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Bass practice and lost of time...

Hi, so i've been playing since 2022, self-taught, the problem its that i didn't get too much into music theory because i not had a teacher in my side before, only tabs and full technique, now I can play complex things but if i have a sheet music in front of me or someone ask me to play a jazzy solo or walk the bass etc, i just fall apart. So i need help, the max of my knowledge in music theory it's the major, minor and pentatonic scales and everything below that.

My question right now are:

1. How i practice scales and apply it on real life situations
2. How i improve my improvisation and my solos
3. How you manage to structure your practice routine if you have +3 hours of time for practice the bass
4. Books? if yes what books for reading in bass clef or anything else

Please any, but any advice i will have it in consideration, thanks!
 
Hi, so i've been playing since 2022, self-taught, the problem its that i didn't get too much into music theory because i not had a teacher in my side before, only tabs and full technique, now I can play complex things but if i have a sheet music in front of me or someone ask me to play a jazzy solo or walk the bass etc, i just fall apart. So i need help, the max of my knowledge in music theory it's the major, minor and pentatonic scales and everything below that.

My question right now are:

1. How i practice scales and apply it on real life situations
2. How i improve my improvisation and my solos
3. How you manage to structure your practice routine if you have +3 hours of time for practice the bass
4. Books? if yes what books for reading in bass clef or anything else

Please any, but any advice i will have it in consideration, thanks!
1. You don’t. You learn scales because they are the basis of chords. They also help you recognize notes everywhere on the fretboard. But I think their usage as a performance tool is very limited and sounds rather boring.

2. You work really hard for a lifetime to get better at it, and in the meantime you steal riffs from others. Not even joking.

3. It’s going to vary, but at this point I’d work the hardest at learning how to read and write music.

4. Others may have ideas for specific books and I don’t, but most beginner books that emphasize reading will get you started.
 
- The Molly Gebrian book "learn faster, perform better" can help you to optimize you practice time to make it more efficient (not related to music knowledge, but more about the "how practice to make your brain learn faster")

- To develop your improvisation: transcribe solos, melodies, from bass and other instruments by ear. This will help you to develop your vocabulary and get out of scales by opening new tracks in your playing. One example i often quote cause i've learned a lot with this solo: trumpet solo from Miles David on "So what". If jazz doesn't bother you, try it: transcribe it and try to emulate trumpet sound by your playing (on some notes attack strings softer, on other ones take care of lenght by mutting, etc.. ) This exercise will help you to developp your entire musicianship, not only improvisation vocabulary.
 
My public radio is devoid of theory books. I need to move to some place with a better library.

As far as reading bass clef, there are a number of books on sight reading for bass. It’s also worth learning treble clef, because that’s how song melodies are notated and many books out there on improvisation are in treble clef.

For learning how to solo, the best tool is transcription. Listen to recordings of great soloists (and not just bass players), pick out the notes and write them down. You can buy transcription books for both solos and bass lines, but doing the transcription gets your ears involved in a different way then just reading down a chart.
 
I hate to say this but the block you have is a real tough one. Do you have access to a keyboard? I would get a simple keyboard or piano and start with a simple piano book. You need to understand how chords are made, how they sound and how they fit together with a melody. Start dead simple, Mary Had A Little Lamb etc. Learning theory on a bass is possible but clunky.
 
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Hi, so i've been playing since 2022, self-taught, the problem its that i didn't get too much into music theory because i not had a teacher in my side before, only tabs and full technique, now I can play complex things but if i have a sheet music in front of me or someone ask me to play a jazzy solo or walk the bass etc, i just fall apart. So i need help, the max of my knowledge in music theory it's the major, minor and pentatonic scales and everything below that.

My question right now are:

1. How i practice scales and apply it on real life situations
2. How i improve my improvisation and my solos
3. How you manage to structure your practice routine if you have +3 hours of time for practice the bass
4. Books? if yes what books for reading in bass clef or anything else

Please any, but any advice i will have it in consideration, thanks!

If you have 45 minutes for practice

Ari Cap's Music Theory for the Bass Player summer cohort begins in July.

Music Theory for the Bass Player is a 40 week course. It is divided into two 20-week segments for the cohort, which is a group of bassists going through the same material at the same time with accountability. Every student has a coach who completed the course at least once (that's where I come in, see my sig, thank you).

We just concluded the 2025 winter cohort!
 
Check out Jim, well-loved because he's a great teacher.
 
Hi, so i've been playing since 2022, self-taught, the problem its that i didn't get too much into music theory because i not had a teacher in my side before, only tabs and full technique, now I can play complex things but if i have a sheet music in front of me or someone ask me to play a jazzy solo or walk the bass etc, i just fall apart. So i need help, the max of my knowledge in music theory it's the major, minor and pentatonic scales and everything below that.

My question right now are:

1. How i practice scales and apply it on real life situations
2. How i improve my improvisation and my solos
3. How you manage to structure your practice routine if you have +3 hours of time for practice the bass
4. Books? if yes what books for reading in bass clef or anything else

Please any, but any advice i will have it in consideration, thanks!
Three hours of practice at a time? I did have two years of college level music theory. Pretty much outside dictation, it was mostly learning the correct names of musical concepts I already knew which is invaluable in ensemble work where clear communication is needed.

My advice is spend more time listening to things you want to play and emulate it into your style. If I can give an analogy it’s hard to make a painting without a clear image in your mind. Listen and study what you want to play.

I’m going to make a shameless plug here for the Chordify App that I use often . It has a 500,000+ song library that you can play along with. It has instant cueing to exactly where you want to start and the ability to slow the play day down for working out difficult passages. Songs come with chord charts that scroll to keep you on track.

“Learning” the bass without other instruments iscextremely challenging. 90% of what the instrument does is provide logic for the other instruments to make sense. Chordify provides the other instruments, and interface to access them and the tools to grow your skills.

I hope this helps.
 
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I'm going to take a different approach than others have.

Scales: Learn all commonly used scales (Diatonic, Pentatonic, Blues) on one string first, then on 2 strings, then 3, etc. Practice the scales in both directions. Draw an imaginary line across the fretboard from the root. Play the scale entirely below the line across 4 strings as far as you can go. Then play the scale half below and half above. then play the scale entirely above the line. Never play scale the same way as you practice, keep switching it up. Once you are good at this, start at the intervals, play through to the interval an octave up, down, etc. These are the "modes" of the scale. Practice in different regions of the fretboard. Learn where all the notes below the 5th fret are, then move up, learn up to 9th fret. Learn the Cycle of Fifths/Fourths, it will help you learn the fretboard.

Theory: Jazzguitar.com can give you lots of theory as to how to construct chords. Their stuff works equally well for bass, and will show you how to use secondary dominants and tritone substitutions, and altered chords. If you understand modes and altered chords, most music is easy.

Online instruction: Scotts Bass Lessons, Jim Stinett's Real Bass Lessons, and Rich Brown's TheBrownsTone are all excellent sources on YouTube. Each has different strengths. They are all free. You will get varying degrees of theory depending on which of these you choose. I use them all.
 
I have two recommendations for the OP:
  1. Take lessons from a qualified teacher who can objectively assess your current knowledge, skills, and abilities and structure lessons specifically for you and your goals. If you would like a recommendation on an excellent teacher who can do this, send a PM.
  2. Jim Sinnett's series on Daily Practice for Bass is an outstanding way to develop reading, theory, technique, and ear-training. Stinnett passed away not long ago, but his books remain available. He was a well-loved bass professor on the faculty of Berklee. His youtube channel is also a good resource.
Good luck.
 
Here's the deal IMO. Are you enjoying yourself? Sounds to me like you are. This is a biggy! When I practice I usually go around 10 min's per song/exercise etc. I need repetition. Just say'n. A lot of cool music/drum beat backing tracks on YT. Just say'n. You're getting a lot of answers here so I hope you can glean what works best for you. I believe as long as you feel good playing your bass your already there + keep your expectations in check. And remember this stuff takes TIME!
 
if i have a sheet music in front of me or someone ask me to play a jazzy solo or walk the bass etc, i just fall apart.
Not sure if you just generally want to know theory, or if you specifically want to be able at those three things... which are rather different by the way!

My general recommendation is to work towards your goal i.e. what you want to be able to play (in the fairly near future, not your ultimate life goal) rather than planning a big study first and figure out what to do of it later.

However, if something inside you inspires you to study something just because, by all means do it! Studying out of inspiration will make you absorb knowledge and build skills faster than studying something out of duty.



1. How i practice scales and apply it on real life situations
Major, minor and pentatonics already go a long way.

Do you want to be able to play a scale more or less across the whole fretboard? Find songs or recordings (or create them yourself) in a fixed given key, keep a chart of the scale on the fretboard in front of you, and improvise on top of the recording. If your goal is to memorize the notes on the fretboard, start on a box and gradually move out and towards neighbouring notes to expand your range. Try to identify shapes that help you visualize and therefore remember better. Gradually look less and less often at the written chart.

2. How i improve my improvisation and my solos
Once finding the notes on the fretboard is not your main concern anymore, you can dedicate your attention to the actual content.

Some ways to improve your melodic content:

- sing a phrase first, then play it (usually we are more inspired by singing because we're not impaired by the worry of how to physically generate the notes! On an instrument we often worry and let our fingers dictate the notes instead of our mind)

- try the same one phrase many times, with variations until you find your favourite

- when you find a phrase you like, write it down so you don't forget it; you can keep the list of your phrases in front of you when improvise again

- steal phrases (not whole solos!) from any existing songs


3. How you manage to structure your practice routine if you have +3 hours of time for practice the bass
There's a million good ways to do that.

Maybe in your case, assuming you currently want to dedicate all of it to improvisation, the structure of those 3 hours is not that important. Also, a "routine" is mostly needed to combat lack of motivation or procrastination tendency, it is not necessarily the most effective way to learn. You can spend your 3 hours differently each day, improvising on new songs or learning a new scale from time to time.

4. Books? if yes what books for reading in bass clef or anything else
This question I don't understand... for reading in bass clef you can use ANY page in standard notation. Maybe there are books specifically with reading exercises designed to increase reading difficulty, but just grab random songs transcriptions in standard notation and set your own reading speed.
 
Hi, so i've been playing since 2022, self-taught, the problem its that i didn't get too much into music theory because i not had a teacher in my side before, only tabs and full technique, now I can play complex things but if i have a sheet music in front of me or someone ask me to play a jazzy solo or walk the bass etc, i just fall apart. So i need help, the max of my knowledge in music theory it's the major, minor and pentatonic scales and everything below that.

My question right now are:

1. How i practice scales and apply it on real life situations
2. How i improve my improvisation and my solos
3. How you manage to structure your practice routine if you have +3 hours of time for practice the bass
4. Books? if yes what books for reading in bass clef or anything else

Please any, but any advice i will have it in consideration, thanks!
Best advise that I can give you is " get a teacher "

I played bass several years self taught and I learned, alright, but then, following this advise that was given to me in this exact website, I got a teacher, who in 2 or 3 months thought me and allowed to play the bass and understand music as never before.

Your best source of learning must be a teacher, then you have tools that can help: internet, books.

But with a good teacher ( and I say "good" because my third teacher was not good for example, he was a really good player but did not have the ability of teaching , the ability to structure classes and topics) you will be able to aim to a objective and try to reach it.

Getting a teacher also pushes you to be responsable with practice and stay motivated.