11 REALLY Useful Bass Practice Ideas

In this bass lesson, I'm going to give you some ideas to spark creativity in your next practice sessions. Let's rid ourselves of boring, aimless, frustrating bass practice!

You'll learn:

• Tip #1: Use a drone
• Tip #2: Use effects
• Tip #3: Add some rhythm
• Tip #4: Tomplay software
• Tip #5: Play to a drum loop
• Tip #6: Use a metronome to lock in your timing
• Tip #7: Play to a backing track
• Tip #8: Have a reason for whatever you practice (fills exercise)
• Tip #9: Learn a difficult bass line
• Tip #10: Scour songs for cool bass moments
• Tip #11: Improvise with a new pattern
• Bonus: Consistency is key to improvement

Bass Guitar Practice Resources

In the lesson, I show you a fiendishly brutal prog riff - Paganini, Lloyd Webber: Variation 7. Here's the TAB for you to have a go. Remember that you can play the notes in different positions, so watch the lesson and see what suits you best.

I mentioned the drones, and you can download all of them here and learn more about how to use them:

• Practice Drones

Here's where you can download and watch the I Will Survive lesson:

• The Most Useful Bass Song To Learn EVER? (Arpeggios/modes/chords/improvising etc.)

I mentioned Tomplay, a great backing track software I used a few times in the past. You can mute the bass, generate TAB/notation and play along. It's really fun. Here's me playing Rio by Duran Duran, and this is my affiliate link if you're interested in trying it.

And here are the other related lessons:

• 7 Metronome Exercises For Bass Guitar To Work On Your Timing And Groove

I have hundreds of free lessons on this site and my YouTube channel. If you're looking for more structure, however, you might want to consider my premium courses. You receive lifetime access for a one-time (or split payment) fee:

Related Bass Guitar Practice Lessons