After I finished my practice today, I wondered how typical my approach to TMBG is. So I thought I would ask.
So, how long have you been working through the course? What lesson are you on? What do you play? How many days a week do you practise? For how long? Do you have a standard routine? What is it?
To get the ball rolling:
I started, as an absolute musical beginner, in May 2011. I am now on lesson 7.
I usually practise 5 or 6 days a week, for somewhere between 1hr 20mins and 1.5 hours a day.
I generally play my 4 string Ibanez SR900, though I also practise on a 4 string fretless or a 6 string fretted sometimes.
I currently set the metronome on my Cube Bass RX practice amp at between 180 and 200bpm, depending on how flexible I'm feeling.....
Then I start off by running a set of 4x4s from fret 7 to fret 12, and then from 5 to 1, just to stretch a bit. (Actually, I start off by washing my hands in hot water - the TMBG warm up method!!). During this, I also stretch my hands and fingers using various exercises.
Next I find all the instances of each note on the fretboard, one at a time, starting with the lowest E and sharps one day and the highest G and flats the next - my bass has 24 frets - and playing each note on the "1". I've found this has really improved both my fretboard knowledge and my ear. I'm about at the point where my fretting hand just goes there, after maybe 15 months of daily repetition.
Then I do six scales, chosen at random from a set of identical paper slips in a bowl, each at three locations on the fretboard. I call out the notes (mentally anyway), until the scales feel musical. I may also do a bit of improvisation within each scale, as I go. I also alternate between finger style and pick each day.
Then I play some tunes through the amp using my Tascam MP-BT1. At the moment I am routinely playing "Getting On The Good Foot", "California Groove", "Shuffling Along", "Bach to Bassix". "Don't Be Bop", "The One Spot" and I am learning "Funky in the Phonepoles". I concentrate on making the tunes I know dynamic and musical.
Then, I listen to what Roy is going to teach me next as I cool down.
All of this is done in a very focused fashion, it is one of the ways I get rid of my work day.
Am I typical? Unusual? Or what?
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