Bass Practice Framework
It has been exactly a year since I started learning how to play the bass. Other than some middle school experience with music/choir – I started from scratch.
It's hard to persist at something. It's harder when you are bad at it. It's even harder when you don't know how to get better. Fortunately, I have a fantastic teacher, Derek, to help me with the last part.
Sometimes, we are not ready to receive or incorporate good advice into our lives. For me, it took 6 months. After that, I started seeing some steady progress.
Here's some of the advice that I have adopted and work for me:
1. Setting a time commitment goal.
Practicing is like showering. It's better to have a 2 minute shower every day instead of 14 minutes once a week. However, practicing daily was too much for me, so I aim for at least four 30 min practices a week + my half hour lesson. But I'm not even a stickler for that. As long as I hit a total of 10 hours of time with my bass every month, I’m happy.
2. Structuring the practice
Practice can generally be structured into three equal parts:
1. Technique – This is about getting down to the nitty gritty technicals. Right hand strumming, left hand shapes, dexterity and speed. Apparently, as you get better at your craft you can spend less time on technique, but people usually stop working on it earlier than they should.
2. Repertoire – This is practicing actual songs. To make this time extra effective, consider the macro/micro framework – play a large chunk of the song, find where you struggle, zero in on that and work on it, then zoom out to the chunk again. This can also give you ideas for your technique practice.
3. Musicianship – This adds and extra level of depth to your practice because you are engaging with the music on a different level. This can be done in a variety of ways including intentionally listening to music – like listening for your instrument in the song. Other options include taking time and space to think about music, interpreting music, ear training and theory. Currently I am focused on theory where I’m learning the major and minor scales as well as all the note placements on the guitar so that I don’t have to follow tabs. Eventually I will be working on ear training to get strong relative pitch.
3. Timing the practice components
Setting a timer for each part of the practice really helps direct focus and ensure that you are intentional because of the limitation. It’s easier to commit to doing something hard when you know you only have to struggle for 2, 3, or 5 minutes before you move on.
4. Keeping a practice journal
A practice journal doesn’t only help with the structure of your practice, it helps track what works and what doesn’t because you can flip through and see what you were working on and how long it took you to progress.
Listing out each component with the timing really helps me ease into the practicing mindset because I have a concrete plan to follow.
Also noting how hard or easy the practice helps track growth and progress.
5. Checking in with a teacher
All the previous steps would get stale if I wasn’t able to consult Derek every week. He’s able to be an impartial judge on my progress and advise what I can work on when I get stuck technically, what songs would be good for my level and what theoretical concepts I need to start internalizing next. This is just yet another example of the importance of feedback and how vital it is to progress.
Final Important Thought
Sometimes it feels like you are not getting anywhere and suddenly a switch flips and you get it! Derek has likened this to how bamboo grows – it spends a lot of time developing a root system that you cannot see (but it exists!) and then suddenly it shoots up above the ground. You just have to think of all the struggle and practice as bamboo roots.
What do you think of this framework? Is there anywhere else you can apply this in your life? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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