Practice

[Coilte]

Here is an interesting and useful article from Talk Bass on practice in general.

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/doing-it-the-slow-way-guide-to-practicing-by-joe-solomon.125537/

[fatback]

And something that's so important (and obvious) that i failed completely to take it into account until recently in my own practice.

When you're learning a motor skill, your brain is doing a bit of rewiring, growing new connections. You know the old thing about London taxi drivers having a bulge in their brains where all the maps go? Well, music is the same.

Unfortunately, this growing is not the same process as rational 'learning.' It's development, and that happens more like growing a plant than building a shed. There is no point shouting at a plant to grow faster.

With this in mind, i'm no longer surprised when I can suddenly play something flawlessly that I couldn't do last time I tried. Practice and repetition shoves on the manure and the brain-plant grows a bit more. Even in the dark.

Edited January 14, 2015 by fatback

[JapanAxe]

[quote name='sarah thomas' timestamp='1417509420' post='2621003']
To explore what Hector's saying, you could try out the exercises and principles of 'The Inner Game of Music' by Barry Green. Great book.
[/quote]

Another vote for this book.