How to Create a 30-Minute Bass Practice Routine That Works

It’s every musician’s dilemma: Getting better at our craft requires consistent practice, yet finding time for consistent practice can feel like an impossible task, especially in today’s distraction-filled landscape. But what if you could build a 30-minute bass practice routine that’s productive, fun and sustainable?

The right half-hour practice session for you depends on what you need at this point in your musical life. If you’re preparing for an audition or getting ready to go on tour, for example, you’ll probably want to focus on learning specific songs or playing techniques. If there’s a particular skill you’d like to work on, such as walking bass, reading, soloing, or improving your groove, you should spend most of your practice time on it. If you’re looking to upgrade all your skills, you might be best served by taking an approach that hits several targets.

30-MINUTE PRACTICE TEMPLATES

A general practice template keeps the hands and ears firing on all cylinders. Divvying up your priorities might look like this:

• 5 minutes: Groove and warm up with arpeggios, scales or modes
• 5 minutes: Work on a new area (technique, scale, reading, keeping steady time, etc.)
• 5 minutes: Do an ear training exercise
• 10 minutes: Learn a song or riff
• 5 minutes: Play for fun and review

If that feels too fragmented, try working on a specific technique — say, using a pick — for the entire half-hour session, like this:

• 5 minutes: Use a pick to warm up with arpeggios, scales or modes
• 10 minutes: Practice string-crossing with a pick
• 10 minutes: Play through a complete song with a pick
• 5 minutes: Jam with a drum loop

If you’re trying to get a setlist under your fingers, spending this kind of quality time with each song will definitely pay off:

• 5 minutes: Groove and warm up
• 5 minutes: Play along with a song and note the trouble areas
• 10 minutes: Slow the song down and focus on the tough spots
• 5 minutes: Play through the song at a slow tempo
• 5 minutes: Play through the song at normal tempo

We usually think of practicing in terms of technique, but you can also use a 30-minute time slot to learn more about your gear. For example, if you’re playing a bass with dual pickups, such as the Yamaha BBP35 5-string (one of my main axes), try this:

• 5 minutes: Groove and warm up with both pickups all the way open
• 5 minutes: Solo the front pickup and turn the tone knob to different positions while moving your picking hand around the neck
• 5 minutes: Solo the back pickup and turn the tone knob to different positions while moving your picking hand around the neck
• 5 minutes: Play with a pick, dial in the tone knob, and blend the pickups to taste
• 5 minutes: Slap, dial in the tone knob, and blend the pickups to taste
• 5 minutes: Try to match the bass tonality on one of your favorite songs by using the tone knob and blending the pickups

When you’ve decided which routine works best for you, get out your timer, complete each task in the list, and then move to the next one. No matter what your current priorities are, if you set goals, show up, explore multiple aspects of musicianship, challenge yourself, have fun, and keep track of your progress, you will definitely grow as a bass player.

SET SPECIFIC GOALS

There are always new things to learn, but making a short and well-defined list of current priorities helps narrow things down. If you’re practicing for a specific gig, you’ll know pretty much what it is you have to do; if you’re just trying to maintain your chops and get better, you have many more options. Ask yourself what’s most important and plan your practice sessions accordingly. As the old saying goes, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

SHOW UP

As musicians, we know how to think on our feet, but improvising your practice time won’t give you the best results. Like an athlete scheduling a morning workout, put your practice routine on your calendar and consider starting the day with it. Find a place where you won’t be disturbed and make sure your instruments and accessories (practice amp, headphones, sheet music, etc.) are ready so that you don’t spend the first five minutes of your 30-minute block getting set up.

WORK TO IMPROVE MULTIPLE ASPECTS OF MUSICIANSHIP

A good warmup will help you settle into the practice mindset. Playing something basic and straightforward to start — two-octave scales up and down the fretboard with a metronome or drum loop, for example — will open your ears and stretch your hands. But after the initial warmup, lean into the things you want to practice. If you’re working on a specific technique, put it in context by playing it in a song, and if you are focusing on a song, be present to all the ways it can improve your ears, your understanding of tone, your knowledge of the fretboard, your timekeeping skills, and your fretting-hand dexterity.

CHALLENGE YOURSELF

It’s easy to stay in your comfort zone; it feels good to play something you’ve already mastered. But in your 30-minute practice session, push yourself to go for something new: Take that familiar scale and try a different fingering, or play it on a different part of the bass, or at a faster tempo. Learn a bass line that intimidates you. Try a new approach to soloing. Your time is precious, so go for a breakthrough.

BUILD IN TIME TO PLAY

The last few minutes of a 30-minute routine are where you can have fun! Take the concept, technique or song you’ve learned, and jam on it. Integrate the new idea with things you already know. Unlike longer rehearsal periods, a focused 30-minute block shouldn’t include breaks, so this is your time to blow off steam and explore before you wrap up your practice session.

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR PROGRESS

Keeping track of your routines in a practice journal may seem like an unnecessary extra step, but being able to look back and see/hear your progress is actually quite helpful. (Recording yourself is always quite revealing, too.) Write down (or type in) what you’re practicing and make note of metronome tempos as you get faster to get a sense of your progress in real time. My favorite journal is the Musician’s Practice Planner, but there are many other printed options, as well as practice apps.

Thirty minutes isn’t a lot of time. It’s shorter than a movie, most workouts, and many commutes. But half an hour of organized bass practice a few times a week can pay serious dividends, and it’s just short enough to be sustainable. As a recently circulating meme put it, “The best practice routine is the one you’re still doing three months from now.”

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