Hello everyone, my name is Rod. I got this course in December of last year and Iâve gotten through the first section. sometimes itâs hard to pick up my bass and sometimes I canât put it down. Iâm not very consistent. How are you guys with your consistency?
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Personally, Iâm the type of person who has to have a routine, so I practice every day, 1-2 hrs in the evenings during the week and 3-4 hrs on the weekends. I also find itâs helpful to have a practice plan going into it so I know what Iâm going to work on each day. This may be a bit too regimented for some, but I know I wonât see improvement unless I set aside time every day to practice. It becomes a habit after only a month or two. If youâre trying to stay consistent you could commit to completing one lesson per day to begin with. Everyone is different, but setting aside even 30 minutes at the same time each day could go a long way to establishing consistency.
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Rodâ
Everyone goes through this now and again, especially when theyâre starting something new. Not to worry.
If you pick up the instrument and work with it, even for two minutes, consider that a win. You did your two minutes, and thatâs all you had in the tank that dayâŚbut you did something. Do this every single day. Like you said, some days youâll be hard at it and before you know it hours have flown by. If itâs not one of those days, and you only do your few minutes, you still had the bass in your hands and you can still put a âWâ on the day. This does two things:
1 - It builds consistency. Youâll become accustomed to having the bass in your hands every day, and it will become habit. No conscious thought required; it will just happen. Try it and see.
When I was younger I didnât enjoy working out and avoided the gym. Now Iâm there five mornings a week. I made it a habit, and itâs a habit that pays dividends that I can see and feel, even if I donât go as hard some days as I normally do. And some days Iâd really rather just sleep in, but if I give in to that temptation I know Iâll feel guilty about it later.
Same thing for your bass, and for me and my bass too. Do it every day, develop that habit, and you will soon be pleased by what you see and hear. And once youâre consistently enjoying hearing what youâre doing on the instrument, there will be no stopping you.
2 - It puts the bass in your hands. You might tell yourself that youâve only got five minutes worth in the mental fuel tank that day, but once the instrument is in your hands and youâre doing something with it, youâll be surprised at how fast, and how often, that five minutes turns into fifty-five.
Thereâs a great word, often bandied about in psychological circles: âpropinquity.â It means closeness, basically, and itâs a factor in why people form relationships, romantic and otherwise. People, unsurprisingly, tend to form bonds with those who they are frequently close to. It explains why so many people find that âthe only one in the world for meâ just happens to live close to them, or attend the same work or schoolâŚyou get the idea.
Handle your bass every day, and youâll build that same sort of propinquity. Youâll want to âseeâ it every day because youâve made a habit of seeing it every day. Youâll want to build that relationship, so to speak. Habits live in your subconscious; you donât think about them. You donât have to think about turning off the lights when you leave the house because youâve done it so often for so long that you just do it.
Handle your instrument every day and, before long, your subconscious will ensure that you continue doing so, and it wonât bother asking your conscious mind for permission.
Donât think that occasional bouts of flagging motivation is a signal for you to quit. Itâs not. Such things are just human nature. But if you spend consistent time with the instrumentâyou make it a daily habit, even for a few minutesâyouâll soon find that those demotivated days are fewer and farther between.
My wishes for your success and satisfactionâŚand welcome to the forums.
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Pick up the bass and play it like 15 minutes on the days youâre not in the mood. 15 minutes really helps.
Also, my bass sits next to the tv so if Iâm watching a show/game, Iâm looking at the TV the bass is in my line of vision, which is motivating. I find playing during a game works. Thereâs a lot of downtime during games (timeouts, commercials, etc.)
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hey rod donât worry I think everyone has days when playing is like the last thing they want to do, but Iâm going to share a few tricks I learned in college.
Invest in a stand ! I had a t-bone teacher who explained that there is something about having to break out an instrument from a case, your more likely to pick it up if its in front of you.
2nd even 15 minuets a day makes a difference! builds callouses increases fretting hand speed ect.
and donât forget to keep it fun not every practice needs to be boring.
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If youâre not feeling like picking up your bass, just go back to the parts of the course that you enjoyed, like chugging 8th notes (thatâs what I would do 
). From there, see if you want to move on with the lessons.
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Are you enjoying playing bass?
Is there something you want to get out of your experience playing bass that youâre not getting?
Donât compare yourself to other people. Donât pressure yourself that you HAVE to do something particular or work at a particular pace.
Iâm assuming that the subtext of your post is that you would like to play more and be progressing faster, but you feel like there is something getting in the way.
When you do have those times that you canât put the bass down, what sorts of stars align to make that happen?
Two big pieces of advice:
First - Set a plan to do SOMETHING with your bass every day. Just pick it up. Plug it in. Tune it up and make some noises for a minute. If something more happens, great. If not. Fine. But make a point to create space for this to happen.
Make it easier to start playing your bass. Keep it on a stand or a wall hangar with your amp and chord nearby. Be sure you have a comfortable stool or proper chair for playing.
Set small achievable goals that you feel a sense of accomplishment for completing. Like learning a simple song every week.
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yeah, what he said. This is your journey, not mine or social medias.
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Whenever I lacked motivation during the B2B course, Iâd watch one of Joshâs YouTube videos. Just pick one that looks interesting and get the juices flowing!
Or check out this thread by @Eric.Kiser for video topics:
BassBuzz YouTube Video Guide - Bass - BassBuzz Forum
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Something else to remember - at the earliest stages, any time you have the instrument in your hand and are doing something with it, youâre practicing.
Not really paying attention and just playing random notes/rhythms/whatever? Thatâs still practicing because youâre teaching your hands what the bass feels like and how to do things.
âPracticingâ sometimes gets referred to in sort of a strict way, but it doesnât always have to be a formal thing. Obviously the formal practicing is important, but just dinking around on the instrument counts as well.
Lastly, and Iâm pretty sure I picked this up from someone here, if youâre practicing something and just not feeling it due to difficulty level, try to spend a couple minutes doing something you can nail just before you put the bass down for the day. That leaves you with a feeling of âI can do thisâ which can help with motivation tomorrow instead of just âugh, I have to try to do that againâ.
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