How do you warm up?

[anonymous0726]

We play 8-1, but it's not worth stopping in before 10 or 10:30 as the place is fulla punters and you can't sit or hear the band. From 10:30-1 it's generally a great hang (once the peeps go home, I mean )

[ImAGoodDuck]

Sounds like a lot of great ideas for warming up. I think that it is just as important to warm up your brain as the fingers. Maybe I'm a little slower than most lol but it takes me longer to get my brain thinking. So I like to play all the major scales and then play on a new scale that I may be working on. Just any scale you happen to be working on in all keys. I just think working on those scales you don't have completely down gets your brain into it too. Just my idea.

[Steve Brooks]

My warm-up is as follows: I start on any major scale, and try to choose a different starting point every day. Lets say I start with F major. I play F major two octaves up and back down. When I get to F I go down diatonically a minor third to the relative minor, in this case D natural minor(F-E-D). I play this two octaves, up and down. When I am back at D, I go down a major third (D-C-Bb), and on to a Bb major scale when I get to Bb, and so forth. So the whole cycle would look like this:
(all two octave scales)
F Major - D Minor
Bb Major - G Minor
Eb Major - C Minor
Ab Major - F Minor
Db Major - Bb Minor
Gb Major - Eb Minor
B Major - G# Minor
E Major - C# Minor
A Major - F# Minor
D major - B Minor
G Major - E Minor
C Major - A Minor

And you've just played all of your scales, continuously w/no stops, with smooth leadings in between scales.

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Steve Brooks, your profile says 'cheap plywood DB. How do your hands feel after playing this mega warm-up. Do you have a bow of an equal level or do you play this Pizz. I would be too worn out to play after something like this. Even on a good Bass with a good bow this would hurt!

Sounds more like punishment that a warm up to me....

[Marcus Johnson]

Here's my warmup for today; Rise at 6:00 am, wake and feed kids, feed animals, wake spouse, get kids off to their respective schools, send spouse off to work, take care of internet correspondence, check into TalkBass a coupla times, then work on old plantation house restoration (almost done with that ) pick up kids from repective schools, deliver daughter #1 to doctor's appointment on other side of island, where I meet spouse briefly and swap out kids, go to venue, set up, get a sound and maybe go "doink, doink" on each string just for fun. If there's time, I'll grab a bite, and then, with any luck, I'll make downbeat at 7:00.

Really, I prefer to warm up at least a bit, but the above scenario is more typical. Often, the first real notes I play are my entrance on the first tune.

[Steve Brooks]

LOL...it's not too cheap of a plywood, but it is a plywood. I just exaggerated because I want a fully carved . I use a brazilwood bow, on an Eb neck. And trust me, this warm up used to destroy me, but my teacher told me once i could do it without stopping, that i had stolen a secret from him. Because of that, I shedded it until I got it.

[Steve Brooks]

Oh, and my hands feel ready for anything after submitting myself to that brutality. Another one i've been working on: Start on a major scale, and play it in thirds, two octaves. So in C: C-E, D-F, E-G, F-A, G-B, A-C, B-D, C-E, and so on. Then go to the D dorian, two octaves in thirds, then to phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, aeolian, locrian, theh once more in the Ionian. Then go down a fourth to G and repeat the whole sequence, then down a fourth to D w/whole sequence, etc. Eventually you will play every mode of every major key. It's going to take a while, but i'll get it . I live for this. Awesome.

[Leco reis]

to me seems like some people are going to far with the warm up.
relax and enjoy the bass

[hdiddy]

My favorite way to warm up is with a cup of hot Irish Coffee and a buxom blonde in front of the fireplace on a cold winters night.

Sorry, I just couldn't pass on that setup!

[Rob Knight]

Originally Posted by Mike Crumpton

I always pay great attention to Ray, but his situation is not like a lot of us here, who whilst we might play every day, are not playing to the extent and with the frequency and talent of Ray.

I did a Martial Art for a few years, for which I always warmed up. I started doing the hand and arm stretches through the day, just to see.

I found that, perhaps unsurprisingly I became more flexible, but also that I maintained a latent warmness for want of a better term. I needed less warm-up time for both the Martial Art and playing bass.