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Is it wrong to practice all day everyday?

#61
fishdreams said:
Practicing done right brings an amount of inner peace that amounts to a deep soul cleansing. And it is great to have a point in your life when you are able to practice 6, 7 hours a day for say, a year or two and build a technical foundation that will enable you for the rest of your life to do whatever it is you WANT to do musically with a little bit of regular upkeep.

However, in the long run it is of course about why you make music, and to set yourself on the path to make the music you want to make, whatever that is.
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I say good on you. Nobody practices today like most of us did back in the 70s and it shows. Go back and listen to an 'average' band 40 yrs ago - they usually smoke today's musicans. (Of course there was no Internet, 4 TV channels & no video games) but we used to try & outdo each other and it showed.

A few years of dedication and playing more demanding stuff will come so much easier the rest of your life.

Also, there are always threads here with folks getting frustrated and bored so count you blessings at loving your craft. You're on your way to being a solid bassist!

No great player ever got there without this dedication.

In fact I'm about to divest myself of some fine instruments at giveaway prices if I can find the right players. Send me a PM about your work, studies, style.
 
#65
50 minutes on, 10 off. Repeat. 4 hours a day of pure focused practice can change your life in a very short period of time. HOW you practice is very important. Sitting and playing the bass does not necessarily equal "practicing." There's a very specific method to practicing like a working professional.

Are you taking lessons? Are you transcribing? Can you play major scales, up to 3 octaves, all over the neck with a metronome? Can you say without a doubt how fast you can play 16th notes consistently? Are you working on melodies? How's your reading?

PM me if you don't want to clutter this up.
 
#69
I do agree with most of the comments about there being a balance, and about quality over quantity. That being said, it also seems that most of the really great players I know describe a period in thier lives when all they did was play. If you have the time and inclination to practice a metric crapton right now, I would do it and not worry too much about having what other people consider a "life"-in college that usually means drinking and chasing tail (both of which are certainly fun, but of limited long term value). Life will happen to you whether you seek it or not, but having the time to dedicate serious time to your art is something that not everone has the option/mental capacity to do. If you have both at the moment, I would not let that opportunity go to waste becuse you are worried about having a "life".
 
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#70
BazzTard said:
Practicing on your own can only take you so far, you are still only practising what you know or want to know. You need to play with others to really expand as a musician.
To use the analogy of language,you are learning words and grammar, but you don't talk to anyone.
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Yes & no - yes playing with others of higher caliber is priceless but no, not always - many of the greats practiced mostly on their own - always looking for guidance and pointers but, mostly on their own

Reading the new Bird bio right now - man he had some hard ass teachers (like the recent movie) they'd take a stick to him if he hadn't practiced right - but right after HS he was on his own, knew what he wanted to learn and heard a sound in his head to strive for

And, Jaco never had a formal lesson that I know of - for sure not on bass - just played round the clock

Get a keyboard (preferably piano) if you don't already have one
 
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#71
Funk$tar said:
I don't have much of a life, don't have any friends here at school, and Prefer to be alone most of the time with my bass. I mean All I do is go to my college classes and then arrive back at my door to practice bass until it is time for me to go to sleep. I'm very dedicated to my bass and I practice real hard so one day I too can be a great bassist. I just want to know if it is wrong to practice so much?
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a job may be in order unless money isn't an issue for you
 
#72
Not really the question he was asking, guys.

I think you should keep at it if that's what you like to do. You shouldn't force yourself into social situations if you don't feel like it, it'll just make you hate them.
I have a friend who kept to himself for almost 4 years, and in that time, he learnt to be the fastest, most skilled guitarist I've ever seen in this city, and even learnt to play drums up to Deathcore-level speeds.
He's also in a very popular local band, he plays solo festivals, and is writing long, articulate concept albums.
He did eventually feel like being social again, and now he's got the best of both worlds and he's a great party animal too.

So, do what makes you feel comfortable, your feelings will change someday, so you might as well put your time into doing whatever you want now.
 
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#73
I remember a point where I practiced so much that I thought I was unstoppable... I figured out a lot of cool stuff but ran into one problem... I landed a gig in a band with a drummer that played in a columbia records band and was also a studio/touring drummer for multiple bands.

I'm glad I fell in that position because had I not... I probably would've become a professional noodler. Since I did, I realized that playing with new people = starting at square one in many respects.

Now put your bass down and go talk to a few broads ;-)
 
#74
I read an interview with Steve Vai. He was talking about a period in his development as a player when he really began to break through to a higher level. During that time he was woodshedding an insane number of hours--practically from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night. That went on for months.

My guess is that many top level players would have similar stories to tell.

I'm at best an advanced beginner on bass, and a competent guitarist. When I took up bass seriously a couple of years back, I took advantage of a few months off work to practice many hours a day. I went through four or five of Ed Friedland's instruction books cover to cover, learned to read bass clef pretty comfortably, worked hard on my timing, and learned a ton of songs. I was building on a foundation of playing guitar for more than 30 years. All the same, I think I progressed faster in those weeks than I ever have progressed on a musical instrument in my life.

So I would say there is nothing wrong with racking up a lot of hours of practice--FOR A TIME. As long as you don't burn out or injure yourself. But at some point, you'll have to step back from that. Practicing is a means to an end, not an end in itself. You'll probably go through periods throughout your life when you are practicing more and then less. The key thing is to find other musical activities that compliment and round out your practicing. Playing with others should be top of the list.
 
#78
"I come to the Berklee School of Music and basically they were learning how to do the scales, which is what I learned when I was six years old when I started on violin. I didn’t speak very much English, but I asked the director if he would be so kind as to move me up because I was sitting over there just basically wasting time. He said that they could not move me up and so I stopped going to school and I started to practice at home with the record player and tape recorder. I was heavily practicing. I had an eight hour a day schedule of practicing, which within one year, moved me a tremendous distance. I continued studying by myself in the field of jazz with my own technique of improvisation, walking bass lines, rhythms, all kinds of stuff, which I created for myself."

Later...
"That one year in Boston got me very, very prepared for anything that was coming my way."

Miroslav Vitous on his year at Berklee, from an interview with All About Jazz.
 
#80
Yes and know. If you do it well/correctly and work in networking/playing with others you may become a very skilled player and be successful. I have found (being in music school) that it "should" be a main point of your day. My schedule usually is:

Breakfest
Class (with ensembles being class)
start practicing around 3
dinner around 7
then I either practice for a few more hours or go into the city and see a show/sit in

weekends I generally wake up, eat breakfast and practice all day. During the week I try and hope to get 4/5 hours of practice the weekend more like 7 if I can. Other time is spent going to partys on weekends or watching netflix late into the morning ;)

I've been injured the past week and that has shown just how much playing is a part of my schedule. I haven't been away from my computer in a week. Help!
 

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