{"id":45431,"date":"2019-05-09T16:00:40","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T16:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/?p=45431\/"},"modified":"2024-05-10T10:13:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T10:13:57","slug":"3-lessons-on-better-practice-from-the-worlds-top-bassists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/3-lessons-on-better-practice-from-the-worlds-top-bassists\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Lessons on Music Practice From The World&#8217;s Top Bassists"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"postLeadIn\">Have you found yourself losing enthusiasm for music practice? It might sound surprising, but whatever instrument you play, it\u2019s possible that the musical role played by <em>bassists<\/em> actually gives them a unique insight into how to keep practice interesting and effective&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>In this episode we&#8217;re going to share three big lessons from three of the world\u2019s top bass educators. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Watch to the episode:<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ix6m_3v6HCo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class='mu_podcast_embed'><iframe style='border: none' src='\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/9714758\/height\/90\/width\/640\/theme\/custom\/autonext\/no\/thumbnail\/yes\/autoplay\/no\/preload\/no\/no_addthis\/no\/direction\/backward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/59638c\/' height='90' width='640' scrolling='no'  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class='podcast_subscribe_buttons'><p class='subscribe_cta'>Subscribe For Future Episodes!<\/p>\n    <div class='buttons'><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeitunes' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"apple\");'><i class='fa fa-apple' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Apple Podcasts<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeandroid' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"android\");'><i class='fa fa-android' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Android<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeyoutube' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"youtube\");'><i class='fa fa-youtube' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> YouTube<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribegplay' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"gplay\");'><i class='fa fa-google' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Google Play<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribestitcher' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"stitcher\");'><img src='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/wp-content\/themes\/Divi-MU\/img\/Stitcher-icon.png' alt='Stitcher' class='podcast_icon'>Stitcher<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscriberss' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"rss\");'><i class='fa fa-rss' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> RSS<\/a><\/div>\n    <p class='review_cta'>Enjoying the show? Please consider <a href='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/podcast-review\/' target='_blank' onclick='logPodReview();'>rating and reviewing it!<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/div>\n<h2>Links and Resources<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"shownotes_links\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/scottsbasslessons.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scott\u2019s Bass Lessons<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/the-roots-of-greatness-with-scott-devine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Roots of Greatness, with Scott Devine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCnkp4xDOwqqJD7sSM3xdUiQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adam Neely on YouTube<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/the-power-of-curiosity-with-adam-neely\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Power of Curiosity, with Adam Neely<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stevelawson.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steve Lawson\u2019s Website<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/why-youre-not-making-progress-instrument-fix-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">About Interleaved Practice<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/forget-being-realistic-do-this-instead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forget Being Realistic \u2013 Do This Instead<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/hey-where-are-you-going\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hey! Where are you going?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/how-to-improve-and-enjoy-your-musical-life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How to Improve AND Enjoy Your Musical Life<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/deliberate-practice-music\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">About Deliberate Practice in Music<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/creativity-is-the-vehicle-not-the-destination\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Creativity Is The Vehicle, Not the Destination<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class='podcast_review_cta'><p class='review_cta'>Enjoying Musicality Now? Please support the show by rating and reviewing it!<\/p>\n    <p class='review_button'><a class='cta_button' href='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/podcast-review\/' target='_blank' onclick='logPodReview();'>Rate and Review!<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/div><!-- MU Podcast Schema -->\n<div class='mu_podcast_schema' itemscope itemtype='https:\/\/schema.org\/PodcastEpisode'>\n <div style='display:none;'>\n  <a itemprop='url' href='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/learn\/3-lessons-on-better-practice-from-the-worlds-top-bassists\/'>\n       <span itemprop='name'>3 Lessons on Music Practice From The World&#8217;s Top Bassists<\/span>\n  <\/a>\n  <div itemprop='datePublished' datetime= '2019-05-09T16:00:40+00:00'>2019-05-09T16:00:40+00:00<\/div>\n  <div itemprop='description'>3 lessons from The World's top bass instructors to arm you w\/the practice skills to become a musical super human! Listen and learn how fun practice can be!<\/div>\n    <div itemprop='associatedMedia' itemscope itemtype='https:\/\/schema.org\/MediaObject'>\n      <div itemprop='image' href= 'https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Musicality-Now-3-Lessons-on-Better-Practice-From-The-Worlds-Top-Bassists.png'>https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Musicality-Now-3-Lessons-on-Better-Practice-From-The-Worlds-Top-Bassists.png<\/div>\n   <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<h2>Transcript<\/h2><div class='mu_podcast_transcript'>\n        <div id='mu_podcast_transcript-link-45431' aria-expanded='false' class='sh_link sh_hide'><a class='cta_button mu_podcast_transcript_showhide_link' href='#' onclick=\"showhide_toggle('mu_podcast_transcript',45431,'Show Transcript','Hide Transcript');return false;\"><span id='mu_podcast_transcript-toggle-45431'>Show Transcript<\/span><\/a><\/div><div id='mu_podcast_transcript-content-45431' class='sh-content sh-hide' style='display:none;'>\n        <div itemprop='audio' itemscope itemtype='https:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject'>\n          <div itemprop='transcript'>\n           \n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Hi, my name\u2019s Christopher, I\u2019m the founder and Director of Musical U, and this is Musicality Now.<\/p>\n<p>Recently I sat down with Scott Devine, founder of Scott\u2019s Bass Lessons, the biggest bass education website by far, to interview him for the show. And if you missed that episode, go back and listen now because there were a ton of valuable lessons in there.<\/p>\n<p>But there was one lesson that really stuck out to me, on the subject of music practice. And as I thought about it after the interview I was reminded of two other impactful lessons about music practice that have come up for me in the last few years. And I realised that both of those came from bass players too!<\/p>\n<p>Just a coincidence? Maybe. But as you\u2019ll hear when I share these lessons, it\u2019s also possible that the strict and formulaic role the bassist often plays actually leads bassists to be more exploratory and innovative in the way they practice.<\/p>\n<p>To put it bluntly: if the thing they\u2019re practicing isn\u2019t interesting, they end up finding ways to make it interesting. And this isn\u2019t exclusive to bassists &#8211; maybe they\u2019re just an extreme case of what we all experience as musicians.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>So here\u2019s the first lesson, from Scott Devine. We were talking about what sets the great bassists of the world apart from the hobbyists and even the \u201cgood\u201d professional-level players.<\/p>\n<p>And he said it seems to boil down to the way they practice.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, that they have an intense focus and determination. But what\u2019s fascinating &#8211; and encouraging for all of us as musicians &#8211; is that he said this isn\u2019t about some brutal, grueling process they force themselves through.<\/p>\n<p>That focus and determination actually comes from a child-like curiosity and enthusiasm.<\/p>\n<p>Have you ever had that experience where you discover something new in your musical life that just grabs you. Maybe a new artist, a particular song, a new style of music or technique on your instrument. And you\u2019re so intrigued and excited about it, you go deep. You cast aside all the things you\u2019re \u201cmeant\u201d to be practicing, you somehow carve out lots of extra little bits of music practice time here and there because you just can\u2019t help yourself.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about here. It\u2019s like instead of having to push yourself forwards step by step you\u2019re insted being <em>pulled<\/em>&nbsp;forwards effortlessly by the thing you\u2019re excited about.<\/p>\n<p>That can happen with something small &#8211; like I said, a particular piece of music or new technique &#8211; or it can happen with some fresh big-picture motivation like joining a new group, committing to a concert date, or defining a really inspiring \u201cbig picture vision\u201d. Check the shownotes for a link to a couple of past episodes on goal setting for more on that.<\/p>\n<p>So this is a big lesson: that the secret to becoming truly great &#8211; or even just to improving consistently over time &#8211; isn\u2019t about forcing yourself through a painful grind &#8211; it\u2019s about tapping into that childlike enthusiasm that means the work no longer feels like work at all.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>That leads on to lesson number two which came from Adam Neely, music theory YouTuber supreme and faculty member at the Scott\u2019s Bass Lessons Academy.<\/p>\n<p>In our interview one of the stand-out points was that when talking about how he practiced to get so good on bass Adam said he never held back from following his intellectual curiosity. Although he was spending hours practicing, even simple scale drills got transformed into continually-varied exercises. He felt no obligation to practice the same thing in exactly the same way again and again.<\/p>\n<p>Repetition is important for learning, but that doesn\u2019t mean that the overall practice has to be mind-numbingly same-y throughout. Normally you find that there\u2019s some independent part of what you\u2019re practicing that you can freely vary.<\/p>\n<p>For example if you\u2019re trying to nail the fingering for a scale then you do need to practice that fingering again and again &#8211; but the <em>way<\/em>&nbsp;you play the notes, such as the articulation or dynamics or rhythm &#8211; those can all be varied in infinite ways.<\/p>\n<p>This is an incredibly important idea for a couple of reasons.<\/p>\n<p>The first is that it helps keep your brain engaged. Particularly if you\u2019re an intellectual type of person whose brain is always churning away, it can be hard to force yourself to do mindless repetition &#8211; and you end up in that world of relying on pure self-discipline and the painful grind. By allowing yourself to find ways to explore and experiment as part of the exercises and drills you\u2019re able to keep your brain focused throughout, and that naturally leads to much more efficient learning.<\/p>\n<p>The second reason this is a big idea is what ties in with Scott\u2019s lesson about childlike curiosity: when you spice up your practice like this it\u2019s just going to be more <em>fun<\/em>! And if you\u2019re coming from the ultra-rational mindset that can seem like a wasteful indulgence &#8211; but in fact it both aids effective learning and helps you keep up your motivation over time. The importance of enjoying music practice should not be underestimated! In fact we dedicated a whole past episode to how you can improve <em>and<\/em>&nbsp;enjoy your music practice, I\u2019ll put a link to that in the shownotes.<\/p>\n<p>So that was the big lesson from Adam Neely: that mixing things up in your music practice can lead to more enjoyment and more improvement, not less.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>The third lesson was from our own Resident Pro for bass here at Musical U, Steve Lawson. Steve is a prolific and celebrated solo bassist whose work is almost exclusively improvised.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve had the benefit of taking a number of 1-on-1 private bass lessons with Steve and it\u2019s no exaggeration to say he flipped my idea of music practice completely on its head.<\/p>\n<p>I came from a world of scales and exercises and learning sheet music note-by-note growing up &#8211; and although I\u2019ve moved away from that into a more free and creative identity as a musician over the years, in large part through my own musicality training, I definitely still had that model in mind that music practice means sitting down for half an hour and running through a checklist of the things you were meant to do. And without those lessons from Scott and Adam we\u2019ve just talked about, there\u2019s a huge risk there that your enthusiasm is rapidly drained and your progress stalls.<\/p>\n<p>Now there\u2019s lots we could discuss about how to improve that traditional music practice session, like leveraging deliberate practice, interleaved practice, mixing things up like we just discussed, having a clear vision to inspire you, suitable support and guidance, and a ton more.<\/p>\n<p>But what I wanted to share here was the mindset shift Steve clued me in to, which is compatible with all that &#8211; but utterly transforms the experience.<\/p>\n<p>I would show up to my lessons with some particular technique or idea I was struggling with, and subconsciously expecting Steve to hand me a set of exercises and maybe a piece or two that I could go away and drill away on to master the thing.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, every time I would show up, Steve would listen to what I was coming in with. And then we\u2019d have fun playing music together for an hour!<\/p>\n<p>Somehow he immediately transformed whatever nugget I came in with into not a set of exercises, but an improvised composition of some kind that we could explore together. And he\u2019d send me away not with homework of doing twelve exercises ten times each &#8211; but with these interesting ideas for how to begin improvising in a particular direction or context &#8211; and normally a list of recommended listening to go away and enjoy too!<\/p>\n<p>And here\u2019s the thing: this wasn\u2019t a distraction from what I\u2019d come in wanting to learn. What we played together was always centered around the technique or the concept that I\u2019d wanted to improve on. And what Steve showed me was that wanting to improve at something doesn\u2019t need to mean sitting down and throwing yourself directly at that thing again and again in a dry, scientific way. In fact, it can mean sitting down and making some music, and featuring that thing in your creative music-making.<\/p>\n<p>Now this <em>idea<\/em>&nbsp;wasn\u2019t new to me. In fact you\u2019ll find past episodes of this show talking about including creativity at the core of your music practice and it\u2019s a big part of our teaching at Musical U. But my respect for Steve and our lessons together gave me a chance to really internalise and use this in a much deeper way than I had before.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll confess: this is all stuff I\u2019m still working on myself. I think I had too many years of the old approach, so over time I still trend back towards that brute-force disciplined approach and feeling guilty if I enjoy my music practice!<\/p>\n<p>But I try to keep these three lessons front and center and return to them often:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>From Scott: that the secret to greatness is tapping into that genuine child-like enthusiasm.<\/li>\n<li>From Adam: that there\u2019s always a way to make repetition feel less repetitive and keep it interesting.<\/li>\n<li>And from Steve: that music practice can and should mean music-<em>making<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Put together, these give a clear message that the most effective music practice is exciting, it\u2019s interesting and it\u2019s creative.<\/p>\n<p>So the next time you find yourself feeling less than enthusiastic about sitting down to practice, ask yourself which of these might be missing.<\/p>\n<p>Are you tapping into what genuinely excites you in music?<\/p>\n<p>Are you finding ways to vary your practice to keep your brain 100% engaged?<\/p>\n<p>And are you making sure that the notes you play during music practice are actually making music?<\/p>\n<p>Take on board these three lessons from some of the world\u2019s top bass instructors &#8211; and I think you\u2019ll find you have a lot more success and delight in your music practice.<\/p>\n<p>And the next time you see a bass player at the back of the band playing root notes &#8211; maybe give them a bit more credit. They just might know a thing or two about music practice that we could all do with learning&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class='podcast_subscribe_buttons'><p class='subscribe_cta'>Subscribe For Future Episodes!<\/p>\n    <div class='buttons'><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeitunes' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"apple\");'><i class='fa fa-apple' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Apple Podcasts<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeandroid' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"android\");'><i class='fa fa-android' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Android<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribeyoutube' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"youtube\");'><i class='fa fa-youtube' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> YouTube<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribegplay' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"gplay\");'><i class='fa fa-google' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> Google Play<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscribestitcher' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"stitcher\");'><img src='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/wp-content\/themes\/Divi-MU\/img\/Stitcher-icon.png' alt='Stitcher' class='podcast_icon'>Stitcher<\/a><span class='separator'> | <\/span><a href='http:\/\/musicalitynow.com\/subscriberss' target='_blank' class='label' onclick='logPodSubscribe(\"rss\");'><i class='fa fa-rss' aria-hidden='true'><\/i> RSS<\/a><\/div>\n    <p class='review_cta'>Enjoying the show? Please consider <a href='https:\/\/www.musical-u.com\/podcast-review\/' target='_blank' onclick='logPodReview();'>rating and reviewing it!<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n          <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<!-- \/MU Podcast Schema -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>3 lessons from The World&#8217;s top bass instructors to arm you w\/the practice skills to become a musical super human! Listen and learn how fun practice can be!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":45432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.136,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.6785,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.85,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.2,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.9,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.27,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.02,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.47,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,752,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-instruments","category-podcast","category-practice-music"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>3 Lessons on Music Practice From The World&#039;s Top Bassists - Musical U<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"3 lessons from The World&#039;s top bass instructors to arm you w\/the practice skills to become a musical super human! 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