I Don't Know What To Practice!

[Yellow Bang66]

Hopefully someone here can help me and anyone else that has been experiencing this problem. This has been going on for the past few months. I sit down ready for practice. I got 2+ hours of time before I head to work. And I feel like I waste all of it. I just don't know what I should be doing! Here's how my "routine" usually goes:

Practice down and alternate picking w/metronome, work up speed. Then I go up and down the modes and arpeggios also w/metronome in different positions. This is kind of my "warm up", it takes around 15 minutes.

Next I'll work on reading notation which I just recently got back into after being a slacking procrastinator for a while. I'm starting from the beginning using Mel Bay EB Method 1. I do that for around 20-25 minutes.

Next I'll look for a song to learn. I usually learn by a cover w/ tab and/or notation, or an isolated track. Sometimes just by ear, but its hard to hear everything on some (ok, most) records. This varies in length, depending on the song. Sometimes I'll learn the whole thing, or just a section of it. But its usually between 25-35 minutes.

Then, I still have 40 minutes give or take, and I always tell myself I'll learn theory. I learnt the modes, chords, and some scales; but there has to be more right? And the chords, modes, and scales seem so stand alone and unmusical. I try playing along to jam tracks, and am able to use chord tones and such, but it doesn't sound interesting at all.

Every time I'm done practicing, I feel like I just wasted a bunch of time. The last 30 minutes usually turns into playing along to songs I know, which is fun but not really productive. I am improving in finger and pick speed, and I'm beginning to recognize certain things in songs. Like time signatures, and whether the bass is playing the root, 3rd, 5th etc. Which is cool, but I feel like I'm not really learning much anymore.

Hopefully this makes sense to everyone, and maybe some of you have the same problem. I really want to learn stuff, but I'm lost as to what I need to learn!

Hah! I just had this discussion with my good friend (lead guitarist) who is teaching a couple of friends at work. they all are having problems practicing!they are more inti buying gear! I tried to expound my views to him, saying nothing can replace just playing! more gear doesnt work, it might motivate you but most likely be a crutch! IIRc, a long time ago, when i idolized Guitar Players,more than bassist! I read an interview with Jake E lee, a good article where he talk about his trouble filling Randy Rhoads' shoes! he talked about his practice habits! and how he didnt practice certain things,like speed or other players but, always focused on his weakness' like his rhythm playing or timing! it surprised me because it wasnt was what i was expecting him to say! plus it wasn't a sexy answer either! I took that to heart and started working on my weakness' at that time! I would really buckle down(SHED) on things I bought books, metronomes & even asked my musical peers who where mostlyMusic snobs/ know it alls!so it took a lot of guts & humility to ask them anything musically technical or even "What are my weakness'?" yeah it was humbling to hear,but Iknew what I was lacking or had to work on!my timing & feel was good, but my dexterity& agility around the fret board needed work!I remember having trouble keeping track of parts& changes. I got lost in super repetative songs! So a lot of my time was spent listening over & over to the songs in the set list! to get them down & really familar! the only gear i bought at the time was a drum machine/ metronome & a bunch of music books! the best for me was a Bach for bass book!that got my agility & dexterity down set small goals& devy up your time into small chunks too!GL

 

[lfmn16]

Get a good teacher.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Hopefully someone here can help me and anyone else that has been experiencing this problem. This has been going on for the past few months. I sit down ready for practice. I got 2+ hours of time before I head to work. And I feel like I waste all of it. I just don't know what I should be doing! Here's how my "routine" usually goes:

Practice down and alternate picking w/metronome, work up speed. Then I go up and down the modes and arpeggios also w/metronome in different positions. This is kind of my "warm up", it takes around 15 minutes.

Next I'll work on reading notation which I just recently got back into after being a slacking procrastinator for a while. I'm starting from the beginning using Mel Bay EB Method 1. I do that for around 20-25 minutes.

Next I'll look for a song to learn. I usually learn by a cover w/ tab and/or notation, or an isolated track. Sometimes just by ear, but its hard to hear everything on some (ok, most) records. This varies in length, depending on the song. Sometimes I'll learn the whole thing, or just a section of it. But its usually between 25-35 minutes.

Then, I still have 40 minutes give or take, and I always tell myself I'll learn theory. I learnt the modes, chords, and some scales; but there has to be more right? And the chords, modes, and scales seem so stand alone and unmusical. I try playing along to jam tracks, and am able to use chord tones and such, but it doesn't sound interesting at all.

Every time I'm done practicing, I feel like I just wasted a bunch of time. The last 30 minutes usually turns into playing along to songs I know, which is fun but not really productive. I am improving in finger and pick speed, and I'm beginning to recognize certain things in songs. Like time signatures, and whether the bass is playing the root, 3rd, 5th etc. Which is cool, but I feel like I'm not really learning much anymore.

Hopefully this makes sense to everyone, and maybe some of you have the same problem. I really want to learn stuff, but I'm lost as to what I need to learn!

I don’t practice a lot by myself other than making sure my chops are sharp. Which takes me about 5-10 minutes once a day. Why this works is there is a definite goal with a desired quality of outcome. It’s very focused work. For the most part, the study part is only done when I have something to learn to play live or for a recording session.

The other expenditure of practice time is getting ready for a gig. We usually play 2 one hour sets, so I run through songs once a day for about a week prior to the gig.

One thing else, to get the most out of your work, it’s best to be playing with living breathing musicians. The bass by itself is a lonely instrument to play. You miss out on it’s main purpose, which is to provide the logic for the rest of the song to follow when it’s just you and a tab, not to mention boring as heck.

 

[Inky13]

The fact that you practice at all shouldn’t be ignored.
You’ve got me beat.

 

[bikeplate]

What are you trying to accomplish? At this point I practice to retain the speed and dexterity ive worked to achieve and to learn new songs for any gigs I might have. Thats it

 

[Killing Floor]

90-minute pyramid wourkout:

15 minutes - In-a-gadda-da-vida
25 minutes - In-a-gadda-da-vida in a different key
15 minutes recovery/rest - In-a-gadda-da-vida slower
25 minutes - In-a-gadda-da-vida full speed, mixing in a few chords and a solo
10 minutes - cool down - In-a-gadda-da-vida an key, half tempo.

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

learn an entire album from a new genre

 

[Mike Marshall]

Hopefully someone here can help me and anyone else that has been experiencing this problem. This has been going on for the past few months. I sit down ready for practice. I got 2+ hours of time before I head to work. And I feel like I waste all of it. I just don't know what I should be doing! Here's how my "routine" usually goes:

Practice down and alternate picking w/metronome, work up speed. Then I go up and down the modes and arpeggios also w/metronome in different positions. This is kind of my "warm up", it takes around 15 minutes.

Next I'll work on reading notation which I just recently got back into after being a slacking procrastinator for a while. I'm starting from the beginning using Mel Bay EB Method 1. I do that for around 20-25 minutes.

Next I'll look for a song to learn. I usually learn by a cover w/ tab and/or notation, or an isolated track. Sometimes just by ear, but its hard to hear everything on some (ok, most) records. This varies in length, depending on the song. Sometimes I'll learn the whole thing, or just a section of it. But its usually between 25-35 minutes.

Then, I still have 40 minutes give or take, and I always tell myself I'll learn theory. I learnt the modes, chords, and some scales; but there has to be more right? And the chords, modes, and scales seem so stand alone and unmusical. I try playing along to jam tracks, and am able to use chord tones and such, but it doesn't sound interesting at all.

Every time I'm done practicing, I feel like I just wasted a bunch of time. The last 30 minutes usually turns into playing along to songs I know, which is fun but not really productive. I am improving in finger and pick speed, and I'm beginning to recognize certain things in songs. Like time signatures, and whether the bass is playing the root, 3rd, 5th etc. Which is cool, but I feel like I'm not really learning much anymore.

Hopefully this makes sense to everyone, and maybe some of you have the same problem. I really want to learn stuff, but I'm lost as to what I need to learn!

Try taking a real book tune and work on walking through it. I once had a teacher that would stress playing a tune over and over and improvising walking bass lines. Even 12 bar stuff with different turnarounds will improve your playing and getting to know the neck.

 

[MichelD]

I like "The art of walking bass by Bob Magnusson" but another really good walking bass and other basics book is "The lost art of country bass" by Keither Rosier. Even if you hate country music, the lessons on waling bass lines using mostly chord notes as played on old Ray Price and Buck Owens records are invaluable

 

[joelns]

I've been playing a very long time too. Let me tell you a short anecdotal story. Maybe my experience will help.

I've played covers, been in an event band, played a lot of jazz, lots of blues. Never really learned how to solo. I was at a jam with a guitar player friend and my drummer daughter a few weeks ago. I gave a solo a shot. It wasn't good. So I decided to take a lesson so I could get some direction and learn how to approach it.

What I discovered is that I've always approached bass from the standpoint of the rhythm section. Walking, holding down the bottom end in rock and blues, etc. The suggestion in the lesson was this: rather than learn a song from the bottom up, do it from the top down. Start with the melody (yes, transcribe it). How does it fit in with the chord structure. Really learn the melody. What chord tone starts each bar? How does the melody transition from one phrase to the next? Learn the melody. Sing the melody, even if poorly. If you can sing it, you can play it. Just start with one tune.

I'm working on "My Favorite Things", be bop style. Listening to Coltrane and other versions I can find online. I have the melody and chord changes worked out. Still in analysis and singing phase. Once I feel like I really know it, I'll start thinking about soloing. It's going to take another few weeks, but I'm making progress.

After that ramble, my suggestion is to change the way you approach learning a new tune. Start with the melody.

Hope this helps.

 

[WrapRough]

I've been playing a very long time too. Let me tell you a short anecdotal story. Maybe my experience will help.

I've played covers, been in an event band, played a lot of jazz, lots of blues. Never really learned how to solo. I was at a jam with a guitar player friend and my drummer daughter a few weeks ago. I gave a solo a shot. It wasn't good. So I decided to take a lesson so I could get some direction and learn how to approach it.

What I discovered is that I've always approached bass from the standpoint of the rhythm section. Walking, holding down the bottom end in rock and blues, etc. The suggestion in the lesson was this: rather than learn a song from the bottom up, do it from the top down. Start with the melody (yes, transcribe it). How does it fit in with the chord structure. Really learn the melody. What chord tone starts each bar? How does the melody transition from one phrase to the next? Learn the melody. Sing the melody, even if poorly. If you can sing it, you can play it. Just start with one tune.

I'm working on "My Favorite Things", be bop style. Listening to Coltrane and other versions I can find online. I have the melody and chord changes worked out. Still in analysis and singing phase. Once I feel like I really know it, I'll start thinking about soloing. It's going to take another few weeks, but I'm making progress.

After that ramble, my suggestion is to change the way you approach learning a new tune. Start with the melody.

Hope this helps.

I really want to learn the Sax solo in the Donny Benet song Konichiwa... I've been listening to it over and over again and can sing almost half of it now. I was wondering whether to start trying to transcribe what I know or wait until I can sing the whole thing before attempting putting it on paper and bass...

It's got great phrasing. Someone here said wind instruments are really good to mimic because their phrasing is driven a lot by their breathing.

 

[Mr Cheese]

Try taking some tunes you like and transcribe the bass parts. Not just the pitches, the rhythms too. Do simple ones first. This should give you a sense of how sound relates (or can be converted) to notation. Chord charts for the songs you transcribe can be helpful in showing you how the pitch choices relate to the harmonies and what scale fragments are being used to connect the chords. This is more or less ear training for bass.

Also get a teacher with at least a degree in music performance who has extensive professional experience. They'll be able to identify flaws and weaknesses in your technique that you're probably not aware of and target those for correction. Prepare yourself to pay a premium price for a teacher. Move on from Mel Bay and get yourself some legit method books with graded sight reading material. The Simandl method book would be a good start.

Off topic, I noticed in one of your vintera jazz videos the other day that you were playing passages from River People. It looked like you were playing the eighth note octave pairs (EE-EE, DD-DD) with single finger strokes rather than alternating fingers on each pitch (index-middle). Why? It slows your potential speed down by half. It would be like playing a fast passage on double bass with all down bows.

Last comments, practicing scales and arpeggios etc. is great and will help your facility but each passage or bass part requires its own solutions to technical challenges (shifting, fingering, right hand fingering etc.) Become your own best mechanic to solve these with patience and at slower tempos at first. Also you're fully good enough to play out with musicians. Try to find experienced musicians who are better than you to play with so you can rise to the challenge, learn from them, and improve. You'll take some lumps along the way but you'll get better. Good luck!

I think your mistaking me for Dr Cheese; who is by all accounts a better player then me. This happens all the time! Thanks for the advice though.

 

[doran.dragic]

The most important thing to me is: whatever you decide to practice you should always challenge yourself. I can't say how important this is. I sometimes get a bit annoyed when I hear the term practice routine because people tend to think that this is something that's set stone and repeated daily until you get better. A good practice routine needs to stay somewhat flexible! By challenging yourself I mean for example: can you play a major scale in thirds only using one string? Can you play the minor scale in 6ths? Have you ever tried practicing major scales in a single 5-fret position playing every scale from it's lowest to it's highest note in that given position? When you find something that's giving you troubles write it down and that becomes a part of your practice routine for the next 4 weeks. Have 10-15 minutes dedicated to those exercises each. Once you're happy with the result think of a variation of thats exercise that's going to make you work harder.

If you're not able to do that you definitely need a teacher who's going to help you set your goals. It's easy to get distracted because there's so much stuff available nowadays. But once you're not a beginner anymore you won't be learning bunch of new stuff every day. It's about making a good use out of what you already know and this comes through practice and especially playing with other people. This takes patience, effort, dedication and humility.

Also maybe you need to take a different mental approach to this. Practicing an instrument is not something that's gives you instant results. You mentioned that you feel bad after practicing because you have a feeling that you didn't achieve anything. You should learn how to enjoy in the process and appreciate it by itself. You practice sessions don't seem bad. Last thing: if you enjoy playing songs keep playing songs. Nothing wrong about this.

 

[elberon]

I think your mistaking me for Dr Cheese; who is by all accounts a better player then me. This happens all the time! Thanks for the advice though.

Sorry man! My advice still holds except for the River People stuff. As a Bears fan I considered withholding my possibly helpful comments since it's obvious you run with the Packers, that aside, good luck with your playing. Some things are more important than football. I hope you end up trading Rodgers to the AFC though so he can just stop tormenting the Bears.

 

[Mr Cheese]

Thank you TBers for all the great advice! A lot of people mentioning walking bass, so I'm for sure gonna dive into that. Some people mentioning gigging, or playing w/ musicians. The closest I got to that was playing crappy covers with friends in my basement over a year ago, and I hesitate to even call that music. Plus they all kinda gave up; me and my brother are the only ones who stuck with it, and he's in kind of the same rut as me. I don't think I'm ready for gigs skill wise, and definitely not gear wise. Also a lot of you are mentioning transcribing songs; what exactly do you mean? Notating it myself?

 

[Tuur]

Thank you TBers for all the great advice! A lot of people mentioning walking bass, so I'm for sure gonna dive into that. Some people mentioning gigging, or playing w/ musicians. The closest I got to that was playing crappy covers with friends in my basement over a year ago, and I hesitate to even call that music. Plus they all kinda gave up; me and my brother are the only ones who stuck with it, and he's in kind of the same rut as me. I don't think I'm ready for gigs skill wise, and definitely not gear wise. Also a lot of you are mentioning transcribing songs; what exactly do you mean? Notating it myself?

From what you have described, I think you're more than ready to play with other people. It doesn't have to be gigging straightaway! Crappy covers are a perfectly fine way to start. Don't wait until you're good enough, because you'll never feel good enough. I think this will be the single best thing you can do in terms of improving your playing. After all, what's the point of practising if not to make music...? Good luck!

 

[WrapRough]

Also a lot of you are mentioning transcribing songs; what exactly do you mean? Notating it myself?

Yep. Listen to a song, figure out the notes, and notate it on sheet music paper. You'll need to work out not just the pitch but the rhythms, the key etc.

Start very simple and work your way up to harder stuff. I'm just getting into it. I won't lie, it's hard dude. Notes are relatively easy but rhythms are hard, at least for me at my current skill level. But it's really making me understand the construction of music, which will help me create and play music better. I hope

Start with root note songs with simple rhythms and then look more slightly more complex stuff. Some use pencil and paper, others use software like Transcribe or Sibelius (or whatever)...

 

[Alexis Duntov]

Also a lot of you are mentioning transcribing songs; what exactly do you mean? Notating it myself?

Yes, but the first step in transcription is learning it in your head. I find it more useful to learn the entire part (usually a solo) by ear to the point that I can sing it. Then move to being able to play it and write it down. You may or may not be interested in learning how to write the m

I’d just like to point out that this is an example of an EXTREMELY USEFUL TB thread and shows how valuable this resource can be. And I’d also like to give you props for wanting to challenge yourself and being willing to put in the work. As far as feedback to your post, lots of great responses already. I would second the suggestion to focus on walking and really diving into jazz harmony. A big difference between jazz bass and the worlds of Pop, Soul, and R&B, which was my intro to bass, is that in the latter context, you are likely playing a bass “part” or a line that works with the song, and in the Jazz, the expectation is that you will play that m7b5 chord differently *every time* when you come to that part of the song. What that forces you to do is build an extensive vocabulary and the fluency to execute it all over the instrument. Jamerson was an exception in that sometimes he never played the same thing by twice in the same song. But in Jazz, you want to have the ability to make each chorus sound a little different, especially if you are accompanying a different soloist each time. This was a big eye opener for me coming from the world of Soul, Disco, R&B, etc. So find some tunes with unusual chords and really learn them, the melody in different octaves and locations on the bass, and how to play through the harmony. “What is this thing called love” or “Stella by starlight” are useful vehicles for this. Work with iReal pro. Start playing the head, walk a couple choruses, take a solo, and then play the head out. You will not be bored by this and your ability will greatly improve. Lastly, find musicians who are better than you are, and play with them on a regular basis. Great thread, Doc.

 

[Scottgun]

What are you trying to accomplish? At this point I practice to retain the speed and dexterity ive worked to achieve and to learn new songs for any gigs I might have. Thats it

This. It may very well be the case that you getting everything out of the bass that you want and you are just spinning your wheels out of a sense of obligation to excel at something you are not really interested in. You are not obligated.

It sounds like you have the chops to handle most gigs. If you find a gig that pushes your abilities trust me, your focus in practice will snap to attention like a steel trap.

 

[Mr Cheese]

This. It may very well be the case that you getting everything out of the bass that you want and you are just spinning your wheels out of a sense of obligation to excel at something you are not really interested in. You are not obligated.

It sounds like you have the chops to handle most gigs. If you find a gig that pushes your abilities trust me, your focus in practice will snap to attention like a steel trap.

I'm definitely really interested in being a gigging player. I'm just kind of at a block in the road as to what to learn. But I've gotten some good suggestions here that are really exciting me and should keep me learning for a while. Thanks all!