Practice schedule

[Burns-bass]

After a lay off of a year or two I’ve now got some time - and more importantly the space - to play DB. Aiming to do about an hour a day, with my focus on getting up to speed to play jazz. 

My practice is based on what I used to recommend to young students. (Just finished my hour now, hence the questions!)

15 minutes of scales and arpeggios through all 12 keys

15 minutes of reading practice. I use some jazz books that I own (currently the Ray Brown book and the Evolving Bassist)

15 minutes working on a track (Anthropology at the moment - but at about   100bpm)

15 minutes playing along with some tracks (John Martyn, Gregory Porter, whatever takes my fancy!)

I hold no aspirations to be a pro, but I do practice with a couple of bands. Ideally I’ll be out playing a few jazz gigs within a year, but that may be fanciful.

Does this sound reasonable? Am I missing anything specific to DB?

Once I get a bit of confidence back I’ll start refular lessons again.

[SubsonicSimpleton]

You might want to consider breaking your practice into smaller chunks to minimise potential injury issues for the time being.

[Burns-bass]

1 hour ago, SubsonicSimpleton said:

You might want to consider breaking your practice into smaller chunks to minimise potential injury issues for the time being.

Good point. I’ve got a reasonable hand strength but I understand it can be a strain and will never do anything that would jeopardise my health.

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Its worth also considering that there is good evidence that 20 mins is about optimal for the purpose of mental focus, and both the DB teachers I have studied with have recomended that it is more productive to focus on a single key/scale/arpeggio per practice session (either on the basis of key of the day or key of the week) and prioritise quality over quantity.

[Burns-bass]

That’s a really interesting point. My job demands quite detailed mental focus, so I can remain engaged for quite a long time - but I take your point. Personally I think 2 or 3 shorter sessions would be better, but I don’t have that freedom sadly.

[petebassist]

Sounds reasonable to me & a good variety of things to work on. If you do find a good teacher in the Bristol area, I'd be interested, I'd like to tighten up my technique.

[alexpea]

2 hours ago, petebassist said:

Sounds reasonable to me & a good variety of things to work on. If you do find a good teacher in the Bristol area, I'd be interested, I'd like to tighten up my technique.

Ben Groenevelt is a great teacher. he's in Bedminster 

[Burns-bass]

4 hours ago, alexpea said:

Ben Groenevelt is a great teacher. he's in Bedminster 

Good advice.

If you’re interested in jazz I had some lessons with the outstanding Greg Cordez who is a member here. Lovely bloke, brilliant teacher and formidable musician.

I’m hoping to woodshed as much as I can then get some lessons when my technique is better.

 

[petebassist]

16 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

If you’re interested in jazz I had some lessons with the outstanding Greg Cordez who is a member here. Lovely bloke, brilliant teacher and formidable musician.

Yes I saw Greg in a foyer gig at the jazz festival at Colston hall last year, & I've checked out his Paper Crane video - amazing upright bass tone!

[Burns-bass]

1 hour ago, petebassist said:

Yes I saw Greg in a foyer gig at the jazz festival at Colston hall last year, & I've checked out his Paper Crane video - amazing upright bass tone!

Absolutely. The last gig I saw he was playing electric bass. 

On my first lesson with him he very generously let me play his Martin Penning bass. It sounded incredible. I therefore assumed it was the instrument that made him sound great, before he started plucking my battered old Czech bass and I realised it was the other way around.

Very reasonable price for a lesson and nice and relaxed and informal too.