Technical exercises for jazz?

I'm a big fan of the exercises of Henk Haverhoek... scales, but not only... and it works... for me...

 

John Goldsby is the first guy I think of for practicing and perfecting rudiments. His Jazz Bass Book is a great resource for that, and now, also his video course on Geoff Chalmer's Discovery Double Bass website. Neither are exclusively about rudiments, but there's a clear emphasis and I found it easy to adopt his practice method to any new situation involving obtaining a controlled, effective physicality. The rudiments guru! The other resource might be Rufus Reid's book but it's been a while since I've worked with it and I can't remember how much is there. When you take a lesson with Rufus, he spends much of the time stressing how important rudiments are, and how to practice them; so much so, that I find myself thinking about my couple of sessions with him years later.

 

Well, think about that for a minute. Exercises to help the physical aspects of playing. What are the physical aspects of playing? That's pretty much physical approach, right? So what exercises do you do to work on the various aspects of physical approach? How do you approach scalar work? Arpeggio work? Pizz hand independence and dexterity?

Are the physical aspects of approaching the instrument the only interface with connecting the instrument to vocabulary? Is vocabulary the most important part of the equation in developing an individual improvising voice? Is acquiring vocabulary from other players the best approach to developing an individual improvising voice?

 

I would say just chromatic walking with the metronome as well just walking, maybe with the mute on, with a podcast or TV show on.

 

John Goldsby and his Jazz Bass Book , but also the mentioned videos on Discover Double Bass are really good and helpful. But there a lots and lots of other helpful materials. For example the Jazz Bass Compendium, written by Sigi Busch, is an impressive resource of exercises and helpful ideas.
Some time ago I got some exercises for the right hand, written down by Detlev Beier, an excellent german bassist and teacher, who died unfortunately some years ago, which are really really good and very helpful (for me). I converted them to pdf files and if you are interested, I can send them to you...
Just two little examples

 

Dexterity and speed while improvising aren't just a function of technique/physical approach, you have to hear the line at tempo. I'd spend more time on ear training; the basics, not just relying on transcription to build your ear. Once you start trying to execute your ideas at tempo, you'll discover what you need to work on with physical approach.

I'd also suggest abandoning the idea that "scalar runs" have anything to do with jazz improvisation. You work on scales and arpeggios to iron out fingering, position shifts, pizz hand/fingerboard and coordination, etc. How are you working on scales, etc. now? Are you working with a teacher?

 

The open string exercises at the beginning Rufus' book are deceptively challenging. At 50bpm getting all the notes to ring evenly is not as sinple as it may seem.

 

Sorry, in general I wouldn't either! I wouldn't even recommend calling most pizzicato playing "practice". The podcast/TV thing is good only for working physical endurance.
I do when I've had gaps between concerts and I am about have a concert that calls for more intense playing. I also do it AFTER a more focused and rigorous warm up and practice routine with the bow.
Speaking of which, the early Simandl exercises in Book 1 as well as the first 2 or 3 out of the 30 Etudes really build the strength needed for jazz gigs.

 

take any part of any of the solos you're working on and put it through the keys. make it a small part. only one or 2 measures. play it in keys that are far from the key you learned it in. play it in lower and upper octaves. play it with no open strings. focus on only a few other keys at first if its too hard. play it in areas of the instrument that you're not comfortable with. play the chord that it goes with in the background so you hear how it lays against the chord and so you can check intonation. any group of notes can be an exercise. as i get older, i realize that this, and arpeggio practice are really all you need.

 

Not bad advice, but the OP is asking about things to do when pretty fried after a long workday.

 

I would warmly recommend Hein vd Geyn and his Comprehensive Bass Method. for anything. a lifetime of knowledge and experience for a lifetime of study.

 

Even one measure is a good place to start. I find that small bites are the best as I get older also.

 

Teaching myself - you are, of course, more than welcome to do any damn thing you want. But even though one might be able to eventually figure out a way to get through the Impenetrable Forest, having a guide who has thoroughly explored that forest and knows, not one, but a multiplicity of ways to help YOU navigate it.

...I'll run through the scales and chords and arpeggios of the tune, but I don't go further than that (even though I should).
I don't know if you play any sports, but an analogy I find useful (and may be of some familiarity) is football (although in the US I like to use basketball, don't know if that resonates in Perfidious Albion). You don't see football players ONLY working on plays or goalies ONLY blocking the box. You train for actual play in a a variety of ways that don't relate to specific performance. By only working on things that relate to a specific set of harmonies and a specific melody you are, in effect, building a little box. Working generally on 2 octave scales, arpeggios of traits and 4 part chords in all inversions and in open and closed positions AND working on an ear training program that helps get the SOUND of these in your ear while you work on getting fingering, positional and string crossing issues worked out on the instrument broadens your possibility for developing an aural response that's YOURS. Not just regurgitating or rearranging and regurgitating vocabulary from someone else.
Your original question was for technical work to do, that means going further. Let intent become act.

So as an analogy, let's say you're into riding bikes: some days you want to jump on, go somewhere new and explore the city. Then there are rainy days when you can't do that, but you still want to stay in shape, so you just go to the gym and ride an exercise bike and stare at a wall.
In your analogy, are you riding a bike to sight see or for exercise? Are you training for time trails, velodrome racing, triathlons? Are you trying for speed or distance? Your goal is going to determine what direction you take.


Really, you've got to work on stuff that isn't just playing tunes or parts of tunes. Or not, no skin off my nose.

 

Most of my practice time now is about 75%, I would guess, with the bow and focused a lot on classical etudes, even though most of the music I play involves improvisation. Pizz wise something I have been doing recently though is playing etudes from Zimmerman’s bowing book using 2 finger pizz, alongside arco. Ken Filiano told me that Dave Holland uses that as one of his practice routines. Otherwise with pizz I’ll usually run through scales/arpeggios in either the circle of 5ths or 4ths, play a scale exercise that shift from playing notes in groupings of 4 to 3 to 2 to 1, and work on pizz long tones.