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Playing/practicing withouth screens ( computer, smartphone)

boringbassist

boringbassist

Jul 13, 2019
6
4
#1
Hi guys,
wanted to ask how can I play/practice without a computer or smartphone and have fun. I usually play along to records or like to improvise over a drum beat on youtube.
I know there are practice books but I think they are boring... good to learn but not much fun. Its my humble opinion at least. ( Or i got the wrong books )

I've got a loop pedal, and im -not- playing in a band.

any ideas??? Thank you so much in advance.

ps. also wanted to apologize for not answering the first thread i openede. I bought the book you recommended to me, and thank you so much and im very sry. Sry.
 
#3
Get a record player? Go to local jam sessions? What are your goals?

If you’re a new player I honestly think the best and most fun way of learning is playing with others. Even if it’s just one other person playing drums, guitar, keys. Got any friends that play music?
 
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#5
hi Lukeslywalker! ok ok. Every sunday I play with my guitarist friend. But we play along records... and also jam with drum beats on the computer. Good idea, im gonna look for a drummer to jam along!

I think where I live there arent local jam sessions, but there are a lot of musicians in the city.

For goals... good question. I initially wanted to make music for video games, but since i dont want to be much on the screen anymore I dont know which musical goals I have. I will think about it.

Thanks for answering
 
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#7
I have a neat little setup with a drum machine and 2 keyboard sustain 1/4” pedals attached to a piece of wood. One is a start/stop and one is an A/B section selector or hold for a drum fill. You can go nuts all day with that thing.
 
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#8
What kind of loop? I write/doodle with a Nu-X that has some drum beats. It’s so easy to use I can play through things and layer bass, guitar, leads and tighten everything to prep for recording.
It’s just a pedal.

If you just want to accompany random tunes turn on a radio.
 
#11
boringbassist said:
...
I want to play without screens at all. Or very little with screens but thank you anyway!
Click to expand...

Being of a certain age I find myself wondering what the preponderance of screen-based stuff consists of, to the point where it dominates practice time. I get watching a video lesson for specific aspects of something, and I get using a screen to display scores, but beyond that, music is an aural art that should be practiced as such, i.e. by listening.
There are hundreds of years worth of musical teaching/learning methods that don't rely on screens. Get a method book, put it on a music stand and get to work. In the words of James Bond, sometimes the old ways are the best.
 
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#12
boringbassist said:
Hi guys,
wanted to ask how can I play/practice without a computer or smartphone and have fun.

I know there are practice books but I think they are boring... good to learn but not much fun.
Click to expand...

What you are describing is playing, not practicing.

That's fine, if that's what you want to do, but you shouldn't confuse the two, because the goals are different.
 
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#16
I stare at computer screens all day at work as I have a desk job so as you can imagine when I come home to practice, play/record the last thing I want to be doing is looking at a screen. My boss BR 800 crapped out and I am currently looking at other offerings by tascam, etc for an Multi track that I can dump my ideas on to. If I need to then polish the recordings I can take them to in my buddies and he’s got all the sweet recording stuff to make it sound pro but like I said in the initial idea catching stage I do not want a screen anywhere.

Also can anybody here recommend me some good multi track digital recorders currently in production that they feel are easy to use and have great recording sound? I’ve had the zoom and the boss but was curious about the other brands out there…
 
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#18
When playing a bass I think it's like a foundation, so if it depends on anything else it's probably not working well enough. Being responsive to other people is one thing, needing them, quite another.

I like to have a structure to a song. I won't jam, or even play over a recording. I'll plunder a recording for all I can get out of it, looking at a screen, listening to it slowed down, filtered, time stretched, whatever it takes to figure out a complex detail hidden in other sounds, but when I play it, I play it with no screen or other distraction, and I'll only go back to a computer to listen to it playing a recording of me to show me where it sucks most. Usually timing of lengthy rests in odd time signatures.

If you're intending to sing while playing a bass, that can get tough, and this deep familiarity with structure, and having the moves built into your bones by practise, is pretty much the only reliable way. I do not separate the notion of playing, from practising. Each is a chance to do the other. That deliberation saved me from sucking when playing live, alone, in a pub last week. :)

EDIT:
Answering the call for suggestions of multitrack recorders, I say go with a computer, and older software of high quality, little if any eye candy. Use something that easily lets you drop markers, and SEE the waveform, not just hear it. Selecting marked regions for repeat, etc... This sort of tool really helps, and trying to get a dedicated hardware device to do this well is difficult and expensive, and at least with a computer it can be something else equally useful the rest of the time. If you can use one like this, then silence it, turn away from the screen, and still play what you just heard, you're well under way to making the tune yours, whatever it is, because at that instant you'll be figuring out how you do it, not how they did it.. It's a very good way to build confidence in what you do.
 
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