One night recently I was sitting staring blankly at my bass trying to find motivation to pick it up and play. Motivation should be no problem for me, Id like to start performing again with a band, It was a perfect night for practice being home alone and nothing on TV. As I sat totally unfocused I started to think about all the reasons for practice and as idea after idea popped into my head I started jotting them down. I liked them so much I decided to share them with you.

First we must define practice. I googled the word and got this: The repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency. In other words practice is the time we prepare for the times we need to shine.

Lets face it , most of us have very busy lives with family, work and other responsibilities. This puts the time we have to practice at a premium. I try to make my practice time more efficient by making the best use of my time. I was once told by a very wise bass teacher that it doesnt matter how long we practice as it does what and how. This was at our 1st session after I failed to impress him with the fact that I practiced 4 hours a day and had hardly anything to show for it.

1. Set attainable goals, a time frame to achieve them, and organize your session.
2. Identify a weakness and work at making it a strength.
3. Stretch before playing. Place the tips of your fingers of your left hand in the palm of you right hand and gently push them backwards toward your left forearm and hold for 15-30 seconds, do the same for your right hand.
4. Warming up doing scales will give all fingers a workout and also make you more familiar with the scales and the fretboard.
5. Always, always, always use a metronome when practicing. A good sense of time will make the difference between a quality musician and someone who doesnt care about his playing.
6. Always record your sessions. There is no better feedback than listening to something you just played.
7. Never practice the same thing for more than 15 minutes at a time. After 15 minutes physical and mental fatigue and boredom start to set in. We dont need to practice bad form! Better to work on it again the next day.
8. Keep it interesting and fun!

I know a lot of this may sound very boring but it actually will help improve your bass playing and youre overall musicianship. I know it works for me.. There is really no better shortcut than finding a good teacher but for a lot of us this could be cost prohibitive. The use of this site will give you a wealth of information and if I have helped your enjoyment of the instrument in any way that will make me happy.