[edit] Many helpful things to practice above.. But since you said you are putting in the time and not making progress, it may be time to think about how you practice. Learning how to be usefully self-critical and make improvements is a skill in itself.
There are some steps, well established in many disciplines that apply here. The list below is neither comprehensive nor the best description perhaps but I hope it helps.
When you identify that “something isn’t right” , break “not right” into pieces small enough to do something about each , then fixing them individually. When you first start breaking down a musical phrase, for instance, you’ll (hopefully) notice that two shifts aren’t accurate enough, that your bow pressure at the start of some notes is this or that, maybe the last note under the slur doesn’t set you up for the next bow change… There are a lot if items you could work on. Work on one at a time to gain clarity. In working on the one item, you’ll probably find that there are smaller items under the first one and so on. Engaging the process of finding and fixing individual problems is the way to make progress.
Do you record yourself while practicing at least a couple times daily ? Thirty second recordings can help identify the good and the bad. Immediate feedback in small sections gives great guidance on narrowing your focus. Recording also helps understanding what everyone else hears because the bass sounds so different in the room than to the player.
Another skill to learn is identifying what you have learned , at best in different time scales - since yesterday, since last week, since last year. What is easier and more accurate now than then ? What sounds better than it did ? Actively understanding what’s getting better in your playing is not just a way to feel good about all the time you spent practicing but crucial in identifying what needs work next rather than what you have already fixed. Understanding what is easy now and used to be hard , when you can identify how you got there, what understanding you gained to have a new movement without “putting it into words” . What can you “just do” without “thinking about it” ?
One source of advice on practicing is
Home | Mind Over Finger
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In the forty years since I studied bass in college, there have been many advances in understanding brain function- language acquisition and processing the similarities in music, motor planning , are but among many others. Physiology in sports, dance and rehabilitation have advanced knowledge of the complexity of human motion and techniques of improving movement . Many techniques are available improve the way we learn.
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For a little more information on music cognition
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]The umbrella group including a
Map of other labs in Music cognition around the world.
Music Cognition Labs - Google My Maps
Brams – International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research The biggest research labs.
Home | Auditory Brain Research Lab Discovered that the brain stem has been partially repurposed to differentiate between syllables and notes , and other amazing stuff.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed] Ryerson University Toronto
