In this post, we’re going to dive a little deeper in developing a good practice routine for bass and for musicians as a whole.
Why do this? Why even waste the time and energy writing about this topic? It seems so simple, right? Just pick up the bass and play some scales, some chords, learn a song and you’re done. But how long do you need to do it to reach what many (and yourself) would consider “good”?
60 minutes a day?
90 minutes a day?
3 hours a day?
Whether it’s music, arts and crafts, computer programming or something totally different, it’s worth finding out if you’re putting your time to the best use when you have some time to pick up the bass guitar and practice.
Believe me – the worst thing in the world is to find out that there was an easier way to do something. The news stings even more after you’re the one spending a lot of time doing something in the least efficient way possible.
In this post, I want to give you a free download aimed at helping you develop your practice routine for bass, your practice schedule and to provide some helpful tips on how to maximize your time when it comes to learning new skills, songs and techniques on bass.
Bass Guitar Practice Routine: Make the Most of Your Time – Even if it’s Only 20 Minutes
The worst feeling in the world is when you’ve been working at something for what seems like forever and you don’t feel like you’re making any progress. It’s an instant bringer-downer that has put so many aspiring musicians in a position to put away their instrument and move on.
And that’s a shame considering a solution to improvement and working to reverse that feeling is pretty simple and only requires a change in mindset combined with an understanding of what you can do and how long it should take to make it happen.
I Hit the Books For This One And Want to Show You What I Found in My Free eBook
There are a number of prominent names in academic research who have received world wide attention for their work in practice psychology and the psychology of “how to get good at stuff better”. K. Anders Ericsson is the man who pioneered the study of mastery and expertise and in his studies pioneered the concept of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice, he explains is the act of being mentally as well as physically involved in the practice process. Many musicians fall into the trap of “mindless” practice by running drills and exercises over and over again, relying on muscle memory to improve their skills when they should be using their mind as well to process what is working, what isn’t working, what could be improved upon and more as the practice session unfolds.
The result, Ericsson argues, is that 20 minutes of deliberate practice beats out mindless repetition any day. And who doesn’t have 20 minutes?
Josh Kaufman is another prominent figure in skill development and sensible practice habits. He first came to prominence with his book, The Personal MBA, but since released another book titled, The First 20 Hours in 2012. The book challenges Ericsson’s claims about the amount of time it takes to be an expert in a craft and instead proposes that it only takes 20 hours to get good enough at something to be functional at it.
Kaufman argues that many of us want to be good enough at our craft that we can use it and not fee like an amateur in the process. Using Ericsson’s deliberate practice framework plus writing out a set of specific goals of what kind of performance level he would like to achieve, he was able to achieve that skill roughly in 20 hours – regardless of what the skill was. He spoke about it all in a TED talk as well and shared his new skills on the ukulele
Dr. Noa Kageyama over at Bulletproof Musician is another great figure who has done tremendous work in combining psychology with music to deliver a transformative perspective to musicianship and many satisfied students.
My eBook works to combine the work and findings of these men mentioned above plus work of others like Dr. Kelly McGonigal and Charles Duhigg’s work in habit formation and understanding the habit cycle to help bass players develop a sensible, effective, sustainable practice routine even if they’re on a tight time frame.
Family, friends, work, kids, pets and just other parts of your social life can get in the way and it is certainly hard to stay up to snuff with musical aspirations if there’s no time to get better in the process. Trust me – I’m having this problem right now.
So if you’re looking for some solutions to supercharge your practice routine for bass, I recommend downloading a copy of my new freebie eBook. I put it together based on a combination of personal trial-and-error with practice routine plus a lot (A. Lot.) of reading to make sure that many of these ideas were backed up.
All you need to do is enter your email address below and get the guide sent right to you! Here’s some samples of the book as well:
- How to Set up a Pedal Board for Bassists - June 16, 2021
- The Best Bass Guitar Effects Pedals Guide You’ll Ever See [INFOGRAPHIC] - April 24, 2020
- The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Everything About Bass Guitar Strings - March 20, 2020