What is your practice routine?

[Acoustic356]

I am curious, what is your practice routine like? Is it focused, is it noodling? Are you happy with where you are? Do you set goals? Are you happy with your playing? When you finally have 20-30 minutes to pick up the bass what do you do?

My music director recently said he noticed some subtle changes in my playing that really improved the overall feel of the band.

Little did he know, that came from 2 months of drilling small things to make a big difference.

• Really locking into note duration
• Changing my attack on the strings
• Changing from using the tip of my fretting hand fingers to the pad based on the song
• Left hand vibrato (light vibrato)
• And a few other boring things

So... what are you working on?

 

[CallMeAl]

I’m not as organized/focused as I could be, but I have goals and skills that I work on.

I’m in 2 cover bands, one is fairly new. So most of my time is learning and memorizing new material.

When I have time beyond that, I work on:
-singing and playing.
-ear training, just putting on a tune I’ve never heard and try to play along.
-walking bass lines, I have a book of transcriptions I’m working through.

I play very little scales and arpeggios. If I have a particular song I want to improvise on, I may take some time to explore the fretboard in that key.

 

[RyanOh]

I was told to smile more last night. Need to practice that.

I had a lesson on Sunday to practice chart reading, I get lost on the complicated ones and worked with a guitarist who is pretty good at it.

 

[Acoustic356]

I was told to smile more last night. Need to practice that.

I had a lesson on Sunday to practice chart reading, I get lost on the complicated ones and worked with a guitarist who is pretty good at it.

I hate "cold reading" charts. If possible, I like to take 5-10 minutes and read the chart. I call out things like repeats (make them big so I can read them easier), I mark codas... I generally try to mark things up first.

 

[twinjet]

Argh. I've stopped practicing. I used to all the time, either with music or just going over scales. Not so easy these days.

When I practiced regularly, I'd pick out a bass line I really liked and practiced it in hopes of eventually being able to cover it on a YouTube video or something. That has yet to happen.

 

[baileyboy]

...what is your practice routine like? Is it focused, is it noodling? Are you happy with where you are? Do you set goals? Are you happy with your playing? When you finally have 20-30 minutes to pick up the bass what do you do?

My practice routine is very regimented. Set list songs are in plastic sheaths laid out alphabetically in a binder. I practice no less than 5 songs daily (sometimes more), each song given equal time, even if I've played it a million times. When I get through the binder, I start over. No noodling, no wasted time, 20-25 minutes daily. Sound boring to you? My end goal is to get through gigs playing the songs well, with no mistakes. So far this method has worked well for me.

 

[Acoustic356]

Argh. I've stopped practicing. I used to all the time, either with music or just going over scales. Not so easy these days.

When I practiced regularly, I'd pick out a bass line I really liked and practiced it in hopes of eventually being able to cover it on a YouTube video or something. That has yet to happen.

Somewhere, I read that Anthony Jackson said "If you keep your skills up, there is a place for you. If you don't, then there isn't."

My practice routine is very regimented. Set list songs are in plastic sheaths laid out alphabetically in a binder. I practice no less than 5 songs daily (sometimes more), each song given equal time, even if I've played it a million times. When I get through the binder, I start over. No noodling, no wasted time, 20-25 minutes daily. Sound boring to you? My end goal is to get through gigs playing the songs well, with no mistakes. So far this method has worked well for me.

How many songs/what style of music?

 

[two fingers]

Constantly learning new material, including either leads or backup vocals. My new material to-do list dominates my practice time these days.

 

[Malcolm35]

Understand this is coming from a really old bass player.

The band I played rhythm guitar in, none of us practice. Just showed up and played the same ole 50 songs we have been playing for 15 years. We gigged once a week so none of the songs were getting old, and yes we did improve the more we played with each other. We moved away from practicing scales and arpeggios to practicing playing with other musicians. Then.....

In the Praise band I'd look over this weeks selection and if one of the songs needed some attention I'd spend time with that song.

My point, there does come a time that we practice just the songs we will be using. That is the benefit of all those scales and arpeggios we did years ago. So, the lay back and enjoy time, will come.....

 

[dalkowski]

My practice routine (such as it ever was) is in the toilet. However, inspired by my son who just started his college music studies, I want to dig out my old Simandl and just bear down on it.

 

[Acoustic356]

Understand this is coming from a really old bass player.

The band I played rhythm guitar in, none of us practice. Just showed up and played the same ole 50 songs we have been playing for 15 years. We gigged once a week so none of the songs were getting old, and yes we did improve the more we played with each other. We moved away from practicing scales and arpeggios to practicing playing with other musicians. Then.....

In the Praise band I'd look over this weeks selection and if one of the songs needed some attention I'd spend time with that song.

My point, there does come a time that we practice just the songs we will be using. That is the benefit of all those scales and arpeggios we did years ago. So, the lay back and enjoy time, will come.....

This does pose an interesting point to consider.

Some people play the same things over and over... I tend to support multiple artists and multiple styles. As a result, there's always some technique or peculiar thing that I have to add in.

Right now, I'm support a highly produced church band, a country band, a jazz trio, a Prog Rock jam band, and a modern jazz group.

There is always something new popping up...

 

[baileyboy]

Somewhere, I read that Anthony Jackson said "If you keep your skills up, there is a place for you. If you don't, then there isn't."



How many songs/what style of music?

60+ songs, Classic rock/pop- 60s, 70s, 80s

 

[grinx]

I rarely have (make) time to do it but when I do I either work on parts of existing songload that could use the tightenup and/or try to create at least 1 new original riff or chart-toppin' hit.

Most sessions run 3 - 15 min =/ and not daily

 

[micguy]

This weekend, I'm doing 3 services on Sunday - two in the morning where we're doing our usual worship set, and...we have communion (music under that), and we have baptisms (more songs there), So 10 songs (usually it's 3 to 5). In the evening I'm doing a completely different style of service (quieter, in the round contemplative stuff), with another 4 tunes. The evening service is also the one I do on fretless - fits the vibe of the thing.

So, this week I'm practicing my butt off learning 4 new tunes, and polishing a bunch more. I'm looping the new tunes in the car ride to and from work (2 hours a day), to burn 'em in my brain better. Normally I'm learning a new tune or two, and polishing a few. My practice sessions are mostly about what I need to know for the next weekend; my playing has organically improved along the way.

 

[FronTowardEnemy]

What is this practice you speak of?

 

[Element Zero]

I haven’t “practiced” in over a decade. I just play. Some slap licks, octave jumps, major and minor third arpeggios in the circle of fifths or fourths, play along with songs from my country or worship playlists on iTunes... if I only have 20 minutes, I won’t play. Once I start I wanna go for at LEAST an hour. Typically 2 hours of continuous playing and will go as far as 60 songs straight through.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I am curious, what is your practice routine like? Is it focused, is it noodling? Are you happy with where you are? Do you set goals? Are you happy with your playing? When you finally have 20-30 minutes to pick up the bass what do you do?

My music director recently said he noticed some subtle changes in my playing that really improved the overall feel of the band.

Little did he know, that came from 2 months of drilling small things to make a big difference.

• Really locking into note duration
• Changing my attack on the strings
• Changing from using the tip of my fretting hand fingers to the pad based on the song
• Left hand vibrato (light vibrato)
• And a few other boring things

So... what are you working on?

I think if you're ever happy with your playing, that's bad news. If you're "good" where you're at, you can only get worse. Lazy, complacent, bored.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

My band's repertoire is up to 70+, and we do not play with charts. Doing maintenance on all of them takes time; there is always some passage that can be improved. As part of that, I find myself more concerned with three things:

1. Reharmonizing lines to keep them interesting. I'm all in favor of roots and fifths, but there is more to life, ya know? Here's a shocker: I completely retooled the line I was playing on "Purple Rain" and somebody in the audience actually came up to me afterwards and asked me (approvingly!) if I was doing something different. Could have knocked me over with a feather.
2. Note duration: Mostly shortening things up, especially in support of a vocal. It's amazing how you can create space for the singer.
3. Note placement. There's another thread about playing in front of, in the middle of, and behind the beat. Sometimes "one" is like a dot. And sometimes it's like the wide-open spaces! Most of the time, the drummer leads me to where I need to be. But sometimes he doesn't. So I have to figure it out.

 

[mrcbass]

My routine is probably not great, but it's what I can do. I do at least play (sometimes a lot, sometimes a little) almost every day. I take a couple days off a month just to keep my mind fresh (typically after a gig or a heavy rehearsal week), but I try to have hands on bass at least an hour or so a day - more on the weekends.

I mostly tend to practice songs I need to know for current band or auditions. I do more than just run through stuff most of the time - I actually stop and work out any problem areas and focus on the hard stuff. It's really easy to pick up the bass, play stuff you know and call it "practice". I try to avoid that pitfall. There's nothing wrong with just picking up the bass and play it for fun, but those aren't practice sessions in my book - that's "jamming".

I know I don't spend enough time doing stuff like scales and arpeggios, but frankly, I did that so much as a kid on other instruments that I quickly lose interest and either move on or just quit the session - unless of course, a line I'm learning needs a scale or arpeggio that is giving me grief.

I do try to spend some time working on technique issues when I'm not in a crunch and "need" to have songs working. But I try to integrate those exercises into songs I'm playing to help ingrain the technique to real world needs.

Despite not being ideal, my practice habits are way better then when I was a kid - once I learned what I needed to, I was done. Now I really work on things and explore new material whenever I don't have a focused need.

 

[Vytor]

When I'm at work I write little "lesson plans" for myself with a list of techniques, riffs, songs, etc to work on when I have time to practice later in the day, which has helped me focus more and noodle less. Generally I try to do some scales and note location exercises, run through songs I already know to work on fingering/timing, and learn one new bassline per day. Reading TB helps give me ideas for new things to work on.