She-Ra's Shed

[Flamingo21]

It's just a way of staying connected, and not losing our weekly ritual that makes sure we're in touch. I've seen a lot of friend groups slowly lose touch, especially as they go into mid/late 30s, so it's nice to have an easy thing to fall-back on.

Good one!

 

[Flamingo21]

I need to get back to progressing on the technique stuff. I've really been focusing on muting and dynamics for the past few weeks

You probably know this very well, but muting and dynamics are technique too. So you have been working on your technique.

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Saturday, April 25

Notes & Comments:

• Not much to report. Participated in a Tetris tournament this weekend so I wasn't able to practice bass because I wanted to keep my hands fresh. Having said that, I did noodle about in the evening for a few hours afterwards and started transcribing Ain't No Mountain High Enough. I will do it properly tomorrow.
  
• @instrumentalist Haha. Yes, for sure. I meant, no new technique stuff, just sticking with the material I was already working on.

 

[juggahnaught]

Oh man, I love Tetris and thought I was great until I saw Tetris tournaments on Youtube. I feel like that's next-level.

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Sunday, April 26

• Fretboard
  • -
• Technique & Dexterity
  • Pentatonic modes - 30
    • @ 95bpm: directional
      
    • @ 80bpm: matrix + 4-note + moving starting points
  • Major Modes (Bassology Six Variations) - 30
    • Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian @ 80bpm/16ths
  • Arpeggios - 30
    • Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian @ 75bpm/16ths
• Groove & Time
  • Internal Rhythm (6/2) - 10
• Theory
  • -
• Genre Studies
  • -
• Transcription
  • Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
    • Haven't gotten it all, but it's good to be back to transcribing. There's some syncopation parts that are a bit harder to take out here, but ok overall.

Notes & Comments:

• @juggahnaught Yeah, I used to play Tetris casually and thought I was good as well, until one day I discovered the Classic Tetris World Championships, and started teaching myself how to actually play well. But then I got addicted to modern, multiplayer competitive Tetris. Here's a video of the final match from the tournament, if you want to see the absolutely blistering pace at which they play. Keep in mind that, while these two guys are some of the best in the world, they're not actually playing fast. Multiplayer Tetris needs to be a bit slower, because you have to deal with the garbage the other player is sending you. Their speed ends up being at around 3-3.5 pieces per second. The fastest player in the world (but not multiplayer) is usually around 8-9 pieces per second. It's always funny because when I show people this sort of stuff, they always ask, "Is that on fast forward?" And then they realize, nope, that's just how fast the game is played.

307.5/10k

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Monday, April 27

• Fretboard
  • Review @ 100bpm - 10
    
  • A @ 80bpm - 5
• Technique & Dexterity
  • Pentatonic modes - 30
    • @ 95bpm: directional
      
    • @ 80bpm: matrix + 4-note + moving starting points
  • Major Modes (Bassology Six Variations) - 30
    • Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian @ 85bpm/16ths
    • Mixolydian @ 70bpm/16ths
  • Arpeggios - 60
    • Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian @ 75bpm/16ths
    • Mixolydian @ 65bpm/16ths
• Groove & Time
  • Internal Rhythm (2/2) - 10
• Theory
  • -
• Genre Studies
  • -
• Transcription
  • Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Gaye & Terrell - 30

Notes & Comments:

• -

310/10k

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Tuesday, April 28

• Fretboard
  • Review @ 100bpm - 10
    
  • A @ 90bpm - 5
• Technique & Dexterity
  • Bassology Dexterity - 15
    • Finger 1 variations @ 60bpm/16th
  • Major Modes (Bassology Six Variations) - 30
    • Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian @ 85bpm/16ths
      • Keeping this pace up for nearly 20 minutes with no break is rough! Good stamina training, but boy oh boy.
    • Aeolian @ 85bpm/8ths & 75bpm/16ths
  • Arpeggios - 30
    • Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian @ 80bpm/16ths
    • Mixolydian, Aeolian @ 80bpm/8ths & 16ths
  • Broken Intervals - 30
    • 3rds @ 65bpm/16th
  • SBL:TAP - 20
    • Right hand finger independence exercises
• Groove & Time
  • -
• Theory
  • Note name matrix @ 140bpm - 5
    
  • Key signature & sharps/flats - 5
    
  • Relative minor memorization - 10
• Genre Studies
  • -
• Transcription
  • -

• Lesson
  • Bassology - Covered different ways of using broken 3rds technically, and melodically.
  • SBL: TAP - Exercises focusing on finger independence in the right hand. Pretty easy stuff, but gets progressively harder as you kick up the tempo. Good base stuff to sit on.

Notes & Comments:

• So, most lessons with Anthony are pretty great, but, every once in a while, he does something that really impresses me with his ability to teach, as someone that has studied education. Today, we started the lesson and I, after practicing the stuff from last lesson, had two questions about the material. I told him I had some questions and he said something along the lines of, here's what you're gonna ask. And they were my exact questions and he had a fantastic answer for them. Man, it was really great.

312.5/10k

 

[Flamingo21]

I told him I had some questions and he said something along the lines of, here's what you're gonna ask. And they were my exact questions

So he knows who you are and where you are. A good teacher!

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Wednesday, April 29

• Fretboard
  • Review @ 100bpm - 10
    
  • A @ 90bpm - 5
• Technique & Dexterity
  • Bassology Dexterity - 15
    • Finger 2 variations @ 60bpm/16th
  • Major Modes (Bassology Six Variations) - 30
    • Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian @ 80bpm/16ths
  • Arpeggios - 60
    • Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian @ 70bpm/16ths
      • Slowed everything down today to make sure I'm getting the correct fingering on a few of the arpeggios that have modified fingering depending on direction
  • Broken Intervals - 30
    • 3rds (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian) @ 70bpm/16th
  • SBL:TAP - 20
    • Right hand finger independence exercises
• Groove & Time
  • -
• Theory
  • Note name matrix @ 140bpm - 5
    
  • Key signature & sharps/flats - 5
    
  • Relative minor memorization - 10
• Genre Studies
  • -
• Transcription
  • -

Notes & Comments:

• -

315.5/10k

 

[Flamingo21]

Slowed everything down today to make sure I'm getting the correct fingering on a few of the arpeggios that have modified fingering depending on direction

A quick question here: does this mean the fingering is different when you go up, than when you go down?

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Thursday, April 30

• Fretboard
  • Review @ 100bpm - 10
    
  • A @ 100bpm - 5
• Technique & Dexterity
  • Bassology Dexterity - 15
    • Finger 3 variations @ 60bpm/16th
  • Major Modes (Bassology Six Variations) - 30
    • All modes (minus Locrian) @ 80bpm/16ths
    • Locrian @ 70bpm/16ths
  • Arpeggios - 45
    • All modes @ 70bpm/16ths
  • Broken Intervals - 45
    • 3rds (All modes) @ 70bpm/16th
  • SBL:TAP - 20
    • Right hand finger independence exercises
• Groove & Time
  • -
• Theory
  • Note name matrix @ 140bpm - 5
    
  • Key signature & sharps/flats - 5
    
  • Relative minor memorization - 5
• Genre Studies
  • -
• Transcription
  • -

Notes & Comments:

• Finally got all the relative minors down cold in my head, and the major modes across the fretboard in my fingers. This is the last week where I'm going to spend significant time on the major modes in and of themselves because I'm now familiar with them. Now I'll start practicing them in different ways.
  
• My goal for May will be to memorize all the notes in all the major scales independent of each other (ie. you say 3rd of Db major, I can immediately reply F; or if you write out, 3 5 2 7 1 6 4, I should be able to rattle off what the notes are for each major scale, in that order). Knowing the notes: muito importante.
• @instrumentalist Sort of.... so yes, and no. The idea is that the fingering changes based on two things: where you're coming from, and where you're going. So, if you were playing in the A Mixolyidan position starting on E string, for example, you'd play A B C# / D E F# / G A B / C# D E. Now in this example you'd regularly be playing the notes with your first, second, and pinky fingers. Why? Because fretting the middle note with your ring finger, and then stretching out to the next note with the pinky hurts - the stretch there is less than the stretch between the index and middle. (For this example, let's use the notation 1A to indicate A being played with the first finger.) So if, in this position, you play the extended arpeggio, you'd finger it: 1A 4C# 2E 1G 4B 2D. But if you didn't want to play that C#, you could more efficiently play the same thing: 1A 3E 1G 4B 2D. So the idea is to not to satisfy a specific fingering rigidly, but ingrain movement in the hand that adapts to doing what you want efficiently. This then accounts for differences in fingering between scales, arpeggios, broken notes, etc.

318/10k

 

[Flamingo21]

But if you didn't want to play that C#, you could more efficiently play the same thing: 1A 3E 1G 4B 2D.

In that case, I'd probably play 1A 4E 1G.



But that's just me being rebellious. Or childish. Or plain lazy.

 

[kesslari]

@She-Ra it might be fun and interesting to post a sample of your playing every month. You're on a monster practice routine and hearing how that impacts your playing over time would be cool.

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Monday, May 4

• Fretboard
  • Review @ 100bpm - 10
    
  • G#/Ab @ 70bpm - 5
• Technique & Dexterity
  • Bassology Dexterity - 15
    • Finger 4 variations @ 60bpm/16th
  • Major Modes (Bassology Six Variations) - 30
    • All modes @ 80bpm/8ths
  • Arpeggios - 30
    • All modes @ 80bpm/8ths
  • Broken Intervals - 30
    • 3rds (All modes) @ 80bpm/8ths
  • SBL:TAP - 20
    • Right hand finger independence exercises
• Groove & Time
  • -
• Theory
  • Note name matrix @ 140bpm - 5
    
  • Key signature & sharps/flats - 5
    
  • Relative minor memorization - 5
• Genre Studies
  • -
• Transcription
  • -

Notes & Comments:

• I pulled a muscle in my back and was laid out Fri-Sun. I took today off from work and slowly started moving around, and could actually lift the bass enough to practice. I slowed everything WAY down because it was still somewhat painful.
• @kesslari I was thinking about something like that. I did do a video a while ago. I've also been tempted with the idea of streaming or recording my practice routine once a month or something. I'm not sure how useful it is, really. I'm pretty invested in self critique as I practice so, as I go along, both my technical facility, as well as this log, are really kinda helping keep track of that. Great suggestion though; I'll muddle over it some more to figure out how I'd like to do that.

318/10k

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Tuesday, May 5

• Fretboard
  • Review @ 100bpm - 10
    
  • G#/Ab @ 85bpm - 5
• Technique & Dexterity
  • Bassology Dexterity - 15
    • Finger 4 variations @ 70bpm/16th
  • Major Modes (Bassology Six Variations) - 20
    • All modes @ 80bpm/8ths
  • Arpeggios - 20
    • All modes @ 80bpm/8ths
  • Broken Intervals - 20
    • 3rds (All modes) @ 80bpm/8ths
• Groove & Time
  • -
• Theory
  • Note name matrix @ 140bpm - 5
    
  • Key signature & sharps/flats - 5
• Genre Studies
  • -
• Transcription
  • -

Notes & Comments:

• I may have been overzealous yesterday practicing sitting down for so long. Still.....

318/10k

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Sunday, May 10

• Fretboard
  • Review @ 100bpm - 10
• Technique & Dexterity
  • Bassology Dexterity - 15
    • Finger 3 variations @ 70bpm/16th
  • Major Modes (Bassology Six Variations) - 30
    • All modes (minus Locrian) @ 80bpm/16ths
  • Arpeggios - 30
    • All modes @ 70bpm/16ths
  • Broken Intervals - 30
    • 3rds (All modes) @ 70bpm/16th
  • SBL:TAP - 20
    • Right hand finger independence exercises
• Groove & Time
  • -
• Theory
  • Note name matrix @ 140bpm - 5
    
  • Key signature & sharps/flats - 5
• Genre Studies
  • -
• Transcription
  • -

Notes & Comments:

• A friend has been having trouble with some personal stuff so I've been helping them out, which left me with little time to practice bass (though I still got managed to squeeze about an hour a day) for the past three days, and even less time to keep update this log unfortunately.
• Today I did a test stream just playing songs and stuff, and things seemed to be ok, and the sound wasn't horrible. We'll try doing a "real" practice stream tomorrow evening and see how that goes and how I feel about it.

320.5/10k

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Sunday, May 11

• Fretboard
  • Review @ 100bpm - 10
• Technique & Dexterity
  • Bassology Dexterity - 15
    • Finger 3 variations @ 80bpm/16th
  • Major Modes (Bassology Six Variations) - 15
    • All modes (minus Locrian) @ 85bpm/16ths
  • Arpeggios - 60
    • All modes @ 60-80bpm/16ths
  • Broken Intervals - 30
    • 3rds (All modes) @ 75bpm/16th
  • SBL:TAP - 15
    • Right hand finger independence exercises
• Groove & Time
  • -
• Theory
  • Note name matrix @ 140bpm - 5
    
  • Key signature & sharps/flats - 5
• Genre Studies
  • -
• Transcription
  • -

Notes & Comments:

• I streamed the practice session today. There were a few (silly) technical problems that I've worked out. I was also pretty tired from work today, so once I got through the exercises, I was too tired to transcribe.

322.5/10k

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Tuesday, May 12

• Fretboard
  • Review @ 100bpm - 10
• Technique & Dexterity
  • Bassology Dexterity - 45
    • Finger 3 variations @ 70bpm/16th
  • Major Modes (Bassology Six Variations) - 15
    • All modes @ 85bpm/16ths
  • Arpeggios - 30
    • All modes @ 80bpm/16ths
  • Broken Intervals - 30
    • 3rds (All modes) @ 80bpm/16th
  • SBL:TAP - 20
    • Right hand finger independence exercises
• Groove & Time
  • -
• Theory
  • -
• Genre Studies
  • -
• Transcription
  • -
• Lesson
  • Bassology - Today we took a break from theory stuff and focused on dexterity exercises. We covered a few different ways of going about them - and they are tricky. Ooo boy. But, bonus, a bunch of these exercises also work on time, so that's a double bonus. Another cool thing that came out of this: my thumb is doing a weird thing I need to focus on fixing.
  • SBL: TAP - Second lesson for right hand independence, accenting different counts.

Notes & Comments:

• More streaming. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think I might not do it too much, because it does have some impact on concentration. But for fun, here's a link to tonight's practice.

325/10k

 

[juggahnaught]

I love watching other people practice because it reminds me that no matter what skill level we're at, we all make mistakes and are all pushing in the same direction. This sounds terrible, but when people mess up in practice I guess I feel closer to them in that way ("hey, he does the exact same thing I do when I mess up", etc). There's an Adam Neely video where he does a five-hour practice stream, and he makes a lot of mistakes and gets frustrated towards the end (which was totally relatable to me, I loved it). I guess it's just humanizing to see that we aren't practicing alone in a bubble, and I think it also helps not to compare yourself (for me, anyway) and all of your own practice flaws to the perfect performance version of another bass player.

Eidt: Twitch - this is so real. I recently went through this myself and I've updated my right hand muting technique to address it. "What am I not muting", at that moment I felt like we were brothers

Double Edit: I'm kind of skipping around your video, but I really like the idea of practicing with a backing track like that for scales and arpeggios. I usually just do this on my own with a metronome (or without, bad, I know) but now that I've got a new piano, I can probably sequence some nice tracks in Ableton for the piano to play (using an electric piano or vibraphone patch). Nice idea, think I'm going to steal it.

Progress, not perfection. Keep it up!

 

[adudenamedruby]

Log Date: Friday, May 15

• Fretboard
  • Review @ 100bpm - 10
• Technique & Dexterity
  • Bassology Dexterity
  • Major Modes (Bassology Six Variations)
  • Arpeggios
  • Broken Intervals
  • Pentatonics
  • SBL:TAP
• Groove & Time
  • -
• Theory
  • -
• Genre Studies
  • -
• Transcription
  • -

Notes & Comments:

• Today was a weird day: I took the day off work and binged Season 3 of Westworld and Season 7 of Brooklyn 99. And I had the bass in my hands the entire.... well, 90% of the time, practicing stuff to a metronome. So, I don't know how long I practiced each individual section, but I did at least 8 hours of practice so I'll write that in. I actually really enjoyed it because a lot of the monotonous stuff (like the dexterity exercises) is rather boring once you've stopped struggling with the mechanics and are now working on accuracy and speed.
• @juggahnaught You've got some really great points that I VERY much agree with. This sounds cliche, but I love making mistakes. I've spent so much time picking up a variety of hobbies and I've really, really internalized the feeling that making mistakes (when practicing) equals progress - even if it is sometimes frustrating. You literally can't get better without making a mistake. The big failure is not analyzing those mistakes; glossing over them and not understanding why they happen, and how to fix them. I think it is the worst sin of learning. And yeah, 100%: I think the only person you should compare yourself is who you were yesterday. I used to look at videos of young kids or virtuosos doing amazing things on any instrument and feel disheartened that I couldn't do that or might never be able to... but then I corrected that thought process: they sounded like crap when they started out too! Where they are has no impact on me; where I am does. Also, in regards to practicing with a backing track: I can't take credit for it. It's from Anthony. The idea behind it being that you're getting your ear used to those sounds over the same chord progression. I'm also in the process of transitioning computers..... I currently only have a work laptop as I sold my old iMac and will soon buy a new MacBook Pro. But once I have my own computer again... I can't wait to put Band-in-a-Box on and play around with really awesome backing tracks.

333/10k