Why do you practice?

[gcb]

My general approach to learning is to economize on the hard work of thinking, by copying the lines of the masters and incorporating them into my playing.

But I often forget the things I learned. So repetition is key.

Besides, by nature, I would normally shirk rather than practice.

So I have adopted a two hours daily practice mandatory routine that I respect, no matter what.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

If someone needs to be motivated to practice, rehearse, etc., they should probably just sell their gear and call it a day.

 

[LowEndThrasher]

I’m a die hard metal head and listen to music everyday. I’m always hearing things I want to learn and am always being inspired. I love having personal goals to improve myself in every aspect of my life, so I strive to be the best I can be, including with bass playing. It makes life feel that much more fulfilling. It’s also fun to watch peoples reaction when I tell them I play metal on bass. They always expect something slappy or funky, not to mention most people only know what metal sounds like on guitar and not bass.

 

[LowEndThrasher]

I feel I’ve kinda plateaued on bass. But it’s cool im ok with it I have all the technical ability to play in the bands im in, so I don’t practice for speed or fretboard prowess. I still learn new songs, and my big goal now is developing my voice and singing and playing.

I also play guitar. I’m not nearly as good as on bass, and most practice time is spent here. I really just do this for me, and getting better is actually more of a reward than a goal. I practice because it’s an engaging and mentally stimulating hobby, and I love it.

As for the group my #1 is small bits of practice, consistently. 10 minutes a day is better than 70 minutes on Saturday. Also, make sure there’s stuff in there you enjoy. Unless you’re a music major or going pro, why break your back? It’s a hobby for most. Play stuff you love and you’ll keep coming back.

I also practice guitar but not nearly as much as I’d like. Guitar players are everywhere and is a main reason I picked bass, but I secretly wish to be as good as some people I see. I’m getting there, but I dedicate way too much time to bass right now. I’d really like to try and split my practice time between the two, but that’s easier said than done right now. Hopefully some day!

 

[misterCRUSH]

I have schizophrenia. Playing bass has always been a refuge for me. It's a place that is always there for me to go to wherein joy is tangible. I feel more than bass; I feel joy.
As far as practice itself, I strive to be better. I give myself projects and work hard at them. Giant Steps and Portrait of Tracy are examples of these projects. I am currently working on transcribing a Hadrien Feraud solo. I'm hoping to get more variety, speed, and style in my solos.

 

[juancaminos]

My BL changes the set list every gig (11 gigs this month). I have to practice to keep fresh on the songs he chooses for the set list as well as the songs he drops in when he abandons the list. Keeps me on my toes!

 

[CallMeAl]

I also practice guitar but not nearly as much as I’d like. Guitar players are everywhere and is a main reason I picked bass, but I secretly wish to be as good as some people I see. I’m getting there, but I dedicate way too much time to bass right now. I’d really like to try and split my practice time between the two, but that’s easier said than done right now. Hopefully some day!

I’m firmly a multi, I started on trumpet, can hack along on keys (terrible reader but pretty good with chord charts.)

Id say my “best” instrument is bass. It actually came about when the college Jazz combo had no bass player. Definitely one of those “so who’s gonna play bass??” Situations So I love being that rock for everyone.

Guitar came about with the pandemic. (Electric anyway, I’ve strummed acoustic for years.) it was enriching, and not sad that I wasn’t playing with people! So doesn’t bother me that there’s all the guitar competition, I’m content playing alone, and I’ve really phased out my gigging anyways.

But to my main point- I’ve always found it’s hard to grow 2 instruments at once. Now bass is on “maintenance mode” with 10-15 minutes every other day (sometimes less) Guitar is on “growth mode” every day for 20-30 minutes (sometimes more.)

good luck with your practice time!

 

[KenD]

- to keep my chops up
- to continue learning new patterns/possibilities
- learn new material

 

[LowEndThrasher]

I’m firmly a multi, I started on trumpet, can hack along on keys (terrible reader but pretty good with chord charts.)

Id say my “best” instrument is bass. It actually came about when the college Jazz combo had no bass player. Definitely one of those “so who’s gonna play bass??” Situations So I love being that rock for everyone.

Guitar came about with the pandemic. (Electric anyway, I’ve strummed acoustic for years.) it was enriching, and not sad that I wasn’t playing with people! So doesn’t bother me that there’s all the guitar competition, I’m content playing alone, and I’ve really phased out my gigging anyways.

But to my main point- I’ve always found it’s hard to grow 2 instruments at once. Now bass is on “maintenance mode” with 10-15 minutes every other day (sometimes less) Guitar is on “growth mode” every day for 20-30 minutes (sometimes more.)

good luck with your practice time!

That’s exactly my point, improving on more than one instrument isn’t impossible, but just takes way more time than I have nowadays. I’d rather be a great bass player (or as close as I can be to great) or guitar player, than be mediocre at either one. It that would mean I’d have to give up or nearly give up the other. Some days I’m like “yeah I’m in a guitar mood, let me shred on it” then a few minutes later I realize how much I suck and pick up bass again. Other times I sit with guitar for three or more days straight and see decent progress, but I’m just not consistent with it. It sucks, but I do what I can!

 

[Kael]

Rehearse? Hell, I never hearsed in the first place.

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

A billion years ago, when I was 18, my singer friend said: If I don't practice for 2 days. I hear it. If I don't practice for a week, my teacher hears it. If I don't practice for a month the audience hears it.

 

[Blue Moose]

At my age (60), I'm probably as proficient as I'll ever be. So for me, practice is preparation for upcoming gigs...to see if I can come up with a cooler line, to clean up anything I may have screwed up last gig, to make sure I'm prepared for whatever we play. And to have fun doing something I love.

 

[Fuzzbass]

I practice every day, haven't missed in ages. Generally 90% is about being ready to perform, including always standing up, facing away from the amp like on stage, and going over tunes on our 100 song set list. The other 10% is learning new stuff. I joined a music-accountability group on one of our work channels about our practice schedules, and I'm the only one really sticking with it. I'd appreciate any tips I can pass along to these folks about practice motivation and reward.

I split time between a bunch of semi-regular bands plus sub gigs. I gig almost every weekend, often twice, occasionally thrice.

I always practice standing up. I mean... that's the way I'll be gigging. Unfortunately I don't practice every day, though I should.

These days, I almost always practice to learn new songs or brush up on ones I haven't played in awhile -- to prep for gigs, of course. I've gone through periods of taking theory lessons and practicing to improve my brain, but that paused due to covid. I'll get back to it at some point.

 

[Pings Bass]

For the sake of it.

My 84-year-old stepmom, a retired music teacher, still practices regularly.

For many musicians, it's just a thing you do, like eating, sleeping, meditating, and exercising.

 

[Bass4Gsus]

Because I like to play. Lately (1.5months) I haven't been able to play much bass, guitar or keys because my wrist has been hurting like a demon. Went to the orthopedic physician and was told it was arthritis and got a steroid shot. It helps a little, but still unable to play for more than 5-10 minutes without severe discomfort and pain. No bueno.

Talk to your doctors, Physical Therapy may help deal with it.

 

[Nebraska]

I should really learn how to play this thing.

 

[KenD]

With all due respect, if you need an "accountability group" to motivate you to practice, you might as well not bother.

 

[Road Hat]

With all due respect, if you need an "accountability group" to motivate you to practice, you might as well not bother.

Fair point, they’re looking for me to be a mentor. The responses are phenomenal, and I’ll definitely be using them to help motivate the participants.

 

[KenD]

Fair point, they’re looking for me to be a mentor. The responses are phenomenal, and I’ll definitely be using them to help motivate the participants.

OK. Then perhaps your role as mentor is to help them find the fun in practising. Even non-fun stuff like concentrating on technique can become somewhat "fun" if challenges are set. Otherwise, practice can be (and should be) fun if thought of as exploring new sounds and ways of putting them together to create a musical result.
For example, Rich Brown has a simple pentatonic scale exercise on his youtube channel which starts with the simple scale but then evolves to playing it in various intervals, resulting in the ability to create interesting, melodic little lines - things that once ingrained can find their way into your soloing, as appropriate. Simple fun but I learned some shapes and patterns for a pentatonic scale and I created some music. Take that through two octaves and in all the keys and you have a lot of fretboard knowledge and a lot of musical ideas. Then run two of them together - e.g. Gmin and Bb maj. Etc.

 

[GreyBeard]

I love to practice