What would you practice without a guitar?

Technique
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Hi, I am halfway through B2B and will go to vacation, but I can’t take my guitar with me because my lab takes all room in the car.

What would you practice without a guitar? Of course, there is theory, sheet music reading, hearing exercises etc. But I thought I could practice hand separation with my fingers. E.g. touching index, middle etc. fingers and thumb, but in different order for left and right hand. Or I could do some finger drumming exercises that force separation of sides.

Do you know any other finger practices for the bass? Thanks a lot!

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2

Visualization. We do that a lot in mountain biking and golfing. Forming a mental image of something you have not done exactly but about to do.

I’ve been doing that for the past 3 months. I’m looking at my basses and listening to music. Last weekend I pickup the bass and just started playing the songs I’ve been listening to, it came pretty close and I have not learn those songs on the bass. I know it works.

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Great idea! Now, that you say, I remember how my father and his friends learned their aerobatic show programmes.

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4

Guitar?

5

Honestly I think my only advice would be to actually take a break from it !
I know it can be tough to allow ourselves a break, but aside from it being more practical, you’ll probably feel even more motivated when you come back. When I was heavily practicing drums and had to stop for a week or two, I couldn’t believe what I was able to play just coming back. It kinda made me able to ‘reset’ and realize the progress I had achieved.
Regardless, enjoy your holidays !

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Thanks!

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No room for anything in the car (3 passengers plus a lab in a Honda Jazz). I think I will take a week rest and may watch some YT videos.

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8

Rhythm and audiation.

Practice feeling and moving with different pulses and rhythms. Get the sense of “unh” in your body. Be able to lock that down and then mix in additional rhythms that play off of that. Maybe look up some videos of basic hip-hop dance grooves for ideas, guidance, and inspiration.

Sing bass line progressions. Practice just hearing them in your head and singing, “Bum bum ba dum” kinda stuff while listening to music.

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Being halfway through the B2B course, I was on vacation last week (for 6 days) and also couldn’t take the bass with me, so I wanted to share my experience with you: During vacation, I was playing basslines in my head and everything, went through a couple of B2B lessons on my mobile (which were neither as fun nor as effective with the air-bass). Anyway, I planned to redo the lessons once back - and I did. Hell, this lesson after not playing 6 days was the worst lesson ever! Even if my mind was doing the job, my fingers weren’t (which was a shame because it was the Wilson Pickett lesson). Next day, I did the lesson once again, and this time I did slightly better. But currently it feels like these 6 days off made me definitely fall back. Bottom line: beginners like me should not underestimate the importance of practicing with the physical instrument in their hands. That cannot be compensated.

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So, you mean a labrador, and not a large box of scientific equipment?
I always wondered what forensic scientists did on holiday! :rofl:

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lol

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12

I was away from my bass for a few days last month, and felt I got a lot out of playing with the fretboard tutorial/game in the Tenuto app.

Overall I feel the $5 I paid for the Tenuto and Theory apps has been well worth it.

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Thanks for the suggestion. :blush: I didn’t know that program. I was just searching for it, and saw that there’s unfortunately no app available for Android - iOS only. But there’s a website which I was able to access, it’s interesting and seems to be useful (once you have built a certain knowledge). Thanks a lot.

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