Practice routine for beginner

[Mushroo]

I'm working on basic stuff, just started practicing major scales and learning the notes on the fretboard.

I'll try transcribing. Do you recommend doing that by hand on paper, or is there a program where I could do it online and then print it out?

Perfect. The major scale is pretty much the most important thing you will ever learn. For now, you could just focus on learning all of the major scales, because they are a prerequisite skill for transcription.

My experience was that, writing out all of the major scales, on paper, by hand, was a really boring exercise, but totally valuable for my memorization.

I'm an old fashioned pencil and paper guy, but some of my more tech-savvy friends are using MuseScore (a notation software that is totally free!)

 

[sherocksonbass]

Perfect. The major scale is pretty much the most important thing you will ever learn. For now, you could just focus on learning all of the major scales, because they are a prerequisite skill for transcription.

My experience was that, writing out all of the major scales, on paper, by hand, was a really boring exercise, but totally valuable for my memorization.

I'm an old fashioned pencil and paper guy, but some of my more tech-savvy friends are using MuseScore (a notation software that is totally free!)

MuseScore looks great, thank you.

Agreed about the major scales. I'm trying to start from the beginning and work my way up.

 

[Yonni]

Perfect. The major scale is pretty much the most important thing you will ever learn. For now, you could just focus on learning all of the major scales, because they are a prerequisite skill for transcription.

My experience was that, writing out all of the major scales, on paper, by hand, was a really boring exercise, but totally valuable for my memorization.

What do you mean writing out the scales? Are you just starting at C and writing down the notes if the scale and then doing the same for C#, D etc?

 

[Mushroo]

What do you mean writing out the scales? Are you just starting at C and writing down the notes if the scale and then doing the same for C#, D etc?

Grab some staff paper and a pencil.

On the first staff, notate the C Major scale (C D E F G A B C).

On the second staff, notate the Db Major scale (Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db).

On the third staff, notate the D Major scale (D E F# G A B C# D).

And so forth.

(Note: Instead of ordering the scales chromatically, you might find it more logical to go around the circle of 5ths. So instead of going C, Db, D, Eb, etc. you could go C, F, Bb, Eb, etc.)

(Bonus points: Instead of simply practicing scales from the root to the octave, practice them over the entire range of the instrument.)

 

[Yonni]

Ok thanks. Where I fall down on extending scales beyond a single octave is how do you do that? Should you continue on the same string as the octave or, if starting on the E string, continue on to the G? Or practice both? I really need to find a new teacher. Online lessons are great but you can't ask questions. I haven't been able to find a local teacher since the summer and I've been in a rut for ages. So I really appreciate this advice, thanks.

 

[Mushroo]

Good question. I would say, there is no one "right" or "wrong" way to practice scales. What I like to do is challenge myself to come up with different fingerings. For example I might play one "shape" going up the scale and a different shape coming back down the scale. Or experiment if I can use open strings to make the shifts easier.

A good intermediate exercise is to practice all of the scales in open position, without ever going past the 4th fret. So for example, C Major scale, start on the open low E string (the lowest note that fits C Major) and go up the scale to B at the 4th fret of the G string (the highest note that fits C major). Then for Db Major, start on low F at the 1st fret and go up to Bb at the 3rd fret of the G string. And so on.

Once you have that under your fingers, then try extending the exercise past the 4th fret.

 

[Robsco]

I've just started another thread about finger positions.

What I'm doing now is:

Learn to play scales starting on different fingers, which immediately multiplies stuff to practice.

When you get to the octave, repeat, you then also have multiple options for the next octave.

Then, instead of moving strings half way through a pattern, stay on the same string instead, for the next "batch" of notes.

Then, change what you play in all those positions: major scales, arpeggios, pentatonic, minors, modes, etc.

So many combinations there to keep you busy for a while, I hope.

I'm doing all that, following the earlier video posted, going round the circle of fourths, C, F, Bb, Eb, etc.

 

[Yonni]

This advice has given me purpose and structure for my practice. Sorry for hijacking your thread Sherocks.

I've spent too much time trying to follow different courses online and a lot of it has been "play these riffs" or "here are some frequently used blues progressions ". This thread will give me the knowledge and freedom to understand how and why they all work. Thanks, you've all just saved me some time and money! There's no point in me spending any more money until I have these basics nailed.

 

[Robsco]

Same here, too many random YouTube videos and a couple of books.

I guess everyone learns (or wants to learn) differently.

This little chart has helped massively literally in the last couple of days:

Numbers on the neck are the scale intervals.

 

[sherocksonbass]

This advice has given me purpose and structure for my practice. Sorry for hijacking your thread Sherocks.

I've spent too much time trying to follow different courses online and a lot of it has been "play these riffs" or "here are some frequently used blues progressions ". This thread will give me the knowledge and freedom to understand how and why they all work. Thanks, you've all just saved me some time and money! There's no point in me spending any more money until I have these basics nailed.

I'm glad you hijacked it! Thanks for your good questions Yonni - now I have some more things to work on, too!

 

[sherocksonbass]

Same here, too many random YouTube videos and a couple of books.

I guess everyone learns (or wants to learn) differently.

This little chart has helped massively literally in the last couple of days:

View attachment 3291951

Numbers on the neck are the scale intervals.

Thanks for posting this chart!

I'm attaching some pictures of left-hand permutations and patterns that I'm trying to use for practicing
arpeggios that have helped me.

 

[Yonni]

I just watched Invalid Link Removed. It's an excercise for beginning to understand walking bass but works well as a follow up to the previous film on learning the neck. It helps consolidate the knowledge by putting it in to practice.