What to do?

So, I completed B2B, and am going back over the bits I glossed over or feel I could find useful.
I’ve started in on the 50 song challenge with ABitW. I’m also doing some of the ear training exercises @JoshFossgreen suggested in lesson last -1.

My question is, what woukld you guys suggest as a standard run of the mill practice routine. I’m a t a bit of a loss for direction.

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When I still had a routine I started out with a bit of warmup (spider walk for 5 mins or so and Billie Jean-like stuff) and then ran through major, minor and pentatonic scales for a bit. Then moved on to learning/playing songs I was interested in.

These days I skip the first part and just play music. I am not progressing though. To advance I would need to dig in on some technique practice.

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Another thing I would want to do to progress is to do something like take practice notes around tough or interesting bits and be organized about it, instead of sloppy like I am. Use the notes to figure out what to focus on.

Some might suggest that you hop right in to other instruction, like TalkingBass right away. I would actually not recommend that. I would instead recommend taking the excellent foundation you now have and solidify it by applying it to some music you would actually like to play. Have fun with it outside of a structured learning environment. You’ll both be surprised at what you can do, and hone in on what you can’t and want to work on.

And the last thing you need is instruction burnout. There’s plenty of time for more classes later, I would say have some fun with what you have learned now and solidify that foundation before moving on.

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I think that’s a good next step. It’s going to be fun, and it’s probably going to highlight things you need to improve on, and then you can focus on those specific things.

Other than that there’s a bunch of other threads on this subject, you take a look at what other people have said:

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Sadly, that’s where I’m at as well. And I haven’t finished B2B. :slight_smile:

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I wrote down all the things that I identified as weaknesses in my playing (flying fingers, muting etc). Then I’ve got a little post it note of exercises that I run through every day focusing specifically on these issues. So I’ll play major and minor scales but focus on my pinkie. Or play simple chord progressions (C G Am F) over a drum track but focus on muting with my fretting hand not my plucking hand.
This focused start to my practice gives me a routine that means I don’t have to think about what to do first. I plug in, tune and for the first 15 to 30 minutes I work on my technique. Then I might take a lesson on my Talking Bass online course and then move to working on the current song I’m learning. I’ll normally finish off with either my drum machine and goof around, or a backing track and just add whatever bass line i feel is appropriate. It helps that the chord progression is on the screen so i don’t’ get lost. For example

Then I finish off by playing over songs I’ve already learned, just so i don’t feel i completely suck :slight_smile:

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I finished the first time around (except slap) and got sidetracked by Josh’s video on the Geezer Butler E minor pentatonic. Ive been noodling on it for a while. And thats without even getting close to the actual solo. Its a great jam ( and there’ll be a heap more around) and ive had plenty of fun with this. So just enjoy what you enjoy for a while.

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