Double Bass Poll- How much do you practise? How much music do you listen to?

[jjqq123]

In addition to practise, I´m interested in knowing how much music (related somehow to your double bass studies) do you listen to (but I don´t know how to insert 2 polls...)

-I never listen to music
-I listen some days in a week
-I listen daily about 30 min-1:00 hour
-I listen daily up to 2 hours
-I listen daily 3 hours+

Personally I listen to music between 2 and 3 hours daily. And I try to improve by practising about 2 hours a day.

 

[brianrost]

You left out the option for "not enough"

Varies from day to day, but I'd say I listen 2-3 hours a day. When driving to gigs and back it can be more than that!

Definitely more listening than practicing

 

[walking Bass]

When working on developing my chops, I'd practice 6+ hours a day. During my working years (non-music), I'd practice an hour or two a week. Now that I'm retired I play/practice about 1-2 hours a day. Better than meditating. I listen another couple of hours a day.

 

[jjqq123]

When working on developing my chops, I'd practice 6+ hours a day. During my working years (non-music), I'd practice an hour or two a week. Now that I'm retired I play/practice about 1-2 hours a day. Better than meditating. I listen another couple of hours a day.

Thanks, reflecting back do you think 6+ hours was necessary to develope your chops? How long did it take your "shedding years"?

 

[walking Bass]

Some days I'd practice more than 10 hours and it was probably necessary. There were so many bass players that I'd listened to - especially the jazz bassists - who were remarkable, I just wanted to be able to sound like them. I played mostly blues and R&B, but listened to Ray Brown, Cecil McBee, Paul Chambers, Eugene Wright, George Duvivier... Trying to play like them could swallow an infinite amount of time.

Living in a highly dysfunctional household made getting away to practice a survival tactic too.

 

[lokikallas]

I drive a lot and work alone mostly so I listen to music all day (when Howard stern isn't live)

 

[Ketbass]

I drive a lot and work alone mostly so I listen to music all day (when Howard stern isn't live)

Me too minus Howard Stern. I tend to practice 2-3 hrs a day. Closing my business soon so hope to practice more if my hands hold up.

 

[Sekundus]

I practise around 2 hours a day, but half an hour is rhythmik Training and ear training (ear master). On the weekend i make a pause, just because i donˋt want to loose fun playing doublebass.

 

[james condino]

Practice vs. Practise: What's The Difference?

Are we talking about actual practising where I have a plan and a new skill set I'm specifically working on or noodling along with some tunes and occasionally picking up something new to me?

I try to have music playing all day in the shop, often as loud as possible; the instruments like it.

 

[bassmanbrent]

I think there should be another possible response to the poll. It certainly fits my situation perfectly

'Not enough'

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I never practiced 6 hours a day. Back in college when I was playing piano I'd do 4, but it was a terrible unfocused practice. On bass, in my "shedding years", it was 2 to 3 hours, but highly regimented and focused and with breaks built in. I'm a firm believer in structured practice these days, and also that mental focus while practicing is paramount. Now I'm lucky to get 90 minutes a day in, but even at that it's better than the 4 hours of goofing off I used to call practice.

 

[BrotherMister]

highly regimented and focused and with breaks built in. I'm a firm believer in structured practice these days, and also that mental focus while practicing is paramount

This is it! I'm a firm believer that you can get more out of 20 minutes completely focused on a single thing than you'll get out of 4 hours messing around with bits of everything.

 

[Aragorn35016]

Depending on the day 1-2 hours of structured practice, (longtones, vomits/shifting exercises, Simandl, ear training, etc.) but I usually spike to 3 on the weekends and the every other Friday that I have off. I'm still not any good, but I did finally transcribe an entire jazz tune that I'm now learning to play. I am having a lot of fun though.

 

[jjqq123]

I never practiced 6 hours a day. Back in college when I was playing piano I'd do 4, but it was a terrible unfocused practice. On bass, in my "shedding years", it was 2 to 3 hours, but highly regimented and focused and with breaks built in. I'm a firm believer in structured practice these days, and also that mental focus while practicing is paramount. Now I'm lucky to get 90 minutes a day in, but even at that it's better than the 4 hours of goofing off I used to call practice.

Hi Chris, thank you so much for your response. What if we have rehearsals, gigs, jams, etc. the same day? I feel I cannot (or I don´t have the endurance) for practising and doing all this...

 

[oren]

Hi Chris, thank you so much for your response. What if we have rehearsals, gigs, jams, etc. the same day? I feel I cannot (or I don´t have the endurance) for practising and doing all this...

I find that I'm able to settle in and hit my stride a lot quicker at a gig or rehearsal if I've gotten in an hour or so of playing long tones, scales, and running some tunes sometime during the day. And being able to find that comfort zone sooner seems to lead to less struggle and actually increased endurance due to being relaxed. YMMV, of course, but that's my story, and I'm sticking with it!

 

[PauFerro]

I wish I had the desire to practice more. I used to practice as much as I needed to do the next gig. For a while there, I was practicing the modes so I could solo with jazz bands, and that resulted in progress, but I have had trouble getting into a regular practice routine.

There is a fabulous book I read on how to structure practice time, but I have trouble following its advice. Best I've seen in how to practice effectively to be a jazz musician:

https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Improvi...jazz+improvisation+made+simple,aps,101&sr=8-1