The Woodshed!!!

Today on @yamahamusicusa #silentbass and @laklandbasses Friday, we talk "The Woodshed". Now, I have talk at length about the Shed. How to structure and plan your practice to fit your lifestyle and schedule. We talked about fundamentals, challenges, etc.. Today, I want to talk more "approach". Practice generally yields two things. Learning new stuff (e.g. tunes, techniques, gear, etc.) and giving you a new or better thought process. That is, allowing you to handle playing situations (especially new and/or challenging ones) in a thoughtful,  purposeful and low(er) stress manner. This is so important IMO, the most overlooked and yields such amazing results. I have taught this approach to countless students and have seen amazing results. Ok, as always, how? The procedure here is more of a mindset. You need to OBSESS over everything you do. Know every note, every harmonic function, what each note sounds like against the harmony. How each note, each chord, each section of a given piece or exercise fits together. Know the reason for every movement you make, both physically and mentally. Strive to know EVERY possible alternative to everything. Make sure everything is organized and thoughtful. Why? Because when ur in the "heat of battle" you will have a thought process to be creative, accurate and confident. U dig? Tedious? Yes! Difficult? Absolutely! Time consuming and far reaching? Of course! Worth it? Definitely! It is, IMO, the most valuable tool in your practice regimen. Understand, you can use this approach on music fundamentals as well as a given tune ur working on. Remember, it is a process not a drill or exercise to me memorized. It will change and improve over time. As always, I invite your insights.  #yamahamusicusa #makewaves #pirastro #glasserny #laklandbasses #sitstrings #tsunamicables #philjonesbass #basslessons #remotelessons