ive hit a rut in my practice

[huckingfuskie]

I just dont know what to play anymore... All i can really do at this stage is learn songs. I can kind of create cool riffs on my own but they never lead to anything. I recently learned Cliff Burtons amazing Anesthesia but since then nothing really seems to advance my progress. I dont know what to do to practice my speed and accuracy and i cant find any songs worth learning.

Very frustrated bassist here.

Done wining. now help me out!

 

[Elrend]

Try some other genres.

 

[steve66]

Learn any Rush song. or learn a complete album

 

[bassplayertom77]

Been there. The one thing that helped was playing with musicians that made me feel like a fool. Nothing helped quite like that.

 

[XylemBassGuitar]

Been there. The one thing that helped was playing with musicians that made me feel like a fool. Nothing helped quite like that.

+1

Any time you play with other musicians that you haven't played with before you will learn something new. If their skill level exceeds your own, it's all the better.

You should also try to learn Primus' Wynona's Big Brown Beaver.

 

[m.oreilly]

find people to play with that do original stuff, or that would like to. the suggestion re trying/listening to music/musicianship in general is a must. a rut to me, is that i have blinders on, or i'm too tired/distracted/lack of energy to be curious (habit of mine. i'm working on it...).

 

[JimmyM]

Other musicians, lessons, playing other types of music than your favorite (especially jazz), learning theory in-depth, but one of my favorite techniques for de-rutting myself is to play jazz solos from other instruments. Jaco was a big proponent of doing that. Don't just stick to bass players when trying to get ideas. You can learn as much or more about playing by copping a good Charlie Parker sax solo on the bass as you can from copping a Jaco solo.

 

[VisualShock]

watch other bassists.

 

[EliasR]

A +1 to Jimmy M there. I was beginning to get a little stuck, so I pulled out Anthropology, and started working on that in 12 keys.

 

[kraigo]

Start trying to write songs.

KO

 

[nortonrider]

My rut is a jamming thing,
whenever I start to throw down a freestyle groove, I Always end up playing 1 - 3 - 5.

I guess I have done it so much that its kind of an automatic response. I started out playing blues, and found the 1-3-5 / 1-4-5 the essential progression to learn. I did, and now find it tough to stray very far from.

 

[kraigo]

Limit yourself to playing songs on only two strings for a while. Put the root note under your pinky for a while. Basically, sabotage your muscle-memory for a bit and build new paths to your destination.

KO