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How do YOU practice bass?

#41
I always do a 20 minutes scales on 3 or 4 octaves, scales in one position or from the lowest note to the highest in different keys. I also do some yoga playing like Steve Bailey suggested and I run scales in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th.

then I take a sheet music and try to play it and/or work on it to someday play it. Once I know it I'll try to play it with the metronome. If the sheet music is from the real book I'll use Band In A Box, if it is from a band I like I'll use iTunes and if it is classical or video games music I just use the metronome to practice it.

I also read an advanced music theory book, maybe I'll look into a theory book about serialism or maybe counterpoint.
 
#47
burns_isaac said:
Yeah well the point of transcribing is to gain ideas from the masters and then make them your own. Charlie Parker transcribed hundreds of hours of Lester Young and did he sound like Lester!? No! He is and will always be Charlie Parker. All of your musical heroes spent hours transcribing their musical heroes and then spent time using those ideas to develop their own voice. You will never sound like who you transcribe because you are not them. Does John Clayton sound like Ray Brown? Nope but he idolized the man. Does Patitucci sound like Brecker? You can't reinvent the wheel but you can make it your own wheel.
Click to expand...

I understand your point. But a lot of cats are starting to sound like they came out of the same factory. Great technical ability less orginality. At one point the masters stopped listening and started working up their own stuff.
 
#48
usually learn/play a song, section by section, and just work on that new piece, as well as previous sections from other songs / things i have done previously.

i end up working on pieces of a few songs at the same time, teen town / the awakening, as well as licks to other tracks etc.

have been mixing that with theory books, ie running triads in all positions up and down the neck. what i'm really trying to do with this is make whatever it is that i play musical and rhythmic.

i have been slapping a lot lately, so i will play some stuff in fingerstyle, and then go back through with a slap technique.

i really need to start doing 30 mins of theory, 30 mins of new stuff, and then 1 hr of review, something more structured etc.
 
#49
highway said:
usually learn/play a song, section by section, and just work on that new piece, as well as previous sections from other songs / things i have done previously.

i end up working on pieces of a few songs at the same time, teen town / the awakening, as well as licks to other tracks etc.

have been mixing that with theory books, ie running triads in all positions up and down the neck. what i'm really trying to do with this is make whatever it is that i play musical and rhythmic.

i have been slapping a lot lately, so i will play some stuff in fingerstyle, and then go back through with a slap technique.

i really need to start doing 30 mins of theory, 30 mins of new stuff, and then 1 hr of review, something more structured etc.
Click to expand...

What theory books are you studying?
 
#50
Hmmmm... well. I usually start off playing along with iTunes fairly easy stuff, then after awhile break out the finger twisters. I then use iRehearse to load songs that I have difficulties with, slow down the tempo, loop sections and go over and over and over them, speeding them up slowly. I may also break out the music and look over the notes to make sure what I'm doing is correct. If I'm learning new material, I like to start with the music and then use iRehearse to again slow down and loop the stuff, section by section till I've got it. Then I like to end by going over scales and then re-play the difficult stuff without the music a few times and then with it.
 
#52
Practice is work... either I'm using the metronome playing along with sheet music for my monthly bass lessons, or I'm practicing along with youtube videos of the songs our band performs. One thing I have little use for are long, open-ended blues jams... wasteful, unproductive, IMHO
 
#53
For the most part, I just practice improvising. It may be over a certain chord progression or I might pick a beat from my drum machine and have a go at that. Sometimes I go to my keyboard, pick a chord with a beat and just jam over that.
 
#54
gregmon79 said:
What theory books are you studying?
Click to expand...

just this one for now: http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.do?itemid=695570&subsiteid=7

as well as my jaco essentials book for blackbird / teen town tabs . . .

i've looked through a few of my old books that i had from when i took lessons at the local music shop, but the content is very uninspired. i am starting to read again, as well as learn the actual theory over again. i want to work up to the modes, etc. and really do things right this time.

i like the jaco book a lot, because it seems like a lot of CORE theory that i can just learn and work with myself via scale practice, and applying it to other stuff i see/use. whereas most normal books are like "here is the major scale played in the vein of pentatonic rock, r&b, be-bop, etc. -- now we do the minor!"

i have a very large collection of books, and hardly used any of them. i think i was working with "building walking basslines" a few years ago, and it was helping a lot, but i'll have to check it out again after i make some more progress.

i have no rhythm at all, so it's a really big step for me to be able to play triads or scales and make them sound musical (either by repeating notes, or varying the beat length).

i gotta say, i really am enjoying myself more this second time around!
 
#55
+1 Philly, I hear you man and absolutely agree. I wasn't trying to sound condescending. I just don't want guys to miss awesome benefits of transcribing. I have a lot of buddies currently in "jazz" school or who have been through the program and they sound exactly alike. Same lines, licks, phrasing, interpretation, etc. Coltrane already came, left his legacy, and passed. Though his music is an abundance of amazing concepts and technical feats, what does the world need with a copy of him? The world doesn't want another Coltrane. The first one is as real of a Coltrane as you're ever gonna get! The copies will always be of a lesser quality because if you ain't him you can't be him!
 
#56
When I want to noodle or learn a song, I usually use an iRig with my Iphone since I live in an apartment. When I see my neighbors' cars aren't in the parking lot, I'll plug into my Line 6 Lowdown 110. It's a small combo, but it can still rattle the windows.

lol, that reminds me. I remember one night at last apartment, I used to practice, record and learn songs using my desktop. One night I was wailing away on the bass around 2am using my headphones. After I had enough, I took the phones off, and set the bass down and then heard the strings resonate loudly through the computer speakers and sub. They were on the whole time. Surprised I didn't get evicted.

Speaking of practicing in an apartment, a friend of mine that plays guitar asked a local music shop if there was a device to mute the sound hole in his acoustic. The clerk at the shop asked why, and he said he didn't want his neighbors to hear his f**-ups when he practices.
 
#57
I'm re-excited about practicing these past few days. I just purchased a (cheap) audio interface which allows me to run my little mixer into a USB port. I'm going to start practicing parts playing along to recorded drum parts or a click track using Audacity.

I spent all of last Saturday in a recording studio and realized how many little flaws exist in my playing. Damn frustrating.

Just figured out how to get it all set up.

It's time to apply the fine sandpaper and 0000 steel wool to my playing.
 
#58
tbplayer59 said:
I spent all of last Saturday in a recording studio and realized how many little flaws exist in my playing.
Click to expand...

A couple of years ago I bought a Phil Jones Bass Buddy and a pair of Sennheiser HD650 headphones. The setup clearly showed every little mistake I made. The clarity is startling. Even more so when I play an active instrument instead of my passive vintage Fender.

My playing dramatically improved. It was worth every dime.
 

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