Hi, it's Geoff Chalmers here from DiscoverDoubleBass.com.
That's the home of free video double bass lessons.
So if you are working your double bass playing, please go and visit that lessons library to
find more.
Now, today's video is a tip for your practice routine that I think will make an enormous
difference and it's applicable no matter what the instrument you play.
Now, I got this idea from a book by an author called Gary Keller and the book is called
"The ONE Thing".
Now essentially, he suggests that when we are learning something new or working on a
new task that there are things that we should be doing that are higher value than others.
Essentially, there's one thing that will have the biggest impact.
So before you start your practice routine, I'd like you to answer this question.
What's the one thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else becomes easier or
unnecessary?
So as musicians looking at our practice routine, what that really means is what's the one thing
I can practice that will have an impact on everything else that I'm doing and potentially
mean that I don't have to work on those things or that when I come to work on them, it will
be easier for me to do so.
Now, let me give you some concrete examples.
It could be that you're at the stage where you're struggling knowing the notes of your
instrument.
We've all been there, we've all have to get across that hump.
You've got to learn where the notes are located.
Now, if you are at that stage, it will be holding back every other aspect of your playing.
It will even be having an impact on things that you don't realize, such as your phrasing,
your rhythmic execution, because all of your mental wham, your head space, will be focused
on thinking where's the note, how does that line up.
It might be that your sight-reading is poor.
Maybe you're looking at page and you're humming to think that letter name is this and then
you're putting these barriers in between you and what the music that you're trying to execute.
Now, if you can get past these, it will help everything else because you'll be more freer
to interact with the other musicians and basically play more musically rather than thinking all
the time.
Another good example would be that perhaps you're struggling with learning your chords.
If you're a jazz musician who's improvising and you don't know your arpeggios, your chord
tones, then you'll be struggling with your walking bass lines, with your improvising,
with your solos, it will be holding you back and stopping you making the progress that
you should be.
So by addressing that, it will mean that everything else becomes easier, your solos, your phrasing,
because you won't be caught up in this mental battle of trying to work out what all the
note names or the chords are then applying them on the bass or whatever instrument you
play.
You need to be able to react instinctively in music and play emotionally and musically,
not to be thinking too much about what you're doing all the time.
So what you should be asking yourself is what's the one thing that will make a difference
in your playing and that you can work on and by doing so will make everything else easier.
Not everything that we practiced is the same value.
You should be going for the highest value thing that will have a domino effect and really
help you to make the most improvements in the shortest period of time.
And I suggest that you probably know what that thing is already.
If you're struggling with your tuning, that's holding you back.
If you don't know your arpeggios and your improvising, that's holding you back.
So focus in on what it is and if you need a little bit more of an example as to why
you should be doing this, reflect back on your playing so far.
If you say to yourself, "What have I've been doing that made the biggest difference in
my playing?"
I mean for me, it was learning arpeggios.
I had a great teacher, Zoltan Dekany, who showed me how to move around the bass and
to learn all of my essential harmony all over the instrument which meant that I could play
through new and unfamiliar jazz music really comfortably.
And that's an example of a time when I was working on the one thing and I'm sure that
you will have examples of your own that you can relate to.
So get yourself a teacher or just examine yourself.
Ask yourself the question, what's holding you back at the minute and what's the highest
value, what's the one thing that you should be practicing on?
Well, I really hope that's helped.
It just a bit of a different type of lesson.
Usually, I'm in here doing double bass lessons and if you're a double bass player, please
go and check out the lessons library over at DiscoverDoubleBass.com.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.