daily practice routines

[OliverBlackman]

For my essay iv got to analyse my practice routine. So i wondered what the typical routines for basschats finest were......

[chris_b]

That would be a short essay for me then!!

[Spoombung]

I've had only one practice routine for the last 15 years. I play the melody line from[i]The Teddy Bear's Picnic[/i] in as as many keys as possible. I find the fingering incredibly difficult and rarely manage to play the whole tune. I kid you not.

[TKenrick]

[quote name='blackmn90' post='988495' date='Oct 14 2010, 10:02 PM']For my essay iv got to analyse my practice routine. So i wondered what the typical routines for basschats finest were......[/quote]


I'm guessing from your location and the fact you've got to write an essay on your practice routine that you're at ACM? I just re-read what I wrote for the same assignment a few years ago and it's amusing how routines change!


At the moment it involves getting my double bass playing together, lots of piano playing, internal clock exercises and loads of transcription.

What I have found is that [i]how[/i] I practice is as important as [i]what[/i] I practice: 15 minutes of practice, 5 minute break, repeat. This is something I got from a Todd Johnson clinic and it immediately changed my approach to practice completely and stopped my brain getting saturated, which meant that I got more benefit from the time I was spending with the instrument.

Keeping a practice diary (and setting some practice-related goals) definitely helps in keeping track of what you're doing every day and enables you to see progress over extended periods of time.

[thisnameistaken]

I wish I could practice every day!

Sometimes I'll do an hour practising scales on the DB to work on intonation and for position changing / thumb position practise. Other days I'll put on some jazz tunes and fail to follow the charts, or practise reading parts, or practise playing and singing difficult stuff at the same time. That's most of my practise efforts these days, I don't really practise the bass guitar any more but to be fair I get enough playing in with the band to keep the mechanical skills in shape.

[bobbass]

At the moment..

2 octave scales over 4 strings
Major, melodic minor, harmonic minor and modes thereof.

Chords of each scale type, then with upper triads (1,3,5,7, 9, 11, 13)

If nothing I have to learn, then choose a standard jazz tune. Melody, walking bass, soloing.

Maybe some repetitive exercises in front of the telly.

It makes Back in Black a piece of p@ss.

[Doddy]

I've got no set practice routine. I may turn my iPod on and just play along,or I may break out some books and
play through some really awkward stuff.

At the moment I'm doing a lot of chord inversions,so after working on them for a while,I'll set up a loop (either a
simple 2 or 3 chord vamp or the changes to some standard or something) and play ideas over the top. Occasionally
I'll stop to work on an idea that I didn't quite execute well enough for my liking,or to pick out and expand on an
improvised phrase.
Sometimes I'll be listening to something and have the urge to learn it,which may lead to learning more stuff or taking
small phrases and playing around with them.
If I get really into it,I can easily sit for hours just playing through things. Other times,if I've been really busy,I may just
play for half an hour just to keep my chops up.


I'll have a load more stuff to practise at my next lesson in a couple of weeks time.....can't wait.

[delbronx]

[quote name='Spoombung' post='989121' date='Oct 15 2010, 08:45 AM']I've had only one practice routine for the last 15 years. I play the melody line from[i]The Teddy Bear's Picnic[/i] in as as many keys as possible. I find the fingering incredibly difficult and rarely manage to play the whole tune. I kid you not.

[/quote]

Do you have some writeout of that line you can share?

[CrackerJackLee]

I'm also striving to put a practice routine together by practicing major scales with their relative minor scales and playing and analysing pieces from Bach's Cello Suites to educate my ear and train my fingers.

[Blademan_98]

I pratice scales to warm up.

Then I run through songs from the current set list and play along to recordings of me playing the songs....

It's all good fun and when it stops being fun I will sell everything and go do something else

[Cat Burrito]

I've got no set practice routine either. Usually it's a mix of stuff from my band's set and stuff I like mixed with a couple of scales. I think it's fair to suggest I lack structure!

[phil.i.stein]

music should be about passion (unless it's a job).

don't do it if you don't feel it.

otherwise you're just a prostitute.

(like the rest of us who have to do normal jobs)

[Skol303]

[quote name='CrackerJackLee' post='1132955' date='Feb 19 2011, 12:06 AM']I'm also striving to put a practice routine together by practicing major scales with their relative minor scales and playing and analysing pieces from Bach's Cello Suites to educate my ear and train my fingers.[/quote]

^ Weird... I'm doing pretty much the same thing myself right now!

I'm still very much a beginner, so I tend to spend a lot of time practicing major and minor scales to help build up my finger strength/speed/stamina.

I'm also using Bach's Cello Suites to help me learn notation. Just finished learning the Prelude of Suite 1 (the easy one!), which itself is great for stretching and warming up fingers.

[Doddy]

I'm really digging running through 'Chord Studies for Electric Bass' right now. It's kicking my arse a
bit. Great book.

I'm a firm believer that the whole idea of practising is to learn new things,and play things that you can't
already play. It's cool and important to play your favourite tunes over and over,but it's not going to really
progress you as a player-it turns in to rehearsing rather than practising.

[lettsguitars]

i'll improv for 2 hours and realise i learned nothing but had a great time.

[JTUK]

No set pattern but I try and do an hour a day minimum.

I'll have a few loops that I can mess with or play basic songs on a few CDs I need to get to now..and just jizz all over them, musically, when I get bored.

I probably should give it more structure but sometimes it is more important to do things like these than bore yourself and then maybe miss picking up the bass.

The whole thing is geared to getting my playing to go where ever I want it to go on a gig so I don't learn lines as such, I just make sure I can do what comes into my head at the time. Of course, there is discipline within the song frame-work but fills need to be instinctive for me..

Having said that, I should mix it around to avoid a few cliches.

[chilievans]

well, Iget up between 5 - 5.30 every morning so I can get a bit done before I start work.
I start off playing scales as my warm up then I'll do a spot of sight reading before moving on to playing my exam pieces and I finnish off by learning something challenging ( usually something by Flea )

[chrismuzz]

I have a very loose practice routine. I just pick up my bass, don't plug it into anything, but play the hell out of it

[thumperbob 2002]

I try to do something difference each day, whether learning a couple of songs by ear ( quite enjoyable ) practicing reading skills ( not my best skill ). Improvising over a loop, or working on technique.

I have found that I am pretty lazy where practice is concerned and I tend to play stuff and use techniques that I can do easily. Not really the way to go but I am not pro anymore and have other things to do with my time.

For reading skills I do pick up a chart now and again and just read through it without playing the bass- bit more convenient for me as I can do this before bed- instead of reading some pulp novel. Sends me to sleep pretty easily!

[Low End Bee]

I glance over at the bass. It stares back at me. I pretend I haven't noticed it and decide to design a new flyer. I get bored with that and catch it staring at me again. I try and write some lyrics. I look at the clock. It's too late to do any practice. I casually pluck the E string and let it ring on the way to bed just to let it know who's boss.

[Hot Tub]

I have recently put a minidisc recorder between my bass and the Tascam trainer thingy. So, I play along with a track, pop the solo bass recording into Audition, and listen to it, sort of "zooming in" on particular elements. Talk about being under a microscope??? Bum notes, dead notes, missed notes, fret farts..... the list goes on. But it highlights areas of my "technique" that need work and has been an absolute godsend. Already finding that I'm playing much more "precisely", and cleaner, than I was even a couple of weeks ago.