minutes of wrestling with a challenging exercise yourself, “What is the minimum amount of time One last thing I would like to add about practice
or concept not yet internalized is going to that I know I can devote to the bass consistently time is that it doesn’t have to be contiguous.
improve your playing more than an hour of each day?” You have to be very honest with For example, you might not have a single hour
playing the same favorite groove that you’ve yourself as you contemplate this. For some block that you can devote each day, but you
known for years. I’m sure that many of us would of us, the answer might be 30 minutes or might be able to find four individual 15 minute
love to be able to devote 8-10 uninterrupted an hour each day. For others, it might be 15 blocks, instead. All of your practice time counts
hours a day to practicing the bass, but that’s minutes, and that’s ok. 15 minutes a day of towards your daily goal, regardless of if it is
not feasible if we have any semblance of a life true, uninterrupted, challenging practice time broken up or not, so don’t worry about how it
of responsibilities outside of the shed. will indeed improve your playing significantly gets divided, unless it affects the effectiveness
over time. In fact, if you are practicing correctly, of your comprehension or progress.
When it comes to your musical development, there should be some level of improvement keep your after every practice session, even if it hasn’t Furthermore, you may find that it is more
expectations realistic. You want to set yourself manifested itself directly through your hands or mentally exhausting for you to try and practice
up for success when you practice, and one of into your playing on the gig yet. for longer uninterrupted periods of time,
your
goals
ambitious
and
the best ways to do that is to create minimum
and you don’t want to feel completely spent
practice time goals that are going to be relatively And by the way, you may ultimately find that after just working on a single concept. A lot
easy for you to reach on a consistent basis. trying to practice seven days a week is not the of players do better with breaks in between
This is as much a psychological benefit as it best strategy for you. Many players benefit from exercises. For me personally, I find that it helps
is musical, as the idea is based on reinforcing having an “off day” or two each week, in which me to divide up my practice time during the day
feelings of satisfaction, accomplishment, and they take a short break from the bass and give between the different topics or subjects that I
positivity associated with having met your the mental challenges and physical challenges am working on. The variety makes the process
practice time goal, day after day. However, time to be absorbed and synchronized more, more enjoyable and I find I look forward more
you’ll notice I referred to them as “minimum” subconsciously. I know some players that to my practice time as a whole. In an upcoming
practice time goals. This leaves the door wide practice every other day, which parallels a article, I will address some of the specifics of
open for you to practice even longer. weight trainer’s approach to allowing a day what to practice and how to divide your time.
of rest following the targeting of a particular Until then, I hope these concepts will help make
If you have the time and energy available, these muscle group. Once again, your results may your practice time even more fruitful! Until next
“bonus time” practice periods bring about vary, so be realistic based on your available time-
even greater feelings of accomplishment and time and attention span before diving in. Also, success in knowing you went beyond your daily you can always make adjustments to your requirement. However, your first job is to meet practice routine after trying it out for awhile, so your minimum daily requirement, and that’s don’t feel like you have to lock in to your plan what our consistency goals are all about. immediately before evaluating how effective it
is going to be.
When setting up time goals like these, first ask
February 2020
Adam Nitti
Nashville-based Adam Nitti balances his roles as a
solo artist, sideman, and educator. He has filled the
bass chair for Kenny Loggins, Carrie Underwood,
Dave Weckl Band, Michael McDonald, Susan
Tedeschi, Steven Curtis Chapman, Mike Stern, Brent
Mason, Wayne Krantz, and Christopher Cross, while
also releasing five solo CDs to date. As a Nashville
session bassist he has played on multiple Grammy-
winning and Grammy-nominated albums, and is
also the founder of...
AdamNittiMusicEducation.com
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