Beginners’ Lesson
Hello, again! As I mentioned before, one of the pitfalls we often fall into when learning sequences of notes on the bass, whether they’re arpeggios (broken chords) or scales and modes, is that we often play long runs in sequence, despite that rarely corresponding to the kind of playing we actually end up doing in performance.
It’s really important to keep the context for your practising rooted in the kind of music you play or want to learn. There are certainly abstract learning paths that can be fun and inspiring, but as beginners, there’s so much more that is directly applicable. Refining the way we practise particular concepts or learn particular patterns can help deepen the connection between practising and performing.
Remember the old adage that ‘you are what you eat’? For musicians, you are what you practice. There’s no magical transformation that happens when you stop practising and start performing. If you want to be a versatile, nuanced performer, you need to practise in a nuanced and versatile way. And for bassists, the common focus on dexterity—gradually speeding up a metronome and thinking solely about how cleanly we can execute a given scale
