practice regimen?

[kirky]

trying to get out of a rut....i haven't progressed much...seems like i've stayed at an intermediate level for years....what should i do?

[kirky]

^^^^^
guitar btw.

[VOLVO)))]

Honestly? Start playing bass or drums. You'll get a new perspective on how you play. I had this same shit, that's why I play bass, and drums, piano, etc. Every new instrument indicates a rut with another one, for me.

[mortlock]

ruts come and go..you really shouldnt focus on them. as long as you are doing your due diligence and playing regularly you will always make progress. if you want to speed things up, jam with guys that are better than you..

[mutantcolors]

make up shit that's hard to play on purpose, play your own riffs with middle and pinkie as opposed to pointer and ring, etc...

Minor triads are awesome for the "hard on purpose" thing as a starter. Minor 3rd with a major 3rd above it, so like 12th fret low E, 10th fret A, 9th fret D string. The part that opens doors is fretting loe E with pinkie, A with middle and D with pointer. Once I got that down I thought why the fuck didn't I do this right away...half my riffs now use that middle/pinkie combo that frees up the pointer to do other shit.

[VOLVO)))]

I use my pinkie for powerchords now. I originally did it as a strength enhancer, but now I'm stuck to it. I'll be damned if I can do 7-8 fret stretches, though. Real fast chord changes, etc etc. I used to think it was shitty, but now it's just part of me...


and my pinky is as strong as my pointer. So, there's that.

[bitter]

I'm a pinky user as well because I don't much dexterity in my ring finger. I love making elongated power chords that ring oddly and quick shifts back down to the 5th (if I'm calling that correctly) from a note 1/2 a step higher.

[Joemanthium]

I have a question along the same lines. I've been trying to teach myself to play bass but I feel like I'm just sort of spinning my wheels at this point. Practicing for me has been playing scales and learning other people's songs, but I feel like I'm completely clueless when it comes to constructing bass lines. Anyone have any tips or advice on what/how I should be practicing and/or bass line construction? My end goal is to not only to be able to play bass well but to be able to play it as a lead instrument as well as rhythm. I may be too inept to do this, but fuck it, lofty goals.

[mutantcolors]

idk, learn some Om? About as bass leady as it gets without the bass just pretending to be a guitar.

I fret power chords as double stops a lot, just root 5th, pointer pinkie, moves around faster, leaves other fingers for other stuff, hitting chord changes etc, and sometime I just don't want the octave in there. It matters I tell ya

[Lumpy]

I have a question along the same lines. I've been trying to teach myself to play bass but I feel like I'm just sort of spinning my wheels at this point. Practicing for me has been playing scales and learning other people's songs, but I feel like I'm completely clueless when it comes to constructing bass lines. Anyone have any tips or advice on what/how I should be practicing and/or bass line construction? My end goal is to not only to be able to play bass well but to be able to play it as a lead instrument as well as rhythm. I may be too inept to do this, but fuck it, lofty goals.

Scales are sort of useless when it comes to writing bass lines... best for warming up and building up your hand strength (and learning which notes are/are not within a key I guess) but not very crucial for playing 'music'. To further build up strength (and only just slightly more useful) play arpeggios instead of a straight scale. Hand strength (I don't know what else to call it? Your physical ability to play) is important - you can have great ideas but you have to be able to physically execute them, too. Just understand the purpose of playing 'exercises'... it's necessary, but it's not going to help you be more creative.

Somebody smarter/way better than me could write a book on your question but I have a few ideas. (All of these ideas are probably demonstrated on YouTube)

- practice with a metronome, at least for a portion of every practice. You want to become great at playing exactly on the beat, so that you can start fucking around with purposely playing in front of/behind the beat too (accents) when desired. Working 'off' the beat at key points (syncopation) will give your bass lines groove, character, flair whatever. It makes your straight, boring basslines sound more interesting. Play 'with' the metronome, and once you can do that, then you can practice playing off-time with the metronome.

- learn how to play ghost notes, which dovetails with syncopation above. Look on youtube.

- put your bass down and hum or sing some bass lines that you make up. Any genre, whatever comes easiest to you. tHen pick up your bass and play the line you invented by singing. The point is to practice coming up with ideas that you think sound cool, without limiting yourself to what you're currently able to physically play. Plus it's a good way to build a bridge between your imagination and your fingers. Another thing you can try - using this technique, write an alternate bass line for somebody else's song (might work better for songs you don't know already, or songs you know with basslines you think are boring). So you listen to a song and sing along with an alternate bassline, then learn how to play it. (the chorus or verse or whatever section inspires you)

- don't worry if you are currently stuck playing simple easy riffs, because you have to hammer that shit in so that you can play it backwards & forwards in your sleep. Because hard, complicated riffs are generally constructed out of a lot of simple ideas all combined together, and then sped up. (Or are they sped up first, and then all combined together after that? The order is debatable. )

- practice playing other stuff besides metal/doom/stoner rock. You don't have to learn how to play techniques you're not interested in at all (slap funk?) but any other styles you can pick up will make you a well rounded player, and probably better. Learn how to play riffs by bands you don't really like, who have good bass players. Learn some riffs by bass players who are considered to be great like Paul McCartney, Chris Squire, John Entwistle. Learn some Motown stuff, try playing some reggae bass, some prog, some Top 40 oldies, or whatever. Step outside the genre you're usually in.

- man, I need to practice more, and type less

[MichaelZodiac]

For bass: I second listening to Om, definitely helped with my progress. Lately I've been feeling kinda the same thing, all my riffs are with slides and hammer-ons. It's like I can't come up with anything else. Luckily I've been playing some Jack Casady basslines, glorious stuff. I still think though to get better, you need to play in a band. Just because you train yourself to play better every time and playing in a band gives you an idea what's sound good and what doesn't, a riff can sound great on your own but working that out with a band is hard but it's worth it if it works. If not, there's always next rehearsal.

[jibberish]

i generally practice every day, often twice. try to get a minimum of an hour in each session and sometimes i go for several hours if i'm on a roll. i do several of the following and not the same thing every time, that  gets boring.

A) blow through a bunch of songs i have down cold to warm up for a while.
 
B)work on polishing songs that are getting close but i have technical snags in them

C) do crazy freeform speed-pattern drills. forcing oddball finger moves that i usually dont do.

D) make myself learn songs that are waaaay hard to play. takes a long time, but the moves get installed eventually

E)arrange songs with bass lines, chord rhythm AND melody strung through, all at once. you have to reform many chord forms to free up w/e fingers are needed to hit the notes i need so i can keep playing the chords while doing the melody.
jimi's thumb over is the key move for much of what i do.

F) watch killer guitar players and steal bits of what i can fathom that they do. it gets easier over time and then i can steal more..jimi, frank zappa and robert fripp are who i do this with the most.

G) MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL:  every 3 months or so,I put the guitar down for like 2 weeks. yeah, you lose some barre chord endurance BUT, when i pick it up again, i can do new things not possible before. i cannot explain what this break does, but something happens good.

[Chovie D]

take a couple lessons

[Hemisaurus]

think about what you like to hear and play that. unless you want to be a professional, in which case you need a bit of everything.

[Discö Rice]

Honestly? Start playing bass or drums. You'll get a new perspective on how you play. I had this same shit, that's why I play bass, and drums, piano, etc. Every new instrument indicates a rut with another one, for me.

Absolutely. I started playing guitar after my third or fourth year of playing drums, bass a year or so later, and I've been a thorn in the side of my bandmates since.

As for a regimen, I practice things that are beyond my ability, until I have them down well enough to improvise around them without missing a beat. I also tend to come up with things that are harder than I can actually play, forcing me to get better as the song develops. That second thing is usually unintentional, but in just about everything I've written or recorded there's at least one part that was a giant pain in the ass.

[Hemisaurus]

If you want something really difficult, start trying to sing and play. Seriously it's not as easy as you'd think.

[Joemanthium]

Thanks for the advice, guys. Now, anyone want to pay my bills so I can quit my job and play all day? No? Worth a shot.

[Hemisaurus]

Thanks for the advice, guys. Now, anyone want to pay my bills so I can quit my job and play all day? No? Worth a shot.

You wanna play all day? Turn pro, learn to live on ramen and takeaway, have no home, no healthcare but see the country (if you're lucky), and maybe even get to play music you like occasionally

[VOLVO)))]

Honestly? Start playing bass or drums. You'll get a new perspective on how you play. I had this same shit, that's why I play bass, and drums, piano, etc. Every new instrument indicates a rut with another one, for me.

Absolutely. I started playing guitar after my third or fourth year of playing drums, bass a year or so later, and I've been a thorn in the side of my bandmates since.

As for a regimen, I practice things that are beyond my ability, until I have them down well enough to improvise around them without missing a beat. I also tend to come up with things that are harder than I can actually play, forcing me to get better as the song develops. That second thing is usually unintentional, but in just about everything I've written or recorded there's at least one part that was a giant pain in the ass.

I always end up telling the other dudes what to do if they can't figure something oot...

[Chovie D]

bass player? you dont need to practice that thing really do you? did sid vicious ever practice? you can 'practice' by drinking a six pack.

its not practice makes perfect....its perfect practice makes perfect.

what the fuck does that mean?
means when you are practing/learning something..you should be concerned with playing it perfectly, not playing it up to tempo.

sounds simple but it requires discipline.

Thats what the pros say, I wouldnt know cause I dont really practice and if I did I wouldnt be perfect aboot it, but ive heard countless pros say "practice doesnt make perfect, PERFECT practice makes perfect"...so there ya go

[Discö Rice]

If you want something really difficult, start trying to sing and play. Seriously it's not as easy as you'd think.

Yeah... Tricky. 4 way independence is a lofty but achievable goal for a drummer. Throw in being able to properly aspirate and hold pitch in harmony with another person (while essentially kickboxing) and you've got something truly daunting. Once you can partition your brain that way, it comes a bit more naturally, but always a bit tricky when it comes to breathing properly.

[RacerX]

"Regimen"?

Dang. I guess I don't have one.

[Hemisaurus]

bass player? you dont need to practice that thing really do you? did sid vicious ever practice? you can 'practice' by drinking a six pack.

Yeah but Jonesy played all the bass parts on the album, and they never turned Sid's amp on when they played shows.

I'm an amateur, I play for fun, I play what I want, I don't aspire to be the next Jaco P./Vic W./John M whatever. As long as you can play what's in your head

[Joemanthium]

bass player? you dont need to practice that thing really do you? did sid vicious ever practice? you can 'practice' by drinking a six pack.

I will mark this day as the first time anyone has ever mentioned Sid Vicious playing an instrument, ever.