Three Secrets to Enjoy Practicing!
This article introduces new PartTimeMusician.com writer JP Montgomery. JP is a guitarist/bassist who will be contributing from time to time on a variety of subjects. JP’s hobbies include playing music, listening to music, and hanging out with his girlfriend…but not necessarily in that order. :-)
Sitting alone in a room with the door closed and drilling all-too-familiar exercises is no fun for anyone. When I started playing guitar (and later, bass), I wanted to get rolling as quickly as possible. Who doesn’t?!? And once I got to a basic level of playing competence…well, I still didn’t want to waste a lot of time with boring exercises. Here’s what I do.
Warm Up with Scales
Well, that sounds boring, doesn’t it? You have to know the notes, but playing them doesn’t have to be a drudge! Add some pep to it, change up the rhythms, slur (winds), run patterns of notes, etc. Mix it up! This gets you warmed up, reinforces your scales in your head, and keeps things from getting lame. :-)
Play some Challenging Music
After you’re warmed up, grab some challenging music from your stack and get busy. Whether it’s new music (for sight-reading, technique development, etc.) or just a piece you’ve been working on that remains just outside of your reach, this is the time to tackle it. Push yourself, but have fun with it. Work on that new chord, practice the riff your favorite lead player or bassist throws in during the best part of your favorite song, or whatever. Imagine yourself playing it for your buddies next week – that always gets me going!
Grab some TABs, Plug in the Tunes, and PLAY!
This is the dessert portion of the practice session. Plug your iPod into your amp via Line In (Editor’s note: See earlier article Really USE your practice amp for tips on this, especially if your amp doesn’t have a dedicated Line In plug), grab some tablature or sheet music, and just kick it! If you know the music well, experiment (remember those grooves we were talking about earlier?). If it’s a new piece you’ve been dying to play, just work your way into it and live in the moment! There is just something about playing along with your favorite artist/group that really gets the juices going. In fact, you may have to make yourself put down the axe once you’ve gotten to this point!
Simple as it is, it keeps me driving forward. Give it a try! Life doesn’t always have to be hard, you know. :-)
Peace,
JP
Like what you see? Subscribe! And tell ‘em JP sent you. ;-)
Related Articles:
Tags: bass, enjoy, fun, Guitar, JP Montgomery, practice, practicing, scales, secrets, TAB, three
Bass Guitar, General, Guitar, Learning | JP January 22, 2011 | 
Comments (0)
So how did you get to this point? Night after night of scales, etudes, technique drills, exercises. You can see improvement, and that’s good…but it just aren’t as fulfilling as you might have hoped. What now?
