What is your own personal pratice routine/schedule?

[Jhengsman]

Monday, Tuesday I normally am working on a genre specific book. Blues, Salsa, Reggae, Funk normally how the mood affects me. I also work on my fantasy songs I would do if I was a band leader. By Wednesday I would normally have Sunday's setlist and start running through it to memorize the songs. I would also learn the melody and start to add to the basic basslines incase we are short on musicians come Sunday and I have to fill in. By Saturday night I run through the set on my guitar. Sunday morning rehearsal/soundcheck and then we are on.

[Jhengsman]

On the other hand we have been doing Here I Am To Worship more like William McDowell since adding I Give Myself Away to our book. I guess Sunday morning we will come to an agreement on style.

[PBrown]

I will warmup for twenty min with stretching, scales, and arpeggios then focus on a piece of music I am working on, whether it be jazz, or classical. I have a method that I talk about on my blog here at http://wp.me/pFwaL-d8
It has helped me stay focused and productive. Love some input or if it helps anyone! Thanks, Parker

[rjmsteel]

Subscribed

[SquierJazz72]

The rest of my daily schedule is busy, and sometimes totally random, so I get my practice sessions in wherever they fit throughout the day. I usually manage to get several 20-30 minute chunks per day.

Generally, I try to get one that is devoted to scale and chord tone practice, just running scales and notes and playing around with them. This is generally when I pull out the books work on some theory and improv as well.

With another, I'll do coordination and speed exercises, where I generally push my hands faster and harder than I would under normal playing.
More sweat in practice equals less during a gig, as I see it.

Then, I'll work on specific techniques or grooves that I want to learn or just continue improving on.

Finally, I work on specific bass lines that I want to learn. I usually have a few on the go at once.

If I find myself with more time than this, I'll repeat whatever I feel I want to work on again that day. Sometimes I get lucky and get one big chunk of 2-3 hours at once, and I do it all in one shot.

It's a bit chaotic at times, but it's kept me progressing and getting better everyday, so it works.

[jmclearnon]

Just on this topic, when i warm up it generally takes a lot longer than 5 minutes. Certain parts of my practice vary in speed, sometimes i do endurance training where i will play 16ths for very long periods of time with no breaks.

I would strongly advise if you are doing this that hand stretches, wrist stretches are essential to stop tendonitis. I also stretch each finger in all directions (not rolling the joint!).

It may seem silly to some people but if you are practicing/playing "hard plucked" notes or fast this is very essential, after playing cello for a lot of years and nearly damaging myself from not stretching/bad technique at times, you have to be uber careful. Sorry to drag down the mood.

Btw if you don't know what this tendonitis is, you should look into it.

Sorry thats my health rant over

[DONZI97]

I break mine into half hour segments, sometimes get to all of them, but most of the time only do 2-3 haf hour sessions.

1) 10 mins of scales for warmup, then work on sight reading for 20

2) jazz, warmup up with a bebop line my teacher taught me, then 2-5-1 practice. Lastly working on walking through changes through some standards.

3) technique, dead note grooves, some Jaco lines.

4) Friedlands Blues Book, or his Bass Grooves one.

5) work on my bands setlist, if I'm in review mode, I usually try to go through 10 songs.

[klejst]

Since leaving my last band after it broke up I have become more of a hobbyist musician playing whenever I have free time or it tickles my fancy to do so. Guess I am just appreciating using my new found free time from a band to do other things I kinda missed and missed out on over the last three years strong in a band.

[ics1974]

I just learn new songs and replay the songs I alreay know.

[Bassist4Eris]

Wow, some you are really disciplined. I'm not knocking it. It will probably serve you well. As for me, after some stretching, I simply pick something I want to work on. That could be anything from writing originals, learning covers, sharpening up a certain technique, getting deep into a groove from Friedland's Bass Grooves, walking lines to Real Book tunes, whatever. I do it until I don't feel like it anymore, usually 45-75 minutes or so. If I still feel like playing after that, I pick something else to work on and work on that until I don't feel like it anymore. After that, I'm usually done.

I also like, on occasion, to grab the bass with no goal in mind at all, and just start noodling. And I think it's time well spent, just getting to know your axe better without any self-imposed restrictions. It can often turn into a writing session too.

[thewildest]

Originally Posted by cire113

Always groove whenever u practice .. No point in practicing mindless scales and technique when u can practice and groove playing music

From victor clinic

+10000. This may not be what everybody does, I play the songs I compose, so the main exercise is to bring the music out of my head into the instrument. If it is within a scale/mode, I really don't care. I then adjust my technique to the requirements of the music.

I have something to add. I am a short/small guy that plays 6 string basses and a 12 String Warr guitar, the weight is incredible. If my mind and body allow for it, I plan to do so until I die. I have since a few years back exercised my upper body consistently (through a variety of exercises) to be able to keep up with the demands of playing these muscular instruments, specially having them hanging from your shoulders several hours a day. I have seen a lot of arm/shoulder/hand/back horror stories here, and I believe, even more important than scales you already know, is to have a muscle-strengthening routine that will make you play for as long as you want. You'll do your mind a great favor too.

My routine with the bass is to warm up for 5 minutes, and then wonder around the instrument trying to find my sound.

I hope it helps. For those about to Rock, we salute you.

[Cop'rz]

There's a lot of great information here. I look forward to enjoying myself as I began any practice routine. Basically I try to get some time in each day. This depends on what life has in store:-) I've purchased many books over the years that have helped in providing insight to the construction of chords, modes and etc. Presently I've been able to get some instruction from the local community college and we read some songs from the Real Book. Consistency is key but don't burn yourself out. Have fun while learning! We'll never learn it all but we can have fun learning as much as we can. All the best to you:-)

[Groove Doctor]

I heard this years ago and have it as my personal motto -
An amateur practices until they get it right; A professional practices until they never get it wrong.

I've always found I'll practice heaps if I know I'll use it at a gig.... hence I'm in two gigging bands at present. All my practice focuses on memorizing songs/parts and perfect execution.

Note perfect at home -> Note perfect at rehearsal -> Note perfect at gigs -> Rock solid performance and everyone's happy.

[Kmonk]

It depends on why I am playing. If I am working on songs for a band. I usually run up and down the neck a few times with increasing speed. I do this for about 5 minutes. Then I play one or two songs that I like and am very familiar with. Next I spend time working on the material that I have to learn. I usually finish by spending the last 30 minutes playing whatever I feel like playing.

If I am not working on songs for a band, I start out the same way but then just play anything that I feel like playing. Sometimes I just set my Ipod on shuffle and play whatever comes on. There are also times when I am in the mood for something different and work on songs that I might necessarily listen to on a regular basis but feel that I could learn something new by working on them. This has actualy helped me a great deal when it comes to learning new songs.

This is a little off the topic but I figured I would share it since many people ask about what we play through for practice. I usually practice through a Tascam GB10 Guitar and Bass trainer because my wife has to be in work at 4 AM so she goes to bed at 8 PM. The GB10 allows me to play through headphones. The only bad thing is that it doesn't have an audio input jack so I cannot connect my Ipod to it. I just ordered a Tascam GT-R1 which does have an aduio input. Both units have SD cards so you can store songs, a built in tuner and effects. They also allow you to slow down or speed up songs without changing the pitch or you can change the pitch without changing the speed. The GT-R1 has a list price of $469. The lowest price I found was at Guitar Center for $149. There is also a Black Friday slaes code BLACK15 which knocked 15% off so the price was $122. Here is a link.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/TASCAM-G...06-i1401677.gc

[BassSurfer]

Let's keep this going! As previously stated by another TB'er above, there is a wealth of great information here!!

[odin70]

Originally Posted by cire113

Always groove whenever u practice .. No point in practicing mindless scales and technique when u can practice and groove playing music

From victor clinic

I really dont agree. How can you groove if you dont even know how to play a c major scale? It like saying to a baby: always dance when you learn how to walk.

[sonofabass]

Originally Posted by odin70

I really dont agree. How can you groove if you dont even know how to play a c major scale? It like saying to a baby: always dance when you learn how to walk.

I agree with Odin70 and think that VW means to imply that scales are unimportant but is trying to take the emphasis off of practicing scales without learning how to make music / groove with them. This is where the "danger" lies in our quick fix, face value culture. I'm 100% positive that he knows way more theory than he would lead one to believe also but this comment isn't about Vic.

Scales & notes are important. Period . You can groove your ass off just playing any old thing you want but when the van leader wants you to read, solo, play through changes or hit a soli line based on a particular scale and you can't ....

One needs to know scales.


Ps - odin70 - love that analogy!

[bassinplace]

Originally Posted by PBrown

I will warmup for twenty min with stretching, scales, and arpeggios then focus on a piece of music I am working on, whether it be jazz, or classical. I have a method that I talk about on my blog here at http://wp.me/pFwaL-d8
It has helped me stay focused and productive. Love some input or if it helps anyone! Thanks, Parker

Very good! I'm in the shed constantly, so it doesn't really apply to me personally, but I think it's great advice!

[matey]

this dude had some good exercises
if any one can add to it i would appreciate it

http://learnbass.net/2008/02/bass-ti...don-exercises/




it dosnt really get going till the second half

[Groove Doctor]

I heard Carol Kaye suggest arpeggios up and down the whole fretboard - I find it a very helpful approach for playing live.

I like to do ear training a lot - listening to how the bass part intertwines with the melody line, guitar voicing, even kick/snare beats. It really helps me become more aware of the players around me, and how it's supposed to sound when we 'lock in together'.