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Double Bass Do you practice when you don't want to? (DB forum thread)

Alexis Duntov

Alexis Duntov

Feb 16, 2013
1,442
1,967
Brooklyn, NY
#1
Yes I know, ignore your art for one day and it will ignore you for two. I'm about two years into learning upright from electric and sometimes I just don't want to deal with the whole thing. And then I feel guilty, and then I'll hear some upright playing that will inspire me and I'll get back on the ball. But my question is, does practicing even when you don't want to usually turn out to be enjoyable and productive for you?
 
#4
I can't remember where I read it, but it was a musician who said that anybody who ever got somewhere with music never had to make themselves practice, that they found joy every time they picked their instrument up. Rudy Lawless talks about how he and his friends used to have to bounce a stickball off of Jackie McLean's window, when they were kids, to get him to stop practicing and come out and play.

It's always been a hard slog for me; but at some point it's got to stop being about something OUTSIDE of you (other players, gigs, not wanting to disappoint somebody) and be about something INSIDE you, a desire to find out what you have to say as an individual.

I can't say it's ever been enjoyable, but the mere act of having my hand on the instrument the day before, today, the day after and so forth even if you feel like you haven't gotten anywhere is the best way to make actual progress.
 
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#5
'Love the process's excellent advice. I have days when I really don't want to work on things, but I usually do. Of course, I'm usually working on a deadline learning stuff for another gig, so I don't have a choice! Because of that, I don't seem to get as much pure practice as I used to.
 
#6
These days, I pretty much always want to practice, but can't seem to find the time to do it like I would like and need.

But sometimes I do find that I am able to do it when I give myself a little kick, and I am always glad I did. Some woodshed sessions are more productive than others, but I couldn't say that that times I've made myself practice were any less productive than other times.
 
#7
Ed Fuqua said:
I can't say it's ever been enjoyable, but the mere act of having my hand on the instrument the day before, today, the day after and so forth even if you feel like you haven't gotten anywhere is the best way to make actual progress.
Click to expand...

I sometimes say "I don't want to practice today". Mostly, that's about 15 minutes before I pick up a bass. I also sometimes say "Hey, it's been an hour; that's enough for tonight" after the first hour of what turns out to be a whole evening of music.
 
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#8
I'm practicing right now and I don't want to. I want to go to bed.
But I went through half my bands setlist before work and promised myself I'd go through the other half after
work, before going to bed. 27 more songs to go :)
 
#9
I practice because I need to. I don't feel right if I don't get enough time in. It's not someone else wants me to do it, it's because I do it for myself, I feel good making noises by myself, with or without progress.

Some people go for a run, lift weights, meditate, etc. to feel physically or mentally fit. For me it's playing music of some sort. Being able to perform in front of people and/or with others is a side benefit.

Music is a gift, but it can also be abused.
 
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#12
Huy Nguyen said:
I practice because I need to. I don't feel right if I don't get enough time in. It's not someone else wants me to do it, it's because I do it for myself, I feel good making noises by myself, with or without progress.

Some people go for a run, lift weights, meditate, etc. to feel physically or mentally fit. For me it's playing music of some sort. Being able to perform in front of people and/or with others is a side benefit.

Music is a gift, but it can also be abused.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's a discipline. Even if I don't "feel like" practicing, I do "feel like" getting the positive emotions that come from devoting oneself to a certain set of actions. Particularly when those actions involve confronting your limitations, and making VERY slow (sometimes invisible) progress.
 
#13
Full disclosure: I LOVE practicing. I find my mood always better after I practice and in many ways, I find it more gratifying than playing with others. Of course, that mostly depends on the company, playing with good players is nearly always more fun than practicing. For me, playing with others has little to do with the audience, but almost everything to do with the conversation with the other players.
There are times when I kind of dread getting started though because I'm bored trying to master something and I've done it for the multiple-thousandth time. Still, I get a little thrill when I nail it, get the intonation perfect, the timing swinging, a solo that I would have sung.
For me, the tug-of-war is usually band practice versus instrument/musicianship practice. I'm still dissatisfied with my bass and musicianship skills and so I've come very close several times to stop playing out to concentrate more on mastering the instrument and improving my ears. But then I play a gig with good players that has some cool improvisational moments, unexpected basslines, solos I'm not displeased with, then I resolve to just try to practice MORE, period.
Ultimately, I love practicing because literally every time I practice, I get a teeny bit better and I can hear the difference the next time I pick up the bass.
 
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#15
Ed Fuqua said:
It's always been a hard slog for me; but at some point it's got to stop being about something OUTSIDE of you (other players, gigs, not wanting to disappoint somebody) and be about something INSIDE you, a desire to find out what you have to say as an individual.

I can't say it's ever been enjoyable, but the mere act of having my hand on the instrument the day before, today, the day after and so forth even if you feel like you haven't gotten anywhere is the best way to make actual progress.
Click to expand...

Agree. Sometimes I am fired up with a purposeful need to practice a certain thing that will have more or less immediate benefit (or stave off immediate disaster in terms of an upcoming performance with difficult material that I will faceplant on in public if I don't work on it). Other times, though, it's about the long haul, and in those cases I find it's best to take the attitude of "get my rear on the practice stool for X_____ amount of minimum time and see what happens". When I do this, I almost always have to be torn away from practicing long after the time I had set as the minimum has expired. The hardest step for me has always been the first one.

I can't remember who said it, but there's an old quote out there about the idea of passion. To paraphrase the essence of it, "the immature want to see passion as a flamethrower, as something which arises from nothing when needed and turns back all enemies in a righteous hail of holy fire by simply pulling a trigger, and can then just as easily be put away; but mature passion is a smaller, purer flame that must be tended and nurtured at all times and never allowed to extinguish (though it may flicker in the wind). The passion of the tortoise as opposed to the passion of the hare. As in all other such endeavors, the passion of the tortoise is the one that sustains a lifetime of growth". Something like that...

Huy Nguyen said:
I practice because I need to. I don't feel right if I don't get enough time in. It's not someone else wants me to do it, it's because I do it for myself, I feel good making noises by myself, with or without progress.

Some people go for a run, lift weights, meditate, etc. to feel physically or mentally fit. For me it's playing music of some sort. Being able to perform in front of people and/or with others is a side benefit.

Music is a gift, but it can also be abused.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. We've had this conversation before, but the mental health aspect of "habitual growth activity" is a positive motivator. With exercise and music, for me it's a three pronged motivational system that I think of as "VSH": Vanity/Sanity/Health. I can never tell which is which that is motivating most strongly at any given moment, but in the end it doesn't really matter as long as I get the desired result of making me engage in the activity that I know will make me better and happier in the long run.

Jamey Aebersold is fond of distributing this poem about such activity to students at his camps (I think of it because I played a nice gig with Jamey last night, and it's great to see someone in his mid 70's still enthusiastically pursuing improvement in his own playing):

THE HABIT POEM said:
I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.
Half the things you do, you might just as well turn over to me,
and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.
I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me.
Show me exactly how you want something done, and after a few lessons I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of all great men.
And, alas, of all failures as well.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures.
I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine.
Plus, the intelligence of a man.
You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin; it makes no difference to me.
Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will put the world at your feet.
Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.
Who am I?

I am a HABIT!
Click to expand...
 
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#16
Since I've got my hands on my own Double Bass again, I've been constantly practicing whenever possible. For me it's gotten to the point where if i'm lying down in bed and hear a lick in my head, I will go and pick up the bass to play it (and of course write it down for future reference).

I would like to add that I do have a strict practice regimen that I adhere to throughout the course of the week. This consists of 5 hours of practice divided up throughout the day, and includes scales/longbows/classical repertoire/"Jazz repertoire" (which consists of stuff ranging from going through the diatonic triads/seventh chords/fourths/thirds of a predetermined key with the metronome on, as well as other exercises and any of the 3 tunes that I choose to learn and work on throughout the week)/sight reading/transcription.

One thing I do is take one day off from my practice schedule on Saturdays, and just do "creative practice"/tune recap for the week. This consists of me sitting there with just a metronome and just playing 20-30 choruses over a tune like "Stella by Starlight", or "Satin Doll" to just see what ideas are coming out as I play.

In all honesty, I don't think there is a day where I don't want to practice, in fact, I look forward to picking up my bass each day. This is due to the fact that each day I'm working on something at a different tempo than the day before, or I have another section/tune to transcribe today, or I have a different excerpt to work on, etc...
 

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