Need help with practice,

[darknes40]

Hey guys so I'm hoping this is the right section to post this in,

I'm living with family friends in Mexico for six months and while I couldn't bring my bass down I ended up buying one here, albeit with no Money for an amp but o well I only wanted it for the practice anyways.

The last six months to a year I've seen my playing improve alot from the fact that I was in my first serious gigging band and I was just absorbing so much through that alone, but being as I won't be frying down here (probably) I was wondering if you guys could help me out.

I'm looking for ideas, links, or threads that will point me in the right direction for what I can be working on so I can continue to grow as a bass player while not being in a band environment,

My knowledge of theory an scales is limited to what I picked up while gigging and playing with my band, especially with the keyboard/keytar player who is a classically Trained pianist, so obviously I learned alot about keys and a basic understanding of how to create fills and lines under said key (personally l like using the minor blues scale as a basis)

So ya anything, from technique practice to some theory, hand exercises, and any combination that will keep me busy and growing as a player for The next six months, thanks in advance for the help

 

[mebusdriver]

Learning the modes of the major scale can fill up a lot of time. Within the modes there are a million different things you can practice. Plenty of permutation exercises for your fretting hand that will lead to some very useful string skipping work, applying the modes to improvising, applying the arpeggios to walking lines, building chord changes based on the different chords within each mode, and using the modes to shape walking lines and navigate walking lines thru changes.

Check out a book called the Bass Grimoire. It's got a crap load of info and all the modes shown in every key. You can come up with exercises on your own based on the modes and there's a million different ways to utilize them and practice them. I'm at work right now so I can't give you a whole of example exercises but if you'd like I could post some later. I got them all from a very respected teacher and they've helped me a ton in my playing.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

This may help with the amp.
Invalid Link Removed There is one made for the bass.

Scales for when you have the lead. Chord tones when you are playing accompaniment. Then Pentatonic (and yes the Blues scale ) when you are filling in between the two.

So get some basic chord tones and pentatonics into muscle memory. Learn how to get all the notes in before the music goes off and leaves you.
R-3-5-7 maj7 chord.
R-2-3-5-6 Major pentatonic. Leave out the 2 and you've got a nice sounding major 6th chord tone that I like to throw in - has a sound I especially like.

Now that you have the time find those sounds you especially like.

Here is a dirt simple theory paper you may find useful. Go to post # 2.[Invalid or Expired Link Removed] Should keep you busy for several months.

Good luck.

 

[darknes40]

Learning the modes of the major scale can fill up a lot of time. Within the modes there are a million different things you can practice. Plenty of permutation exercises for your fretting hand that will lead to some very useful string skipping work, applying the modes to improvising, applying the arpeggios to walking lines, building chord changes based on the different chords within each mode, and using the modes to shape walking lines and navigate walking lines thru changes.

Check out a book called the Bass Grimoire. It's got a crap load of info and all the modes shown in every key. You can come up with exercises on your own based on the modes and there's a million different ways to utilize them and practice them. I'm at work right now so I can't give you a whole of example exercises but if you'd like I could post some later. I got them all from a very respected teacher and they've helped me a ton in my playing.

That would be great if you could post some, any help is greatly appreciated

 

[darknes40]

Sunday bump

 

[carlthegroover]

Some brainstorming:

- Ear training. If you already distinguish notes and intervals, maybe you can work on distinguishing chordal differences by ear.

- Try learning some songs from a different genre. Who knows, maybe you can pick some ideas from it and apply them to the genre you currently play.

- Practice some strumming techniques you don't usually use, like picking or slapping, for instance (if you are a fingerstyle player mostly).

- Practice some feel for syncopation and triplets.

 

[HeavyRockBasser]

If I were spending six months in Mexico, I think I'd try to get my hands on a guitarron. You know, the big oversized guitar that the mariachis use. I always wanted to get my hands on one of those. I'm not sure how much you could apply back to what you're doing now, but it doesn't hurt to try new things. Not that I want to distract you from what you're doing, but it sounds like an opportunity to me. Might be a way to connect with the locals, too?

 

[campersand]

Some good suggestions here already. My biggest piece of advice for someone who wants to get better at practicing without a teacher is this: anything you can't play perfectly should be practiced until you can.

I'd be willing to bet that many, if not most, things you already know how to play could be played better/more cleanly/more expressively/etc. Often when I start practicing I'll just play whatever simple riff pops into my head first. Usually I can't play it exactly how I'd like to be able to play it, so I end up spending anywhere from 10 minutes to a couple hours working on it. Often this evolves into a new exercise that I revisit regularly. If you get into the habit of really slowing down and cleaning up everything you play, your technical abilities will grow exponentially.