Practise
Question:
There’s a post over in the guitar ng about how to practise. How do you bass players practise? I’m completely self-taught at the bass (but was taught the ‘cello for years to a professional level). So end up just taking my ‘cello routine and transferring it to the bass: – start with some simple trills and runs (with little or no movement position) to get the left fingers warmed up – then octave jumps up and down in the strings in various positions to get the left arm loose – then tunes. Warm up with some you already know, learn four or five a week As a ‘cellist, the first two would get my right arm (the bowing arm) set up too. But I’m sure there’s something better I could be doing for the bass. I just don’t know what it is. I imagine there’s a difference depending on the style you’re playing, be it with fingers, plecky or slap. I play all these techniques but don’t really have a good way to warm up for them. As for the songs, any suggestions for building technique? E.g. on the ‘cello I might use a Bach suite for technique. Given my musical tastes, Chilis seems similar to me. Technique aside, anything that gets my foot tapping is in. So, what do you guys do? Strict practise regime? Or more ‘whatever I feel like’? Hope you all had a good xmas!
Response:
<snip> > As a ‘cellist, the first two would get my right arm (the bowing arm) > set up too. But I’m sure there’s something better I could be doing > for the bass. I just don’t know what it is. I imagine there’s a > difference depending on the style you’re playing, be it with > fingers, plecky or slap. I play all these techniques but don’t > really have a good way to warm up for them.
<snip> I went out and bought a metronome recently – something I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing before. Googling this group’s archive for "technique" yielded the useful suggestion of using a metronome to enforce tempo and to raise it by small increments over time – thereby making sure that you never try to play too fast for control and hence end up *practising* how to play badly. 
The idea is to play something with running notes (e.g. scales) steadily and continuously for a good long time – perhaps fifteen minutes of non-stop plucking. Then do the same thing but in doubles (i.e. C C D D E E…), and then in triples, then quadruples. All of that may be a bit long for a warm up, but you can pick your exercise of the day, of course. > So, what do you guys do? Strict practise regime? Or more ‘whatever > I feel like’?
For years, I only ever really practised with whole bands, not at home on my own (unless I needed to work something out). Aside from laziness, I just found it uninspiring and somewhat uncomfortable in comparison to locking step with the drummer and allowing myself, as it were, to be played by him (as opposed to merely "playing in time with the drummer", which can never be as tight). I also have a healthy disrespect for artless finger-athletes and was always pigheadedly reluctant to do anything that might bring that stigma upon myself. As a result, where the fret-wanker’s hands are a Ferrari that he can’t handle, mine are a Volvo and I drive accordingly. I woke up from this stupidity recently with the realisation that if I had a pair of Ferraris myself, I wouldn’t abuse them, and therefore I deserve them. I’ll never reach those ridiculous speeds, but I’m sure that regular practice can easily lift me to the limits of what I could reasonably put to good musical use, as long as I can maintain the discipline. So, in addition to band practices, I’ve started doing a daily routine. I do a left (fretting) hand warm-up exercise for the fingers slowly in several different positions, and then do the same thing but using the metronome as described above and raising the clock by 1 bpm each day. However, I know I should also do some scales and arpeggios in different patterns (including along one string), and I may start doing that instead of the purely mechanical fretting exercise I currently use. — Mike.
Response:
Nice. Some good suggestions there. Cheers. Sounds like what I’m doing isn’t that unreasonable. I don’t mind long warm-ups that are good for your technique. They don’t seem to bore me quite as much as some others (maybe the years of doing similar things on the cello every day). The metronome idea is a really good one. It’s usefulness is twofold. It definitely helps out playing technique (as you say, it acts as a throttle, so you don’t run before you can walk). But it also helps the higher-level ‘musicality’ (for lack of a better word) that transfers between instruments. One thing I’ve done is write a software metronome that, when started, plays the first few clicks, then is silent for a specified period, then starts clicking again. The trick is to still be in time after the silence period. Quite easy to be ‘there or thereabouts’, but very hard to be spot on after 24 bars of blues.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > <snip> > As a ‘cellist, the first two would get my right arm (the bowing arm) > set up too. But I’m sure there’s something better I could be doing > for the bass. I just don’t know what it is. I imagine there’s a > difference depending on the style you’re playing, be it with > fingers, plecky or slap. I play all these techniques but don’t > really have a good way to warm up for them. > <snip> > I went out and bought a metronome recently – something I wouldn’t have > dreamed of doing before. Googling this group’s archive for "technique" > yielded the useful suggestion of using a metronome to enforce tempo and > to raise it by small increments over time – thereby making sure that > you never try to play too fast for control and hence end up > *practising* how to play badly. > The idea is to play something with running notes (e.g. scales) steadily > and continuously for a good long time – perhaps fifteen minutes of > non-stop plucking. Then do the same thing but in doubles (i.e. C C D D > E E…), and then in triples, then quadruples. All of that may be a bit > long for a warm up, but you can pick your exercise of the day, of > course. > So, what do you guys do? Strict practise regime? Or more ‘whatever > I feel like’? > For years, I only ever really practised with whole bands, not at home > on my own (unless I needed to work something out). Aside from laziness, > I just found it uninspiring and somewhat uncomfortable in comparison to > locking step with the drummer and allowing myself, as it were, to be > played by him (as opposed to merely "playing in time with the drummer", > which can never be as tight). > I also have a healthy disrespect for artless finger-athletes and was > always pigheadedly reluctant to do anything that might bring that > stigma upon myself. As a result, where the fret-wanker’s hands are a > Ferrari that he can’t handle, mine are a Volvo and I drive accordingly. > I woke up from this stupidity recently with the realisation that if I > had a pair of Ferraris myself, I wouldn’t abuse them, and therefore I > deserve them. I’ll never reach those ridiculous speeds, but I’m sure > that regular practice can easily lift me to the limits of what I could > reasonably put to good musical use, as long as I can maintain the > discipline. > So, in addition to band practices, I’ve started doing a daily routine. > I do a left (fretting) hand warm-up exercise for the fingers slowly in > several different positions, and then do the same thing but using the > metronome as described above and raising the clock by 1 bpm each day. > However, I know I should also do some scales and arpeggios in different > patterns (including along one string), and I may start doing that > instead of the purely mechanical fretting exercise I currently use. > — > Mike.
Response:
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