How Do You Know What to Practice?

It's less complicated than you might think...

I strongly believe there should be a few things on the to-do list of all bass players and musicians that are obligatory:

• Time

• Sound

• more time and sound

Time is so much a part of someone’s sound.

I’m in the middle of a little west coast tour with Mike Stern, and I think he’s a perfect example of someone you can identify after hearing just a note or two. When you hear him bend a string with a bunch of delay, literally just a single note, you instantly know it’s him.

When you hear him improvise or play a melody it’s also an instant connection to him as a unique voice rather than just hearing another guitar player.

I have always tried to write music for specific musicians, and knowing players like Mike is one of the most important tools I possess as a composer. I wish I knew who told me this was the way to go when I was in my teens so I could credit them for it now, but sadly my memory is not what it used to be.

These are examples in my little world of being a jazz musician and the way I write for my recordings, but it’s not difficult to open the flood gates of references when it comes to all walks of music.

Listen to Heifetz playing the Chaconne by Bach:

Now listen to one of my favorite modern players Hilary Hahn play the same piece

I love using classical music as an example of the importance of time and sound because you remove a characteristic of jazz and improvisation which is note choice. Heifetz and Hahn are playin the same notes, but in just the first few seconds of each performance you can hear huge differences in the approach to phrasing, tone production, and overall interpretation of the composition.

I also think that it’s important to recognize the incredible range we have on our instruments using only the most rudimentary approaches to sound. Before you have 25 different instruments in your collection, or hundreds of pedals (yes I know I’m guilty of both), there is a lifetime’s worth of work just to get the most out of the instrument itself.

I love this clip of Jeff Beck casually showing how, with a Fender Strat and an amp, he can sound like Joe Pass one minute, and Hendrix the next.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think he only used to use the amp for overdrive and reverb. Maybe an A/B switcher to go between clean and overdriven on the amp? But as far as I’m aware, he was always very minimal with gear and got all the sound out of the guitar and the fingers.

That is hugely inspirational to me and helps answer the question posed in the title of this post: How Do You Know What to Practice?

There is an almost limitless amount of work we can all be doing right now on the most basic elements of our instrument involving time and sound.

Although there may be some complex sounding harmonic or melodic approaches to what I’m playing in this video, the overall concept is to produce the most beautiful sound with the best time possible.

Sometimes I succeed. Sometimes I fail miserably. But the curiosity and love for the process is always there.

The adjustment over the years of the intent with which I practice, to make sure the most important elements of music are in my orbit on a daily basis, is what informs me the most about what it is I need to practice every day.

I wish you good time and sound over everything.

More soon,

Janek