice, so I make the most of my available time at night and during my lunch break.

What are your goals? It would be helpful to narrow it down. Of course; we all want to be well-rounded musicians, but most of us don't have all day to practice (unless your a music student in college). In college, I could practice 8 hours/day if I wanted to. But in college I had to practice piano, voice, brass, woodwind, percussion, strings, conducting, theory... It was nuts!

Joe

heath_the_great · #6 06-10-2006, 07:43 AM

i actually just learn as many songs as possible, and jam with as many different people as possible

BassChuck · #7 06-10-2006, 05:49 PM

I believe in a structured practice. I don't always have the time to go through the whole system as much as I can. All this is, of course, my opinion based on learning several instruments. It works for me. Maybe it will help you.

1.) Play something easy that moves all the muscles that you use to play bass. Fingers, arm... whatever. Musically this is not an important part of the practice. It serves two points. To loosen and stretch, and to warm up your mind and get you ready to play music. Warming up is very important and not just your body, your musical sense is important too. Keep this part short in time and you can use it to keep in shape during the times you can't do a lot of practice and before gigs and practice so you can be at your best.

2.) Work on something at is going to be a part of your music that you can't do completely well. Try to make at least part of it better.

3.) Try something new. Learn a new song, compose something, try a new solo to an old song. Push yourself musically and/or technically.

4.) Jam something that is fun to play and that you can do well. Turn on the fantasies. Rock on.

HeavyFingers · #8 06-11-2006, 09:38 PM

One piece of free software that I have found just awesome for learning songs is Power Tab Editor. Just do a google search for it and you will find a free download. Its basically a program that people use to transcribe songs onto in which you can view the guitar and bass parts on separate pages. Also, it can play the entire song for you in midi so you can play along to it with a metronome in the background as well. To find files for it go to a tab site like ultimate guitar or something and just look for the tabs marked "powertab". There used to be a gigantic library of powertabs...until the stupid RIAA called them to court b/c musicians were supposedly loosing money from tabs

. Anyway, check out the program and search out some songs. Good Luck!