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How much do you practice?

I

ihassiphilus

Sep 30, 2008
71
3
#1
Personally, I practice about 45-60 minutes a day. Sometimes, 2-3 hours. I find more just gives me a headache and doesn't really help.

There are days where I just can't nail that one passage and it would probably be better to set the bass down and pick up tommorow when I inevitibly will be able to play it. Except, putting it down is hard lol.

So, how much do you practice?
 
#2
I don't practice nearly enough, because I suck that way. A few times a week. I try to keep it at about 45 minutes max. I get the headache thing too if I go too long. Not that you asked this, but I usually practice mostly technique stuff, then screw around for a while, and repeat.

I read a book called "The Art of Practicing." It had a lot of good things to say about how to practice. Not for bass, but for musicians in general. Check it out. It's a good book. It helped me to get more out of the times I practice. That is, of course, not an excuse for not practiceing enough.:atoz:
 
#5
kb9wyz said:
I don't practice nearly enough, because I suck that way. A few times a week. I try to keep it at about 45 minutes max. I get the headache thing too if I go too long. Not that you asked this, but I usually practice mostly technique stuff, then screw around for a while, and repeat.

I read a book called "The Art of Practicing." It had a lot of good things to say about how to practice. Not for bass, but for musicians in general. Check it out. It's a good book. It helped me to get more out of the times I practice. That is, of course, not an excuse for not practiceing enough.:atoz:
Click to expand...

I work on walking through standards and sight-reading (need A LOT of work here), mostly. I'll work on learning certain riffs or songs that catch my ear sometimes. Mostly I transcribe other instruments and vocal melodies. Tv jingles, theme songs, classical music and so on are fun to work on.

A lot of basslines are boring as hell and you run the risk of sounding too much like Mingus, Jaco, Geddy or whoever if you trancribe too much of their stuff.
 
#6
I practice anywhere from half an hour to three hours in a day, however, there are days where I don't pick up the bass due to work and plans etc... Alot of the time my practice consists of working one of my favorite songs out by ear or with a tab and learning it. Also I do some excercises I've been shown by bandmates, as well as playing our own material with a metronome.
 
#10
one time i played striaght for about 8 hours. It was raining out and for some reason the cable wasnt working so i just found some songs i liked and learned them. My hans were on fire for like a week after that. Not to mention that my social life has improved since then :eek:
 
#12
I get about 5 hours of lessons material done a week, which include some various scale and chord things and usually a pop/rock song, or a jazz standard, usually an hour or 2 of noodling and jamming to drum loops, then of course there is weekly band practice, and extra time that I will have to spend writing bass lines for originals or learning covers.

I wish I could bring myself to practice more on Fridays and Saturdays instead of drinking or playing halo all day...I would get much more done, and not have to work so hard on Monday and Tuesday.
 
#14
I practice at home about 3 times a week, for about 1-2 each time. I'm in two cover bands, so I also practice once a week with each band, about two hours each time.

So total, that is around 7-10 hours a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

I mostly focus on learning new material for my bands, and just practicing my one band's 50+ songlist. I try also to do some scales, dexterity drills, etc....
 
#15
Depends.
Usually 4-6 hours a day just working on stuff.
Some days, I practice up to 9 or 10 hours.
On top of that, I have rehearsals, classes and lessons.

I also put on a metronome with my room mate (a drummer) at 40 bpm and lock in for an hour or two before jamming with him.

All in all, my life is...Practice and Talkbass.
 
#16
I practice a minimum of 3 hours a day, and often up to 8 hours. My practice routine is very inefficient though, I would assume with a proper regiment, I could practice less hours and improve more. I run some scales to warm up and then play along to a random selection from itunes, or pandoras radio. I figure its better then playing to nothing.
 
#17
The key to practicing for long hours and actually get something done is to take a 10 minute break every hour. Get away from your bass and do something oral, drinks something, if you smoke do it, eat something, do something oral. Taking that hourly break you can keep your concentration during the rest of the hour.

Also you HAVE to practice EVERY DAY no skipping even if its only 10 minutes skipping days kills progress. Keep a practice journal and write down where you stop on each practice activity. So you are working on your melodic minor scale and doing in all 12 keys right???? Well write down where you stopped today lets say in Eb, tomorrow don't go back to start pick up from where you left at with Ab and keep going. Don't keep going back to beginning everyday pickup from where you stop and continue.

I don't get to practice a lot these days, but try to get an hour in the morning before work. Being I work as an audio engineer I'm around music all the time so the mind is always thinking music.
 

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