You get good at what you practice

[Jazzdogg]

I've generally been taught to do about 50-50 technique and repertoire in my daily practice. That works well for me, but it wasn't really necessary when I was playing rock.

Do what works for you! You don't need virtuosic chops to play most pop/rock. I think feel and groove are more important a lot of times, i.e. somebody who has his scales down cold at fast tempos might absolutely suck at the blues.

I hear you! I have heard too many solos that were little more than regurgitation of modal exercises, with little feel or groove.

 

[Lobster11]

One will certainly improve one's long game by spending time at the driving range...but ask anyone who just biffed a 4-foot putt whether more time whacking balls with a #2 club at the driving range would've prevented that.

Right. So it is useful to spend some practice time on the driving range -- but not only on the driving range. You also need to spend some practice time on a putting green to improve that part of your game, etc.

My thinking is that if you spend several hours playing 18 holes, you will "practice" driving exactly 18 times, but in one hour on the driving range you can practice your long ball many more times than that. Same goes for how many times your get to practice putting in an 18-hole round versus how many times you can do so in an hour on the putting green, etc. In terms of practicing particular skills, focused practice can be far more effective than just playing rounds, potentially with big gains over time in your performance. My takeaway is that you should definitely keep playing rounds, but you'll get better faster by also practicing skills in isolation as well.

 

[Hounddog409]

If one cooks a complicated multi-course meal with only one ingredient, it will fail. Better to have awareness and experience with as many ingredients as possible if one hopes to become a master chef.

That is an horrible analogy.

There are pastry chefs, italian chefs, etc etc etc. They master what they enjoy the most, not learn how to cook everthing.

 

[bonespatrol]

if you don't care about developing your ear and feel, more power too you.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

I find it’s fun, easy and tempting to work on the things you’re already good at. It’s a challenge to work on the areas I’m not so good at. I also find I tend to spend too much time just noodling. I have to force myself to work on my weak areas.

It takes a lot of self discipline to practice what I should really be practicing. This is where time with an instructor or coach really pays off. Teaching yourself is the hardest thing to do because we we tend to be too easy on ourselves. The best thing I ever did was to play with others who are better than me and with those who push me to improve.

 

[Geepers]

if you don't care about developing your ear and feel, more power too you.

I do care about those things - very much - but I can develop them (endlessly) by playing more and more challenging material within the genre I’ve chosen to stay in.

 

[Dbassmon]

My motto now is spend your time practicing the material you actually want to play and NOTHING else.

I'm not sure if this advice will be useful for those of us who want to excel on our instruments, but I understand where you're coming from.

The more skilled you become on an instrument, the definition of what you want to play will inevitably change.

Some people think that the saying is "practice makes perfect," but actually, it's "perfect practice makes perfect." This means that it's not just about doing something over and over again, but doing it correctly and with good technique in order to truly improve.

Whats the difference? If you are sloppy, or don't have a phrase correctly articulated or you not sure of what exactly the part is, and you practice that a lot, you have successfully habituated bad playing.

Instead of practicing a lot, a dedicated pursuit of getting it right and making it sound beautiful is how you improve.... if that's your goal.

 

[factory presets]

I do care about those things - very much - but I can develop them (endlessly) by playing more and more challenging material within the genre I’ve chosen to stay in.

I'm not saying you can't. But I'm telling you for a fact that I can't. If I stayed with hard rock, I started on, I could have developed the skills of Steve Harris, which is a worthwhile goal. Instead I practised many genres and techniques. And found ideas that work seamlessly in genres far from where I found them.

Let's face it. That's what the Chilli Peppers did. And rode it from obscure oddballs, to underground sensation, to world domination and bowing as Gold 104 bait, derided as sellouts by a younger generation. All by not staying in their lane.

 

[MegaSwing]

If scales, scales. If cycle of fourths, cycle of fourths. If blues, blues. If Ray Brown lines, Ray Brown lines. I learned this lesson playing golf (do you want to get good at hitting balls at the range or do you want to get good at playing golf?) but sometimes forget it with my music. Life is short. My motto now is spend your time practicing the material you actually want to play and NOTHING else. Yeah, I know, I might end up with limited technique as a result. I’ll risk it. You can’t have everything in life. YMMV…

Practice the swing you want to bring. No one really cares about the depth of your musical knowledge. If you can’t swing, you’ll never get out of your neighborhood.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I think it makes sense if you get the basics covered. I'm a magician and if one wants to get good at magic he should study the history, theory, and of course the actual techniques he needs to be able to perform. But we don't practice every single magic trick. After studying the history, theory, and the basic principles in technique, we focus on the tricks we do. I do close-up magic, and even though I know the "hows" of most big stage illusions, I cannot perform them w/ out practice nor that I have the time/props.

I think it's the same with music. One should learn music theory first because theory is theory whether you play blues or classical music so if you get it down, then it makes perfect sense to focus on what you actually play.

Also magicians say: practice does not make perfect, it makes it permanent. Practicing right makes perfect which is very true IMHO.

 

[conttador]

I don't think I fully understand your post: the folks to whom I refer clearly have one without the other!

And I’m saying that you need to practice in the bedroom (or wherever) and play with people, hence you need both… you can’t have one without the other.

 

[Killing Floor]

So if I lay about and watch sports I’ll be great at that? Maybe even the best at the 10,000 rule?

 

[sheesh]

I don't know if I could disagree more than 180 degrees with OP.
What we know consciously is a minuscule amount of what we truly know in our "larger mind"
Break throughs come from work. The work is a progression.

One day early on (younger days) I had an epiphany during a blues jam: I knew where I was in the 12 bar progression. Previously I couldn't for the life of me figure out what bar I was on. That epiphany taught me a few things, one of which was stuff comes to us - we don't control it. So the notion that we should practice only what our conscious mind thinks we should practice is non sense, because this is NOT how it works. How many school children ask the teacher - "Why should I learn this? When will I use it?" It's not about what you want or desire, it is about what the growth and progression and awareness that comes as we experience life.

I practice up and down the neck. Not because I think that I will play a solo with the last C on the E string, but because the neck has all of those frets and what if?

Our minds are vast - our minds are NOT what we THINK they are.

Otherwise, how can you hit that golf swing? Are you thinking about it?

Remember Karate kid. Sand the floor, wax on, wax off.


oh, yeah, I gotta practice that McCartney bass line for next week or my bandmates will kill me . . . LOL

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

One will certainly improve one's long game by spending time at the driving range...but ask anyone who just biffed a 4-foot putt whether more time whacking balls with a #2 club at the driving range would've prevented that.

That's why they invented mini golf

 

[conttador]

I find it’s fun, easy and tempting to work on the things you’re already good at. It’s a challenge to work on the areas I’m not so good at. I also find I tend to spend too much time just noodling. I have to force myself to work on my weak areas.

It takes a lot of self discipline to practice what I should really be practicing. This is where time with an instructor or coach really pays off. Teaching yourself is the hardest thing to do because we we tend to be too easy on ourselves. The best thing I ever did was to play with others who are better than me and with those who push me to improve.

I fell into that trap early in my playing days and made zero progress and eventually quit. You have to push yourself outside of what you already know! It wasn’t until I hit the theory hard that it became fun! I now use theory, my ear and feel to play. I haven’t even scratched the surface but it’s rewarding to see the evolution.

 

[Geepers]

Some people seem to think I’m saying “play what you can already play”. No, far from it. I stretch myself daily, tackling increasingly difficult material all over the neck - but all in the form of actual songs. Kills two birds with one stone.

 

[factory presets]

So the notion that we should practice only what our conscious mind thinks we should practice is non sense, because this is NOT how it works.

I plan an exercise regime to get better at what I think needs improving. And if it's not working I'll vary it up till progress resumes. It's true a lot of other stuff benefits. But I find I have to consciously target certain areas if I want certain results.

Gotta admit all that just because, rote learning taught me a lot about how to do that.

 

[factory presets]

I stretch myself daily, tackling increasingly difficult material all over the neck - but all in the form of actual songs.

You learn songs around the clock you'll reap lot of benefits from it.

And not just transposing skills.

 

[Les Fret]

If scales, scales. If cycle of fourths, cycle of fourths. If blues, blues. If Ray Brown lines, Ray Brown lines. I learned this lesson playing golf (do you want to get good at hitting balls at the range or do you want to get good at playing golf?) but sometimes forget it with my music. Life is short. My motto now is spend your time practicing the material you actually want to play and NOTHING else. Yeah, I know, I might end up with limited technique as a result. I’ll risk it. You can’t have everything in life. YMMV…

the first half of the post is really obvious. I don’t agree with the second half though. You should not only practice what you want to learn. You will improve the most by thinking and practicing out of box. Learning from other instruments and genres will also make you better at the style you want to master eventually.

 

[Geogio]

I used to work out with this guitar book called
"Carl Culpepper's 101 terrifying techniques for guitar" - scale exercises, intervals up and down the neck it was really helpful and it was easily transferable to bass and I have used that book for decades and I have taught people from that book. There's a whole section of picking technique which doesn't apply to bass or it could - but seriously if you want your hands to have a good workout and get into some different thought processes about scaling up and down the neck with aplomb and style...