my routine is in shambles. sorta. the practice routine that i've kept for the past, uh... many years... has more or less fallen apart. i really liked the routine, in that it was structured, i kept a journal and was able to keep track of what i was working on over the course of weeks or months, and it became a lifestyle. i always had something to work on which made practice easy to get into. but, in the past several months it has completely fallen by the wayside. practice seems more option than it once did. i know longer feel bad about skipping a session(s) and don't look forward to them as i once did. i remember days when if i knew i wasn't going to be able to put any time in i'd beat myself up over it as if everthung was now ruined. it never was. maybe (probably) at some point i'll get back to a more consistent and structured practice schedule.
lately i've been focusing my practice in other ways that i can do away from my instrument. as i described in my last post, my ear has become my focus. scrapping my old routine wasn't a byproduct but rather intentional. i realized that how i had been practicing for so long had really handicapped my ears. i had been relying too much on patterns, fingerings, rhythms, etc., all things that cut my ear out of the process... to my detriment.
when i'd go to figure out a song, or a phrase, or whatever, i'd have my instrument in my hands and would go straight to poking around looking for the notes with slightly more logic than hunt-and-peck. i was busy thinking about what key is this? what position should my hand be in? if this doesn't fit into my narrow diatonic logic i'll make it fit. etc. all things that completely exclude the ear. i was busy trying to sus out and logically deduce what was being played rather than just listening to what was being played. the best way i've found to focus on listening is to cut out the instrument. that will affect my playing down the road but that's a problem for future me.
these days i'll be working on my ear likely the same amount of time as i spent practicing my instrument but spread out over the entire day, which arguably is better practice. 20 or so minutes in the morning while driving to work, another 20 or 30 minutes in total spread out over the work day, and then maybe another 10 minutes or so while driving home. spreading it out over the whole day makes sure that it's always fresh and always being worked.
at some point i'll miss the routine of playing bass daily and when i get back into that lifestyle my ear will be front and center. at that point i'll have to learn to let it lead the way instead of my hands and that's another exciting step along the way that i look forward to.
