Practicing for the new DB player

blarpgh · #1 08-15-2005, 07:42 PM

Greetings all,
I've been perusing this site for a while and have some great information from people who really seem to give a crap. Good to see on a forum. Okay, I've been playing bass for 24 years. 15 years ago I played DB for a year and then went back to electric mostly because I missed it and felt there was much more I needed to do on electric and splitting time just would've made both suffer. So here I am playing DB again. I bought one 4 1/2 months ago. My instrument is not top of the line or even middle of the road but it's what I could afford. Some would say I should've waited to get a better bass but I would've been waiting for some time before being able to buy one and I wanted to start playing now.

Okay, on to my question. I've always been good with practicing and using my time wisely to get done what I need to get done but I'm flying solo on this so far and would like advice on optimizing my time to get the most out of it. The advantage I have is that the instrument was not totally foreign to me having played it for a year even if it was 15 years ago. I don't have incredible amounts of time. We're talking 2 hours a day, sometimes 2 1/2. I believe some good work could be done with this amount of time if it is used wisely. What I've been doing is 1/2 hour running scales, 1/2 hour arco technique, 1 hour going over whatever music I am working on. If I get more time, it is usually spent bowing as I have a real need to get better at that.

The books I am working with are Mortons Primer Scale & Arpeggio Fingerings and Thomas Gale's Practical Studies for Double Bass. The music I am working on is going over my jazz standards again and I am in this band that does all Bare Naked Ladies music which is what got me back into playing DB again as their bass player plays that mostly and is actually quite good. I also play with this singer/songwriter and have decided to use upright for his music exclusively.

So that's about it I guess. I welcome all suggestions and look forward to your answers. And do understand I am very serious about this.

jallenbass · #2 08-15-2005, 08:49 PM

The best thing you can do is find a good teacher to learn the fundamentals of bowing. They can hook you up with good study material as well. Until I finally started to work with an excellent teacher my progress was very slow. Fill out the rest of your profile and I'm sure you'll get many suggestions for fine teachers in your area.

blarpgh · #3 08-15-2005, 09:57 PM

I figured that would be the most obvious reply and I will in time. I want to be more competent on the instrument first and that I can do on my own. I was more into the idea of having one comment on how I've chosen to divide my time.

jallenbass · #4 08-15-2005, 10:46 PM

Your practice routine looks fine to me. You seem to have your goals well defined. I guess my point is that few of us here know you or your playing and a teacher may be able to help streamline your practicing after hearing you play for 10 or 15 minutes. I know people who are able teach themselves and apparently you are one of those. If so then everything looks good to me.

blarpgh · #5 08-16-2005, 06:25 AM

In all honesty it comes down to cash. What I can spare. I know I need a teacher to really get deeper into bowing and to make sure I'm doing it right. If one truly couldn't afford a teacher at this time, what direction would you point them to at least get a good foundation as far as bowing is concerned. Any videos or books better than what I'm using now? I've seen a few recommendations on these forums. Any you personally feel good about?