Learning Piano/Bass and working 9-5

[rodoherty1]

Hi Guys,

It's beginning to dawn on me that I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew.

I work a normal 9-5 job and I hope to get my Bass Grade 4 and Piano Grade 2 this Summer. I do a genuine 1-2 hours a day study each day. Yesterday happened for be about 2.5 hours whereas other days could be less.

I have not spent much time transcribing because I prefer to keep my hands in shape (maybe this is not time well spent at all). My bass practice regime is typically 15 mins scales (not musical scales ... I need to make them more musical) and then I try chart reading, jamming with a CD or trying to write a solo for a given chord progression.

My piano practice is quite primitive right now; I spend most of my practice time learning simple Bach tunes or the tunes on my Grade 2 course. I spend little to no time on scales.

My question is this: Does anyone have any thoughts on how I could combine my practice regimes so that they complement each other instead of feeling like two separate practice regimes? I would particularly like to start working on transcribing.

Any thoughts at all would be welcome ...
All the best !!

Rob.

 

[Blackbird]

You could practice the Bach piano pieces on your bass. You know, play the melody or the bassline. Record the bassline and try to play the melody. Reverse. Challenge yourself and try to do both at once using double stops and open strings.

Derive the scales from the Bach piece and play them over the recordings. For fun, you could always play the chords of the tune as a jazz piece and practice soloing over it.