Left side vs. Right side of the brain and practicing

  It is no secret that many of us become frustrated with our practice time and the lack of results in our goal to be better players.  Boredom sets in and we soon find ourselves aimlessly noodling, wondering how do we get better.  In my years of doing private instruction in my home and now Skype, I've identified the stumbling blocks that have encumbered many to the point of distraction and disappointment. Believe me that a great majority that I've taught have in common that most deadly of bassists' malady...not practicing musical facts.

Practicing music on your bass ( chord tones, chordal movement, reading) not only gives the musical carpenter the hammer and nails with which to build the house of the creative in expression and artistic content; It requires ongoing work of fundamentals...and practicing them with a view that they are not supposed to contain emotional content -- the emotional and creative is right brain dominant and the left is logical and analytical. Many bass players get tripped up when they confuse the two.

 Case in point are some bassists not spending enough time on music fundamentals. Instead, they will only practice what they know ( or even more dangerously, what the Think They Know:-) and expect improvement for their efforts...compounded with this is bringing a performance attitude to the the practice session and thereby not tolerating or gaining self-critical thoughts that creates an environment of boredom--

 Don't Right brain your practicing...do the right stuff with giving grace to making mistakes and just correcting them. Go slowly so your mind, fingers, and ears absorb new musical facts...that way you can correct your mistakes simply and without the critical right brain stuff. Making mistakes are glorious in that you simply correct and learn from them -- no pressure...just play the pattern chordal stuff that has been used for many generations and also how chords move and ''ask'' for next one. This is the basis for all western harmony...it all eventually goes into the right brain creative thinking side without trying.


Remember to keep your practice sessions short at first and be very present with what you are working on --- every day short sessions first and as you advance you can spend more time without rigor mortis of the brain:-)

 All of my students learn this way, regardless of skype or in office here in Nashville. you can subscribe to my post at my blog landing page.. home page bottom left side and click on subscribe to Posts ( Atom) for an RSS feed

My Tutoring website is www.bassmentoring.com for more information. our will see the same blog content there under the bass blog tab.


Best!

Keep it Low, My Friends:-)

Steve

The Real Deal-- Continued


    In addition to getting the chordal patterns under your fingers then into your mind and ears...learn what makes up good chordal movement...If you practice your chordal patterns in fourths... i.e. G -C -F etc -- you are playing one of the most common progressions in Western Harmony. Say the chord as you  play...you will soon find your way around the neck that you could never learn with scales and just referring to a fingering chart as a crutch. You will also find that your EARS will be picking up the patterns in a recognizable, logical fashion that is musical and relatable to all styles of music....the '' DNA'' if you will, of music

All of my students learn this and when the put in the time and study are amazed at how they can listed to music and pick our chords..and how they are functioning in a progression....and they are light years ahead of others who do the creative dead end of too much time practicing scales....


I have four free vids on my you tube channel

here is the fourth dealing with chord fundamentals that is basic to good strong bass lines

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfCeGzHptQ0



Also here is my website:

www.bassmentoring.com


Best!

and keep it low, my friends:-)

Steve

The Real Deal..

My name is Steve Bryant and have been a full time professional electric bassist since 1975. I have been a resident of Nashville Tennessee since December '82 and actually lived here in '75-'76 too.