How to become good... really good...

[Felken]

My aspirations as a young person is to become an excellent bass player. Mind you, I don't plan on being famous, I just want to be the best bass player I can physically be.

I practice around 2 hours a day, intense practice. Sometimes I don't know why I'm even practicing, I'm already far above the needed level for the gigs I'm currently playing.

But I digress. My question: is there some predetermining factor that decides how good I could become? Say, Jaco had huge hands and flexible fingers. I... don't. Does that condemn me to be not as good as him no matter how many years I play, and how much I practice?

How many years does it take? Does everything depend on how much I play or am I already doomed to be average because of small hands?

 

[Anachronism]

Listen to Wooten...then look at his hands.

 

[ba55i5t]

My aspirations as a young person is to become an excellent bass player. Mind you, I don't plan on being famous, I just want to be the best bass player I can physically be.

I practice around 2 hours a day, intense practice. Sometimes I don't know why I'm even practicing, I'm already far above the needed level for the gigs I'm currently playing.

But I digress. My question: is there some predetermining factor that decides how good I could become? Say, Jaco had huge hands and flexible fingers. I... don't. Does that condemn me to be not as good as him no matter how many years I play, and how much I practice?

How many years does it take? Does everything depend on how much I play or am I already doomed to be average because of small hands?

What kind of gigs are you playing? What are you practicing?

 

[gkella]

I am relatively new to the bass, but I have been playing bluegrass banjo for forty years.
It is not a competition with other players.
It is about personal growth as a musician.
You reach your level of proficiency and then progress slows.
I had great advice years ago..
Think of your progress the same as a professional golfer.
A pro golfer will practice 8 hours a day to shave one stroke off his game.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

What exactly are you doing while you're practicing? What you practice makes a huge difference in what your return will be.

Two hours is good. I won't say more is necessarily better, but there was a period of time where I was putting in roughly 6 hours a day for a few years. But as I said, what you practice matters.

 

[sowilson]

2 hours/day? Pretty much all of the great musicians I've known spent their teenage years playing ALL THE TIME, most of the time to the detriment of their studies - so figure 8-10 hours/day or more until exhausted. Four or five years of that and you should be pretty good (assuming you have an instructor to correct your bad habits from time to time). Music majors in college will typically spend 3-4/hours a day practicing outside of rehearsals.

 

[Stumbo]

How about using your skills to compose?

Learn to be a pro sight reader. Sight read classical.

Start/join a jam/group with higher level musicians.

Notate difficult bass recordings.

Learn piano/synthesizer bass.

Play melodies on your bass.

Learn music theory.

Learn to sight sing.

Learn to play bass lines to chords.

Visit the DB side of Talk Bass. Learn jazz/upright bass.

Learn piano.

Take voice lessons. Sing harmony in an a Capella group.

You can easily add 2-4 hours a day to your practice schedule and come up with a 10 year plan. 4 added hours a day over 10 years is over 14,000 hours.

Seems to me that great bass players are also great musicians, many who chose to play bass, e.g., Paul McCartney.

I think it was jazz guitarist Herb Ellis who said he missed 10 or 12 days of practice over a 50 year career.

Oh yeah, and also record yourself on a regular basis and save recordings for critical analysis by you and trusted others. See if others agree on how good you really are.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

.......
But I digress. My question: is there some predetermining factor that decides how good I could become? .........

How much of your life are you willing to give to your bass is the predetermining factor.

How many years does it take? Does everything depend on how much I play or am I already doomed to be average because of small hands?

Small hands are a cop out, I've told the Peggie Sue story many times on this forum. Peggy Sue was 5 feet maybe and never weighed more than 110 lbs. But, she played one of those big Gibson Rhythm Guitars. With her small hands.

If you want it you'll find a way.

 

[Felken]

How about using your skills to compose?

Learn to be a pro sight reader. Sight read classical.

Start/join a jam/group with higher level musicians.

Notate difficult bass recordings.

Learn piano/synthesizer bass.

Play melodies on your bass.

Learn music theory.

Learn to sight sing.

Learn to play bass lines to chords.

Visit the DB side of Talk Bass. Learn jazz/upright bass.

Learn piano.

Take voice lessons. Sing harmony in an a Capella group.

You can easily add 2-4 hours a day to your practice schedule and come up with a 10 year plan. 4 added hours a day over 10 years is over 14,000 hours.

Seems to me that great bass players are also great musicians, many who chose to play bass, e.g., Paul McCartney.

I think it was jazz guitarist Herb Ellis who said he missed 10 or 12 days of practice over a 44 year career.

Oh yeah, and also record yourself on a regular basis and save recordings for critical analysis by you and trusted others. See if others agree on how good you really are.

Learn to be a pro sight reader. Sight read classical. Working on that, but I'm terrible at it.

Start/join a jam/group with higher level musicians. I'm jamming with whoever I can find, there aren't many high-level musicians in my entourage.

Notate difficult bass recordings. Check!

Learn piano/synthesizer bass. Check!

Play melodies on your bass. Check!

Learn music theory. In progress!

Learn to sight sing. In progress

Learn to play bass lines to chords. Check!

Visit the DB side of Talk Bass. Learn jazz/upright bass. Learned the DB, I own one!

Learn piano. I try, but I'm a godawful keyboardist.

Take voice lessons. Sing harmony in an a Capella group. I'll do it when I have the money.

You can easily add 2-4 hours a day to your practice schedule and come up with a 10 year plan. 4 added hours a day over 10 years is over 14,000 hours. I'm a student, I'm doing what I can.

Oh yeah, and also record yourself on a regular basis and save recordings for critical analysis by you and trusted others. See if others agree on how good you really are. Every time I play a gig I record it.

 

[MrLenny1]

My teacher had small hands, stubby fingers.
He played and taught DB at Berklee for 30 + years.
I asked him the same thing, what does it take ?
He said 4-6 years, 10 hours a day 7 days a week
being versed in all disciplines.
Good luck.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

hmm, 10 x 7 x 52 x 6 = 21,840

so an hour/day for 60 years should do it

and the OP only has 30 years to go

 

[inanimate_carb]

Conditions of the physical body aren't insurmountable. Marcus Miller has won several Grammy awards for writing, producing, and playing and enjoys the reputation of being one of the finest musicians workng today. He's deaf in his right ear from a childhood illness.

 

[gln1955]

Sometimes I don't know why I'm even practicing, I'm already far above the needed level for the gigs I'm currently playing.

Start/join a jam/group with higher level musicians. I'm jamming with whoever I can find, there aren't many high-level musicians in my entourage.

This could be a problem. There's nothing like playing with really good musicians and discovering there are things you want to do with that group that you can't. It gives you a purpose for your practice. Ottawa isn't exactly a backwater. There should be outstanding players you can work yourself into position to at least jam with.

 

[bass12]

Practice is essential but so is playing with good players and with players better than yourself - in jams and gig settings. There are countless bedroom players now who have practised lots but don't play with others and those people are missing out on some crucial elements in my opinion.

 

[Nickweissmusic]

My aspirations as a young person is to become an excellent bass player. Mind you, I don't plan on being famous, I just want to be the best bass player I can physically be.

I practice around 2 hours a day, intense practice. Sometimes I don't know why I'm even practicing, I'm already far above the needed level for the gigs I'm currently playing.

But I digress. My question: is there some predetermining factor that decides how good I could become? Say, Jaco had huge hands and flexible fingers. I... don't. Does that condemn me to be not as good as him no matter how many years I play, and how much I practice?

How many years does it take? Does everything depend on how much I play or am I already doomed to be average because of small hands?

Sightreadingfactory.com . $35 yearly for unlimited randomly generated sight reading exercises. My teacher was as good at reading treble clef as bass clef. I'm... not, but working on it

 

[Clef_de_fa]

You can practice all you want but if you mindlessly practice it won't do anything.

How you practice and your focus are more important than the time you spend on it.

Playing jazz and classical music will put your knowledge, creativity, your trust in what you can do, your concentration to the test

You can go to college and see for yourself if you can pull it off.

Your hand and all that has nothing to do with what you can do, focused practice will do it. I see many player with huge hands who has the worst technic I ever see and so they can't play more than 4 strings because of this.

 

[40Hz]

May I offer something to consider? It's from the Zen story The Taste of Banzo's Sword:

Matajuro Yagyu was the son of a famous swordsman. His father, believing that his son's work was too mediocre to anticipate mastership, disowned him.

So Matajuro went to Mount Futara and there found the famous swordsman Banzo. But Banzo confirmed the father's judgment. "You wish to learn swordsmanship under my guidance?" asked Banzo. "You cannot fulfill the requirements."

"But if I work hard, how many years will it take to become a master?" persisted the youth.

"The rest of your life," replied Banzo.

"I cannot wait that long," explained Matajuro. "I am willing to pass through any hardship if only you will teach me. If I become your devoted servant, how long might it be?"

"Oh, maybe ten years," Banzo relented.

"My father is getting old, and soon I must take care of him," continued Matajuro. "If I work far more intensively, how long would it take me?"

"Oh, maybe thirty years," said Banzo.

"Why is that?" asked Matajuro. "First you say ten and now thirty years. I will undergo any hardship to master this art in the shortest time!"

"Well," said Banzo, "in that case you will have to remain with me for seventy years. A man in such a hurry as you are to get results seldom learns quickly."

 

[SlyFoxtrot]

May I offer something to consider? It's from the Zen story The Taste of Banzo's Sword:

Cool stuff. Well said.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Conditions of the physical body aren't insurmountable. Marcus Miller has won several Grammy awards for writing, producing, and playing and enjoys the reputation of being one of the finest musicians workng today. He's deaf in his right ear from a childhood illness.

What about one of my favorite piano player, Michel Petrucciani?

 

[M0ses]

Sightreadingfactory.com . $35 yearly for unlimited randomly generated sight reading exercises. My teacher was as good at reading treble clef as bass clef. I'm... not, but working on it

I have actually been using this for about a week now. It is different from reading "real" music in many ways, but it is really terrific for getting that stave locked into your subconcious permanently.