"Chop Building" Exercises?

[Turn Em Loose]

Admittedly, my "technique" is not all that great. And will prolly never be. Just don't have tons of coordination or fast twitch muscles to pull off fast. I'm pretty much big, tall, uncoordinated and middle aged.

BUT, I am looking to build some "technique" (speed/agility/playing more cleanly) over and above what I've got now.

Any resources you guys know about? Maybe something that I can work into my daily warm-up routine?

 

[Kmrumedy]

Do this for 20 minutes a day for 6 months and get it to speed. You will be astounded how solid your playing will be.

http://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Guitar/dp/0793502489

Meanwhile......transcribe, transcribe, and transcribe.

 

[kevteop]

The key is to be able to stay relaxed while you're playing. The minute you tense up you'll struggle to do anything fast. It's hard to tell sometimes though whether you choked because you were tense, because you're so busy concentrating on playing.

Make a point of stopping yourself and asking 'Did I choke on that because I wasn't relaxed?', and try it again slower so you can feel how it is to play it relaxed.

 

[Turn Em Loose]

Do this for 20 minutes a day for 6 months and get it to speed. You will be astounded how solid your playing will be.

http://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Guitar/dp/0793502489

Meanwhile......transcribe, transcribe, and transcribe.

THIS is what I am looking for!

EDIT: What the heck. Since I was already paying for the shipping I got this, too: Bass Aerobics, by Jon Leibman.

Thanks for pointing me in that direction!

 

[fearceol]

EDIT: What the heck. Since I was already paying for the shipping I got this, too: Bass Aerobics, by Jon Leibman.

IMO the "Bass Aerobics" book is much better. The exercises are longer, much more musical, and fun to play.

However, neither book will tell you about technique. The exercises in the "Aerobics" book are quite fast. How I approach them is I use a metronome at a slow comfortable tempo and play the piece, making sure each note sounds clear and my playing is smooth and relaxed. When I nail it at this tempo, I increase it by about five BPM and so on until I can play along with the CD comfortably.


Make sure to warm up with gentle stretches first.

 

[Turn Em Loose]

IMO the "Bass Aerobics" book is much better. The exercises are longer, much more musical, and fun to play.

However, neither book will tell you about technique.

The exercises in the "Aerobics" book are quite fast. How I approach them is I use a metronome at a slow comfortable tempo and play the piece, making sure each note sounds clear and my playing is smooth and relaxed. When I nail it at this tempo, I increase it by about five BPM and so on until I can play along with the CD comfortably.


Make sure to warm up with gentle stretches first.

Thanks for the insight!

I understand your comment about technique. I already have decent (not fantastic) technique (hand positions, etc). Just looking to improve on it with some speed, agility, precision, clean-ness. If that makes sense?

"Technique" is one of those words that can mean soooo many things and is sooooo subjective. Or is it objective?? I can never remember.

And yeah, stretching is important. I run a lot and believe me, I know the importance and the power of stretching! Especially as I close in on 50. I've found, as time marches on, my muscles need more time to be stretched before/after a long/hard run, or of that matter, before/after a decent practice/gig.

Also, and it sounds like preaching but, along with stretching, good diet, hydration and some decent exercise go a looooong way towards warding off injuries associated with playing the bass.

 

[GastonD]

I'd go with Todd Johnson's "Technique Builder" book and/or video. It offers a very good spa of technical issues to deal with and Todd's instruction is excellent.

 

[hrodbert696]

I like the Bass Fitness book, haven't tried the Aerobics one. It is true that it doesn't necessarily really teach technique per se. You can run through the exercises with poor technique, heck, I probably am. What it does do is build accuracy, speed, and finger independence. I think those are worth it.

 

[BassChuck]

The key is to be able to stay relaxed while you're playing. The minute you tense up you'll struggle to do anything fast.

This is the key. In my younger days we all read Timothy Galway's "The Inner Game of Tennis". The book deals with focusing your mental energy on the task at hand and freeing you body to do the work. Barry Green, an world class bassist brought Galway to the conservatory at Cincinnati for a talk that was quite illuminating. Later Barry wrote "The Inner Game of Music" and I think that might be more on point than the tennis book. Either way, the message is the same; focus on the task.