Members Markee Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 I play along with CD's, anything from Motown to Dwight Yokum's best depending on my mood. Right now I'm trying to play along with Danny Gatton on 88 Elvira Street. Great CD but the hand surgery is slowing me down a bit yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members skatalite Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 I grab the ol iPod, hit random, and try to learn that song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WillPlay4food Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 I warm up practicing whatever scale / mode I'm working on this week. For example, this week I'm practicing Phrygian mode scales so I'll practice the 3 different fingerings for this scale around the cycle of 4ths: #1 (A Phrygian) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8G| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |D| - | - | 1 | - | 2 | - | 4 | - |A| - | - | 1 | - | 2 | - | 4 | - |E| - | - | - | - | 2 | 3 | - | - | #2 (A Phrygian) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8G| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |D| - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 3 | - |A| - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 3 | 4 |E| - | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | 4 | #3 (A Phrygian) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8G| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |D| - | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | - | 3 | - |A| 1 | - | 2 | - | 4 | - | - | - |E| - | - | - | - | 4 | - | - | - |^^ There's a slide on the D string ^^ As I get more comfortable with the scale I'm working on, I'll do two octave scales based on the 3 fringerings shown above. In the above example I used A Phrygian mode. I'll play this wherever an A occurs on the bass which for me are: 11th fret B string, 5th fret E string, 17th fret E string, open A 12th fret on A, 7th fret on D, and sometimes 2nd fret on G although I don't ever plan to run up a scale on a single string cuz I know I'll mess that up. Then I'll play whatever blues progression chunk I'm working on this week. For example, I'm doing 5th, root, root, 1/2 step (to the next 5th). I'll play this using the generic 1-4-5 12 bar blues in every key. I'm starting on tonal modulation so I'm practicing the progression to Blues Bossa and I'll transpose that to all 12 keys. Then I do some sight reading out of Chuck Rainey's book: The Complete Electric Bass Player, Volume I. Last I'll work on songs I'm playing with the band or learning new songs. I don't do everything every day because I can only practice 45 minutes or so a day (during lunch). I'll do one or two keys of Phrygian, then one or two keys of blues stuff, work on one or two sight reading pieces then spend whatever remaining time on playing along to music. Sometimes I'll only do the blues or sight reading so I can have more time to play to music. Been working on a couple of Duran Duran tunes this week for the heck of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members burdizzos Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 I usually just yell at my band mates until they understand what I'm talking about and right about the time I reach exasperation, the light bulbs come on and we rock the {censored} out of whatever it is we are trying to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spikemullings Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 Jamming to a drum machine is good as well. You're going to want a C vamp with that. [Tumbleweed] What? Oh come on, its my first attempt at an in-joke. Ok i'll get me coat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members T. Alan Smith Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 I generally start with arpeggio based warm ups. Then I do scales(modes). I'll do an online lesson I printed out earlier. Lastly, I'll play along to a couple CDs; starting with a challenging one, followed by a favorite. I used to do this routine completely anywhere from 4-6 days a week. It would take me anywhere from 2-4 hours, and a half pot of coffee to do. These days, I break it down considerably so I hit everything at least once a week. Real life sucks sometimes. To be honest tho, the improv and simply getting together with different people a couple times a week to jam is the best excercise by far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members T. Alan Smith Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 Been working on a couple of Duran Duran tunes this week for the heck of it. Which ones? Sorry, just curious. The rest of your post was damn interesting too. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WillPlay4food Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 Which ones? Sorry, just curious. The rest of your post was damn interesting too. :) Save A Prayer and A View To A Kill. Basically have these down so I'm thinking of working on The Reflex and Rio. Definitely lots of disco era influence on John Taylor's bass lines, at least, that's how it sounds to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SA Rios Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 I don't practice on my own. I wish I had time, but I don't. I practice with my band two nights a week for 3 hours, though. The only time I ever practice on my own is when I need to learn a new song for the band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Incubitabus Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 Modal arpeggios in scale form! (i'm serious) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FloydianAnimal Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 get a lesson book by a player you like- like I'm working on a Myung book right now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RocketMusic Posted July 19, 2007 Members Share Posted July 19, 2007 I recently picked up a loop station (a Boss RC-20XL, but any looper will do). I like to lay down a simple rhythm track with whatever chord changes I'm feeling that day... and then wail away! I can only stand doing scales & modes myself for about 5 minutes, but the loop station makes for hours of fun. This morning, I laid down Am to D7 (a basic 2-5 move), then I messed around using G major, A minor pentatonic, D mixolydian, etc., etc., etc. The loop station is always in time, and it has infinite patience as I wank away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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