Chad Thorne Posted July 3, 2001 Share Posted July 3, 2001 I have a problem with staying focused while practicing by myself. Sometimes I'll do a fade on the practice before I ought to, if you know what I mean. Does anybody get this way besides me? And if so, how do you combat it? On occasion I'll pick up a guitar and play that for a while. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE playing bass - with a band. It's just practicing by myself that's a problem... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzzzz Posted July 3, 2001 Share Posted July 3, 2001 I have made a good bit of progress from practicing myself.That is when i bust out with the metronome and work on my sense of time and my chops.When I get bored when practicing I think of Jaco,Wooten,Flea,and other bassists I find inspiring.Then I say to myself the only way I'll get that good is to keep practicing that usually helps me with the practice boredom blues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dansouth Posted July 3, 2001 Share Posted July 3, 2001 Take a break from practicing and put on some CD's. It probably won't be long until you're inspired again. If you have access to a MIDI keyboard and sequencer (or a beat box/drum machine of some sort), program some drum beats (and chords if possible) and play along with those. MIDI is great, because you can play it back at different tempos, and the pitch doesn't change. You can program in the chord progressions and drum patterns of songs if you're really adventurous. David Hungate mentioned in Bass Player that he liked to play along with auto-accompaniment software like Band-in-a-Box from PG Music . Sonid Foundry's Acid program would probably be a blast to play along with, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
good morning Posted July 3, 2001 Share Posted July 3, 2001 chad, I had the same problem until I realized I was setting myself up for boredom by not imposing any structure to my practice. Now I approach practice differently. I give set amounts of time for things: some timing work, some ear practice (imagining the note pitch before playing it), some scales, some variations on minor or major scales, some playing along with my keyboard songs. What made the difference is structure. Ready or not, I move on to the next thing. Somehow that rigidity keeps me more interested. Give some thought to dansouth's suggestions (about listening to CDs and programming a MIDI keyboard -- even a cheapey would help). All these things make us a better player. It's all "practice" in my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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