Finding Time to Practice

Practice makes perfect was a phrase I grew up hearing a lot of.  I started off my musical journey in front of a piano for hours a day which was later scaled back to accommodate practicing trombone. When I started playing bass during my senior year of high school I had to find a way to practice bass that did not bother my parents.  While they were very supportive of the piano and trombone they were adamantly opposed to my playing bass.  If they could hear it they insisted I stop playing.  They even went as far as to prohibit me from storing my equipment at home and it had to stay at a friend's house.

The bass fit under my bed so I was able to hide it there out of sight and out of mind.  At the time, and through my first couple of semesters of college I worked at Pizza Hut and, worked a lot of irregular hours.  As a result I was not always able to practice during the day when my parents were away at work.  I would come home from work at 2 or 3 am and sit on the floor in my bedroom with my back against the bed and my bass resting in my lap.  I would play by laying my left ear against the horn of the bass so as to be able to hear myself without disturbing anyone else in the house.

Fast forward many years and I have a wife, a son, and a mortgage.  I have a basement where I can practice pretty much whenever I want and my wife is extraordinarily tolerant of my musical pursuits.  She even allows the band to rehearse here.  Still, to this day, I am conscious of the fact that not everyone appreciates what I play and I use headphones to practice so as not to to disturb anyone.  One of my favorite silent practice methods is to plug into my Focusrite Scarlett Solo USB Audio Interface which allows me to practice along with tracks from my laptop.  

When I am just jamming or fiddling around I find that I really like using my Zoom B3n Bass Multi-effects Processor especially if I am trying to write in a new style.  I find that all the various effects inspire me to try new things or new approaches to writing.  The Zoom B3n has a 1/4" stereo output headphone jack that works perfectly for private practice. It even has an 1/8" input jack that I can connect to the headphone output of my laptop if I do not have my interface with me when traveling.