“The journey, Not the destination matters...”― T.S. Eliot
At one time or another every musician has had an adversarial relationship with practicing his or her instrument. And while it is a common experience that we all have shared, there are some things you can do to make practice not only more fun and productive, but also the best part of your day.
#1) Seek Out New Things
The most common way to suck all the fun out of practicing is by just playing the same things over and over every time you practice. While it is comfortable to play your favorite songs and run through the scales and arpeggios you already know inside out, it does get boring over time. Constant and never-ending improvement is addictive and will have you looking forward to the next time you can spend time in the old woodshed.
Here are some suggestions for how to keep breaking new ground:
* Get a private teacher and set aside time during each practice session to work on that new material
* Buy a method book and work through one page every time you practice
* Commit to learning one new song or work through one new chart each day
#2) Journal It!
You know what is discouraging? Sitting down to practice and not knowing what you want to work on or even if you are making any progress. One of the best ways to counter this is to keep a practice journal. Start by writing out a few things you would like to get better at. Here is an example:
* Sight reading
* Playing Technique
* Improvising
* Scales and Arpeggios
In your journal write down the date and make quick notes on what you want to work on:
MAY 3, 2024
* Sight reading (Reading Contemporary Electric Bass, Page 12)
* Playing Technique (Slapping over a ii – V – I in all 12 keys)
* Improvising (Improvise both a bassline and melody of “Autumn Leaves”)
* Scales and Arpeggios (All modes and arpeggios in the key of F major)
Lastly, after your work through each section make notes on your progress:
MAY 3, 2024
* Sight reading (Reading Contemporary Electric Bass, Page 12)
- Did great! Move on to page 13
* Playing Technique (Slapping over a ii – V – I in all 12 keys)
- Did ok on most of them but should review F#, Bb and Eb
* Improvising (Improvise both a bassline and melody of “Autumn Leaves”)
- I am getting better! Tomorrow increase tempo to 150bpm
* Scales and Arpeggios (All modes and arpeggios in the key of F major)
- Easy! Move on to key of Bb major tomorrow
Journaling like this has a few benefits. First, it keeps you from wasting time at the beginning of every session trying to figure out what to work on. Second, it keeps you focused on new skills and materials. Third, you can look back over the previous weeks’ entries and be reminded just how much you are improving!
#3) Change Up Your Environment
Even if you are exploring new things during every practice session the routine of it all can still get tedious. I suggest that you make it a habit to periodically give your practice space a makeover. You would be surprised how just moving your gear around and putting up a few new posters can refresh your practice spirit.
Even if you don’t have the space or freedom to give your area a makeover, just giving your space a thorough cleaning every now and then can have a big impact on how much you enjoy being in it.
#4) Leave room for dessert!
Just like a delicious dessert can be the end to a perfect meal, you should end every practice session doing something that will give you the most enjoyment. It might be playing along with your favorite songs, doing a little songwriting or exploring a new effect pedal you just got. The most important thing is to always end your practice time having a blast!
#5 Cheat Day
Most diet plans factor in some sort of “cheat day”, where the participant can have one day a week to eat whatever they like. The concept behind this seems to be that by giving the cheat day the person has an incentive to be good the rest of the week. While I am not in any place to say whether that is good in the health and nutrition world, I can say that giving yourself a “practice cheat day” is very effective in having more fun in your practice life.
Your practice cheat day can be anything if it gives you a weekly break from your musical studies and is fun. In the past my cheat day has been everything from jamming with friends, spending time in my home recording studio, or listening to new music and trying to glean some new ideas.
Having a cheat day can be very helpful in your musical growth...as long as it is only one day a week!
I hope you found these five suggestions helpful! I have more ideas on how to make your practice time better so be sure to subscribe so you do not miss any future articles.
Enjoy the journey!
Story by Dale Titus
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Dale has been a professional bassist for 40 years and during that time was an instructor/counselor at the Bass Institute of Technology, a freelance writer for Bass Player magazine as well as the Editor of Bass Frontiers magazine. He also released The Ultimate Beginner Series for Bass videos and book for Alfred Publishing, as well as the Everything Bass YouTube channel.