Bass practice and lost of time...

[KenSmithFan]

You questions scream GET A GOOD TEACHER!

There is no way to maximize your practice time more than with a good teacher. You'll get feedback on what you're doing right and wrong which you don't get from a video, book, or website.

 

[12BitSlab]

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.

Regarding scales I like your approach with one change that worked for me - not necessarily for all others. I found it helpful to say the note as I was playing it (e.g., Bb, C, D, Eb). It helped me learn the fretboard inside and out.

 

[BassicJazzy]

Regarding scales I like your approach with one change that worked for me - not necessarily for all others. I found it helpful to say the note as I was playing it (e.g., Bb, C, D, Eb). It helped me learn the fretboard inside and out.

Usually I am going for speed and practicing shift points when I play scales, or shifting among modes, but I agree with your idea for fretboard practice. One thing I left out that I learned from Rich Brown's lessons is to play scales in intervals too. Particularly in scale tone 3rds. This really comes in handy when improvising fills and solos. Scales in intervals of 5th and 6ths are good too, have a lot of musicality in them, with 6th being the most challenging to play. Practice this in all modes and you are really going to know your scales! It's fun too, unlike many practice routines.

 

[Bass]

My practice is divided into 3 sessions: scale practice, method book, song book.

Pacman's scale method is great: Pacman's sure-fire scale practice method

I'm using the Hal Leonard Bass Method to learn to read. To improvise you could consider The Improvisor's Bass Method by Chuck Sher.

 

[Major Seven]

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!

For 1 and 2 I found that relentless practice of triads and M,m, dom 7ths (and inversions) was beneficial. It enabled me to figure out many others bass lines because they were mostly chord tones. It also allowed a glimpse into improvisation because my fingers "knew " where to go and what to expect.
This is also how I learned where the notes were. Use the cycle of 4ths as roots to begin each arpeggio and get familiar with song structure.
Instead of note names, I called out the relationship of those chord tones to the chord/key I was in. ie; 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th b7 etc.

 

[Aussie Player]

Get a copy of "FREE Live".
Play along with it every day and you will be better than the sum of hours consumed.
Lots if great bass at a learning pace so the notes selected are far more important that speed, dexterity and repetition.
It will also teach you how to use space, the use of octaves to accentuate your notes and still support the song. It also teaches you to cut notes short, which can be quite valuable and most bassist cannot do that, especially pick players.