…when they can’t actually practice bass???Allergies have been kicking my ass for the last 3 days or so, so I’ve been hopped up on Benadryl and sleeping. I’d bought the Bass Guitar for Dummies book to read while I’m not actually practicing. So either way I’ll be immersed in my bass even when I don’t have her in my hands and am practicing Bass Buzz lessons. It got me thinking though what does everyone else do when they can’t actually practice bass? I’ve been itching to pick up my Scarlett again and practice but I just don’t have the energy and I’m just stuck feeling crummy. I’ll always remember a meme that I saw about Benadryl that had someone lying flat on their back in a field full of flowers that said…“You can’t sneeze when you’re unconscious” how true how very, very true…
Practice saying the notes forwards and backwards.
Visualize the fretboard and what notes are on each fret.
Free ear training online.
I’m not sure any of that would go well with Benadryl.
My homework for this 2 weeks between lessons has been to memorize modes, their scales (C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Myxolydian, A Aeolian, and B Locrian) , the natural notes in those scales, major / minor and the numbering for them (I - VII). Obviously playing the scales has to be done with bass in hand but for everything else I’ve had all my materials with me at work and keep them pulled up on my iPad all day to work on memorizing. Probably helps that all of my projects have been frozen or canned so I don’t have a ton to work on.
Great plan, man! 
Way back in the '80s when I worked for Amoco Pipeline Co (BP now), Amoco’s version of E.M. and DOGE decided to replace a 30-year employee who had been designing and running the control systems on 1000s of miles of pipeline running through our main control center in Tulsa, OK with two recent college grads whose combined salaries were well below what the vet’s compensation package included. They couldn’t legally fire him, so the did their very best to get him to quit on his own by giving him exactly ZERO to do. What did he do? He started building ships in bottles at his office desk. No way he was going to quit. And then the inevitable, totally predictable thing happened. A critical part of the control system went down and the newbs had no clue how to fix it. When you’re pumping 10s of thousands of barrels of crude and refined product a day for multiple oil companies, any amount of downtime is very expensive. The company eventually came to the vet on hands and knees and begged him to fix the problem. Since the vet knew the problem and already knew the solution, it took him less than 30 minutes to get everything back up. At that point, he knew that the company knew that he was indispensable…so he retired the next day. 
That’s awesome and to bring it full circle, the federal agency they would have had to report those 1000s of barrels of crude pumped for taxes and potential royalties is the office I’m sitting in atm.
I watch Nate Navarro’s demo videos and have a little cry.
Haha
But nah put some headphones on and chill 
I’m not sure how it works with drugs/medication (or similar contexts), but for me, it’s mostly the lack of time. Even at home, my hands are always busy with something, doing chores and/or playing with my 2yo. But I can listen to music or… sing?!. Not that I’m great at it, but children’s songs are easy enough 
(And learning lullabies was not optional…)
I’ve realized how all those pieces of advice on singing along with your playing and internalizing notes - or whatever is the right word for it - actually make sense and help 
So nowadays my bass “practice” is mostly bass-less
Yes to this, and +1 to listening and singing along to any part you’d ever want to play.
Good luck out there!
I love this poster by Jake Lizzio of Signals Music Studio, an EXCELLENT YouTube channel. He’s a guitarist, but a lot of what he covers in his videos is useful for bassists. His “The Modes of Major” poster is currently out of stock on his website, but here’s a photo of my mine. So much good info in one place. Really well done.
Bonus: The Modes of Harmonic Minor in A and C
Ultimate-Harmonic-Minor-poster-in-A.pdf (461.6 KB)
Ultimate-Harmonic-Minor-poster-in-C.pdf (476.6 KB)
I am trying to do some guitar courses.
Still don’t love guitar but I am determined to learn, seems like it may be a valuable skill (maybe)
Especially for those of us that are of the bass vi persuasion. Those little treble 6 stringers feel so teensy to try and play now tbh. I’m too used to the big, beefy bass fretboards with the wide string spacing.
Draw circle of fifths, write out all major scales, do from memory over and over. Find scales on fretboard.
Repeat - a lot.
Until you can recite each scale from memory.
Repeat - for minor scales - a lot.
OMG, is this something we have to learn??
no
The modes are great but not required.
They are really helpful in many situations, but you don’t need to memorize them unless you need one.
They are also really easy to learn.
I actually do some of the guitar exercises on the VI
I do other things. A few days, a week or even a month away are not that big a deal if you’re going to be playing for years.
Don’t do anything with bass.
Just take the time to put on headphones and listen to an entire album.
Just listen to music.
You’ll get back to bass in time.