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  • What is your practice regime?

    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?
    This article was originally published in forum thread: What is your practice regime? started by PaulUK View original post
    Comments 5 Comments
    1. aksteve's Avatar
      aksteve -
      I like it! i really need to get more of a schedule. thanks for sharing!!
    1. The Reverend's Avatar
      The Reverend -
      Interesting schedule and very disciplined.
      Really like the approach of finding all the same notes on the fretboard.

      For me I do the following.
      Warm up with;
      1min of finger style on each open string to warm up the right hand
      4x4 from 15th fret down on each string warm up the fretting hand
      Name the notes from open e a d g to 12th fret.

      Contrary motion on major scales (1357, 8642, 3579,...) and back down
      Melodic, harmonic, natural minor scales, major and minor pentanonic, blues and whole tone scale.

      Might then rattle off a few of Roy's tunes, not loving Bach to bassix at all but absolutely adore The One Spot, Funky in the Phonepoles and still playing about with that Jaco inspired number (it seems if I leave it alone for a week I can't play it at full speed immediately, annoyingly)

      Then I just mix up;
      Just playing stuff that's in my head - pick any chord / scale and try to make a baseline.
      Playing songs I know / like (very fond of Jamiroquai at the moment) just putting the final touches on "Too young to die".
      Slapping and popping - cannot get enough of this!
      Warm down with major/ minor / augmented / diminished chords using the inverted position Roy showed( it's very helpful).
      I've kind of stopped slavishly trying to cane through the lessons and have more fun with it.
      Takes about an hour or so and get to do it about 3 or 4 times a week. Can't always fit it all in so pick and choose from the above.

      )
    1. edonovanl's Avatar
      edonovanl -
      All right....now I feel guilty for my haphazard approach to practice! I'm only on lesson 5 and usually just dig right in. Now I'm going to develop a practice routine, and I like starting with stretches, then 4x4 and scales while naming the notes, visualizing them on the bass clef. For now I'm going to continue through the lessons, finishing up each session with some jamming. I practice every day when possible, for about an hour +.
    1. thunderman's Avatar
      thunderman -
      Domestic harmony dictates that I practice from 6:30-7:10 p.m. Monday through Friday, sometimes Saturday. I begin with stretches (made the mistake of thinking they weren't necessary. Ha!) Then do a few scales - still calling the note names out loud so I can embed them in the gray matter - then plunge into whatever lesson I'm working on. Always end up playing with the band - without Roy - usually from a previous lesson, 'cause I've pretty well got those 'under my fingers,' as Ashley says. Love it when my wife says: "Hey! That's great. Play it again!" Better than the Grammys!
    1. Noel1983's Avatar
      Noel1983 -
      Being in lesson two, I warm up with the final 3 b-scales (Ab, Db, and Gb) that I have the least number of reps with in order to stretch the muscles in my fretting hand. And then I move on to learning the #-scales. I haven't gotten to the triads yet. I give myself about 90 minutes in the late morning to these exercises inserting a couple 10 minute breaks in the process because my elbows and shoulders tend to stiffen up from remianing in a mostly static position for so long.

      I try to put another hour or so into practicing the same things in the evening, but my personal domestic issues have prevented that for the last several weeks.
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