Do you start with songs? Note reading? Finger Exercises? Just curious about what people’s preferences are.
1 Like
I usually start out running through some riffs, then practice songs and throw in some fingers exercises along the way. I’ve got a long way to go to as far as note reading - I rely on tabs for now. I’m more actively working on building memory of notes on the fretboard at present.
2 Likes
I spend about 15 minutes loosening up my fingers by playing scales. Then I work on finer exercises for a half hour, then I work on whatever my tutor has me doing at the time for however long until I either feel satisfied with what I’ve done or I start getting frustrated and need to change it up. Then I’ll pull up something on songster to screw around with for awhile. If I’m playing for a while after that, I’ll usually find my way back to the Jamerson finger exercises and homework.
How do you like to practice?
A lot…
2 Likes
Weren’t you complaining about struggling with just getting started on the course?
Just sit down and start. If you’re going to do the course. Sit down and do the course.
I start however I feel like I need to get started at that time on that day. Sometimes I do warmup drills. Sometimes I sit down and do a lesson. Sometimes I play songs I already know. Sometimes I put on some music and just start messing around. Sometimes I just pick up a bass and beginning making random noises.
I start with whatever I need in the moment to just get started.
3 Likes
yeah this is pretty much me. That said to do it properly, I’d do a 5 mins finger exercise running modes and scales, then jump onto one of the set list, a few of those songs then start what I want to do.
Since I’ve been off the bass for over a month and have been practicing without a bass in my hands, I’m curious to know how I’d do. I might video that. The last time I did that it worked out ok.
Visualization can be very powerful.
5 Likes
It’s easy if you want it.
Spu or play, only the individual can choose…
The universal consciousness communicates through pictures, the clearer the visualization the quicker it materializes.
2 Likes
100% truth speak.
Sorry, I’ll stop complaining. Thanks.
2 Likes
Just do it, do it, do it.
Soon you will get groove then you’ll do it even more…
It’s cool. I get it.
This is text only, so you can’t read tone. That probably sounds harsher than I mean it to.
Trying to give you a good-natured kick in the pants to just get started. Just do it. Lower the mental bar you need to clear to start practicing. Just start. Then figure out what you need to do to make your practice more efficient.
The inefficient practice you do is infinitely more effective than the perfectly optimized practice that you don’t.
1 Like
I’m on module 10 after six weeks, here’s how I got there.
For at least the first half of the course, where the focus was mostly on technique, I would sit down and do two lessons and then walk away, every day. No warm-up before, no extra practice after.
Once Josh suggested playing along with full songs, I dropped to one lesson per day and spent that time learning a song instead. I’m usually working on two at once, one from the 50 Songs Challenge here on the forum, and one personal choice.
I’ve also added this fretting finger exercise which I run through a couple of times before I start a lesson:
3 Likes
I like to practice when I can, very quietly so that nobody knows how I’m progressing. But when my friends who can actually play bass show up, I hand them my basses and crank up the volume. Then the neighbors tell me that I’m progressing really well.
3 Likes
My order of practice at the moment are:
finger stretching
scales and theory stuff
timing exercises
composed music.
1 Like
@Al1885, do you have suggestions for a better routine?
1 Like
I’m pro songs so I’d have a warm up songs then get right on to playing songs. I’d usually throw in a few finger stretching as part of tuning up the bass, which can be a few minutes.
Pick a couple of your favorite songs, ones that move your left hand up and down the neck a bit. If you know the song(s) well, these will also be your bass testing songs. You know if and how you like your new bass within a few minutes of playing your warmup songs.
I usually don’t make the lessons first thing on the list. It’s about fun and joy of playing. That said my body and brain will ache for more lessons when I’m stuck on some technical stuffs and then I’d just do few sessions of lessons and practices.
I’d try to catch myself too, as learning is so addictive and every time I go down that binge of learning I don’t come off for a few weeks, it’s always good to get back to playing.
3 Likes
The best way I have found to practice is play. Forget about theory, scales, all that stuff. Listen to songs and try to play them. It’s the same way you get better as a new driver…by driving. If you can hear the base line in a song you should be able to find those notes on the bass. Rolling stones “anyone seen my baby” is straight forward and easy to play. Pull it up on youtube, click on the gear symbol i the lower right hand corner of the frame and reduce the playback speed to 75%. That’ll help a bunch.
1 Like
I used to race sports cars and instruct high-performance driving. Just driving more is not what got you better.
What made you a better driver was picking one or two elements of your driving and focusing on playing with and developing those for a lapping session. Elements like: where you’re looking on the track, smoothest possible control inputs, how late and hard can you brake for each corner, precisely following specific lines.
Analogy for playing bass is not just putting on songs and playing along. It’s putting on simple songs and picking specific elements of your playing to focus on: where exactly on your fingers are you plucking, precise note length control, precise dynamics control, far ahead or behind are you on the beat, etc.
4 Likes
The subject of this thread, combined with one of the cornerstones of BassBuzz. It’s an opinion from a learned source; so, in anticipation of the inevitable disagreements… you do, you.
Released today.
7 Likes