Focused Practicing
Jim Stinett was among many things, a professor at Berklee College of Music where he inspired and influenced many exceptional musicians including Charles Berthoud, Victor Wooten, and Steve Bailey.
In this short video, he talks about being focused when you practice. Having 2 or 3 things to work on, and knowing what you practiced yesterday, and what you’ll practice today and tomorrow!
Time Managment
In this video, Jim Stinett talks about time management and being proactive.
-Manage your activities
– We cannot control time, but we can control our actions
– Become proactive and feel success
– Success is a planned activity
How to Master any Instrument
Charles Berthoud is hands down one of the most technically proficient bass players today.
In this video, he talks about his seven steps to mastering any instrument. There are of course many ways to approach learning an instrument, but he is definitely someone I would listen to when it comes to the subject. His advice is priceless…take notes!
Looking for something to practice?
- Give this a try.
- Choose one idea from each column below, until you are challenged…now you have something to practice!
- Or maybe turn it into a lesson in Muzento so you can keep coming back to it and monitor your progress! 😉
| Notes | Progression | Practice Rhythms (see below) | Technique |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major Triad | Circle of 4ths (All Keys) | Quarters and Halfs | Fingers |
| Minor Triad | Up 1/2 steps (All Keys) | 8ths and Quarters | Pick |
| Triads of Major Scale | Down 1/2 Steps (All Keys) | 16ths and 8ths | Slap |
| Up Whole Steps (All Keys) | Quintuplets | Pluck | |
| Maj7 Arpeggio | Down Whole Steps (All Keys) | Sextuplets | Slap/Pluck |
| Min7 Arpeggio | Up Minor 3rds | Double Thumb | |
| Dom7 Arpeggio | Down Minor 3rds | Tapping | |
| Half Diminished Arpeggio | Autumn Leaves | ||
| 7th Arpeggios of Major Scale | All The Things You Are | ||
| Blue Bossa | |||
| Major Scale | So What | ||
| Minor Scale – Harmonic | |||
| Minor Scale – Melodic | |||
| Major Pentatonic | |||
| Minor Pentatonic | |||
| Minor6 Pentatonic | |||
| Dom7 Pentatonic | |||
| Major Blues | |||
| Minor Blues | |||
| Chromatic | ` | ||
| Diminished |
Practice Rhythms
Use these rhythms to practice triads. Once you’re comfortable, try combining them to practice scales and arpeggios (4 notes or more).
Notice that the rhythm in each bar is the same as the bar below and/or above. It just depends on how you want to count and feel it.