Practice regime

[Burns-bass]

So, I’ve started 2023 with the dedication  to DB I’ve never had before. I am lucky enough to have an hour of practice time at least 5 days a week (I work for myself, and work in a room with my basses in).

 

I also enjoy the kind of stuff people don’t enjoy (playing with a metronome, doing the same exercises etc).

 

My aim is to get out and gig as I used to, so I’m working on intonation mostly.

 

I’m hoping to engage a tutor again, but I’d be interested in how best to structure my practice. 
 

Any experienced DBers care to offer any suggestions?

[javasound]

Practicing with a metronome is the best thing you can do !! Work on intonation, but equally as importan tif you want to be gigging is timing. Try recording yourself and then listening back - are you keeping in time with the metronome, or are you racing / dragging.

 

Dont try to play too fast - only u the tempo when you can play something at least 7 times in time/in tune. (theres some sort of research to suggest that once you can do something 7 times, its locked in).

A useful exercise is to play something (e.g. a scale) at a slow tempo once, then repeat at double the tempo. if you can do this successfully (i.e. in time / tune) then up the tempo a bit. If you cant (and its really important to be frank with yourself) scale the tempo back a bit.

[DanOwens]

My teacher (Steve Berry) taught me to use single-note drones (sometimes called cello drones) and bow long notes whilst blindfolded to improve intonation. I would play up and down a scale, and really isolate what I wanted to improve, for instance I would focus on single-position shifts and bow the notes of the G major scale against a G drone, then change position and do the same. I spent hours at uni doing this and I found it really meditative. 

 

No metronome means no timing pressure, so you focus on the pressure of shifting and fingering correctly. Once you feel confident then introduce a metronome, but now you're focussing on shifting in tune AND in time when you SHOULD have the 'in tune' bit down. I used to practice for around 4 hours a day with long, regular breaks and over the 2 years I did this, my muscle memory improved no end... then I played mostly fretted electric for 15 years and lost 70% of it, but at least I know where I'm wrong whereas I used to listen to recordings and cringe that I didn't realise (when playing) how bad I was. Now I know!

[Burns-bass]

16 minutes ago, DanOwens said:

My teacher (Steve Berry) taught me to use single-note drones (sometimes called cello drones) and bow long notes whilst blindfolded to improve intonation. I would play up and down a scale, and really isolate what I wanted to improve, for instance I would focus on single-position shifts and bow the notes of the G major scale against a G drone, then change position and do the same. I spent hours at uni doing this and I found it really meditative. 

 

No metronome means no timing pressure, so you focus on the pressure of shifting and fingering correctly. Once you feel confident then introduce a metronome, but now you're focussing on shifting in tune AND in time when you SHOULD have the 'in tune' bit down. I used to practice for around 4 hours a day with long, regular breaks and over the 2 years I did this, my muscle memory improved no end... then I played mostly fretted electric for 15 years and lost 70% of it, but at least I know where I'm wrong whereas I used to listen to recordings and cringe that I didn't realise (when playing) how bad I was. Now I know!

This is great. I use drones for practice but perhaps I need to do more. 
 

No chance of 4 hours per day, but I’m pretty sure I can make some good progress in the time I have.

[Drax]

Hi @Burns-bass Similar to you, have an hour or so most days, and work from home surrounded by my basses.

 

Came back to upright last Jan after years away. Personal experience has been timing and general rhythmic technique (ghost notes, raking etc) has come more naturally from years on electric, but it's intonation that's the beast. 

 

Still a long way to go but some things that have really helped; 

 

1) Videoing - both gigs and at home. Big, at times painful, gulf between 'real and feel' intonation! 

 

2) Drone work against major and minor triads. Great tutorial here from Frode Berg. Every practice session starts with 10 mins of this.. Has helped hugely with both intonation and improvisation. 

 

3) Modacity app. Use daily, been invaluable in structuring practice sessions and maximising what time I have. 

 

Had one 'in person' lesson to make sure technique was sound, but have since worked through some paid-for courses on DiscoverDoubleBass, some excellent content on there. Good luck with it all. 

 

 

[JoeEvans]

The only thing you have to watch out for with drone work is that major thirds sound 'right' when they're a bit flat of standard tuning. So when you play with other people later you might have practiced in a slightly different intonation to the one you need...

[Staggering on]

My teacher has just started me with drones and he feels if you are practicing scales you should use the dominant (5th) of the scale as the drone note, it is easier to hear the intervals and you get more overtones on each note when bowing. I tried it at my lesson yesterday and just got an app so I can work on it at home.

[PTB]

This is excellent stuff and relevant to me too. Thanks! 

[Burns-bass]

I downloaded the Scale Tracks app which I’m finding really useful. It’s not free (£6.99) but has really helped with intonation so far. Plus you can set it to repeat for a long time and it just carries on… 

[JoeEvans]

The other thing I've been doing a lot is pentatonics with shifts. So if - is a shift of hand position on one string and / is a change of string, and starting with A on the E string, A / C D - E / G A / C D - E D - C / A G / E D - C / A. I do that working up the semitones from F sharp to C. It's really helping with intonation and a sense of free movement round the neck.

[dodge_bass]

On 08/02/2023 at 19:43, Burns-bass said:

So, I’ve started 2023 with the dedication  to DB I’ve never had before. I am lucky enough to have an hour of practice time at least 5 days a week (I work for myself, and work in a room with my basses in).

 

I also enjoy the kind of stuff people don’t enjoy (playing with a metronome, doing the same exercises etc).

 

My aim is to get out and gig as I used to, so I’m working on intonation mostly.

 

I’m hoping to engage a tutor again, but I’d be interested in how best to structure my practice. 
 

Any experienced DBers care to offer any suggestions?

 

I'd suggest the following:

 

Set some medium / long terms goals and then work backwards from there. You want to play in tune? Fab - set that as you 12 month goal and then 'deconstruct' that and work backwards from there. What things do I need to work on to achieve this longer term goal? Folks have given you lots of ideas of WHAT to practice but nobody has really talked about structuring your practice and that's absolutely key. It sounds like you've got regular time available (absolutely vital) and some idea of what you'd like to achieve which is a real start. I've got a 12 month practice diary on my wall (in days) so I can mark off what I'm doing each day and see visually how I"m progressing and what I need to work on each day. Hope that helps - it's a quick summary but I'd be very happy to go into more detail via DM if you would like - I've got 20plus years of teaching and performing and practicing (!) so I'd like to think I've a vague idea of what I'm taking about. Good luck with it all. 

 

 

 

[Burns-bass]

25 minutes ago, dodge_bass said:

 

I'd suggest the following:

 

Set some medium / long terms goals and then work backwards from there. You want to play in tune? Fab - set that as you 12 month goal and then 'deconstruct' that and work backwards from there. What things do I need to work on to achieve this longer term goal? Folks have given you lots of ideas of WHAT to practice but nobody has really talked about structuring your practice and that's absolutely key. It sounds like you've got regular time available (absolutely vital) and some idea of what you'd like to achieve which is a real start. I've got a 12 month practice diary on my wall (in days) so I can mark off what I'm doing each day and see visually how I"m progressing and what I need to work on each day. Hope that helps - it's a quick summary but I'd be very happy to go into more detail via DM if you would like - I've got 20plus years of teaching and performing and practicing (!) so I'd like to think I've a vague idea of what I'm taking about. Good luck with it all. 

 

 

 

This is great…

 

If you are willing, could you sketch out a good 30 minute practice block would be each day.

 

I’ve been a music teacher for EB, so this is all about technique so that I can apply that knowledge to DB.

 

 

[dodge_bass]

On 20/02/2023 at 21:45, Burns-bass said:

This is great…

 

If you are willing, could you sketch out a good 30 minute practice block would be each day.

 

I’ve been a music teacher for EB, so this is all about technique so that I can apply that knowledge to DB.

 

 

 

Well....this is probably something that needs more than a quick post but I'd suggest:

 

4 x 7 min blocks - use a timer for each one - short and focused burst of practice will yield a good return in the medium term. Turn your phone off and just be in the moment in the practice room.  Have a minute break between each one and trust the process. Try to practice at least 5 days in 7 - any less and you'll be playing catch up all the time - any more and you risk burn out. 6 days in 7 is the dream I reckon. Make sure you know exactly what you're working on each day before you even turn up to start practicing.

 

Pick four exercises from the above given and start there. If you're an electric bass teacher then you'll have a sense of how to develop exercises to push you on and how to move on when you need to.  For intonation practice working with a drone Is a good idea, as is one finger scales sliding between each note on one string. There are loads of options but I'd suggest just picking a few and getting started. Recording yourself is also a really useful tool for refection and self-evaluation. As you get into the process you'll start to see what works and what doesn't work and adapt the exercises as required. 

 

[Burns-bass]

This is great, thanks!

 

So my practice at the moment is:

 

5 minutes of 2 octave scales (either with a drone or with a play along). Do a different key each day.

 

5 minutes I IV V exercise in all keys (real player)

 

10 minutes of positional stuff (Simandl normally, I like these exercises)

 

10 minutes of a book (so Ed Friedland  walking bass, etc)

 

Normally do some Real Player stuff over a jazz-blues in a different key.

 

Play along with a jazz track or two (Equinox and Song for my father are good fun at the moment), but could be Gregory Porter, or anything that comes on my playlist!

 

Does this sound reasonable?