For those lazy folks who don’t like to read, Click on the audio below.

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Ugh!  I hate to practice!

That’s what I use to say, but when I realized the greats like Parker and Coltrane practiced their ass off, I had to make a decision whether I would take it seriously or not.

There is no such thing as God given talent! I’m going say that again. There is no such thing as God given talent! If your religious than I’m sorry if I have offended you. But there are only several instances where God gave grown adults gifts in the Old Testament.

It only happens to about .00001% of our entire world population that an individual is bestowed with so called “God given talent.” Michael Jackson, Mozart, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Stevie Wonder, and Charlie Parker all had to work their butts off to achieve their level of talent.

With that said let me show you all the basic steps for proper rehearsal.

1. Find a place where there are zero distractions. No texts, phone calls, Facebook, Twitter, emails, or annoying neighbors.
2. Find a time where it’s convenient and consistent. Maybe before work, school or before bed time can be an ideal time to practice.
3. Visualize the music in your head before you play a single note. Studies say 10-15 minutes of visualization can equal to about an hour of practice.
4. Gather all proper tools for practice: metronome, recorder, timer, sheet music, and your bass of course.
5. Focus on 2-3 practice objectives max! Any more than 3 things can be overwhelming, if you can focus one thing than that would be best.
6. Take it one chunk at a time. Break every exercise, riff, or groove in chunks and focus on that  chunk only. Move forward to the next chunk once you have mastered it. When you’ve mastered every chunk, then you can tackle the whole piece.
7. Stir that motivation by watching or listening to your favorite bass players. Zig Ziglar states,
   

   “Motivation is like bathing, it doesn’t last very long.”

These are just the basics for your own personal practice time. I’ve written a book that is more in depth and covers everything you need to know about practicing. It’s called the “14 Commandments of Music Practice” get a free sample by clicking on this link.

Before we leave here’s another groove to get you exciting.

Funky Socks Groove

Here’s a cool little ditty that I cooked up. Click on the audio to hear the example and follow the tab. It may look tough on the tab, but it really isn’t. Provided is also the beat, which you can also download. Have fun.

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