« previous               next »

Even the most die-hard musicians will admit that the thought of maintaining a daily practice schedule can be dreadful. Hey, we're only human. We need variety and change to keep our minds focused and our hearts creative. (I love cherry cheesecake, but if I ate it every day, I'd puke.) So what's the answer, you ask? Hold on, I'm thinking…change your rehearsal environment.

Learning new things can never be boring. But sitting in front of the same music stand, in the same chair, looking at the same picture on the wall, with the same lava lamp next to you…that can get pretty mundane.

The concept of frequently changing my surroundings came to me when I was 12 years old, long before I touched a bass. At that time I was a comic-book collector, and I had dreams of becoming a comic-book artist. For hours on end, I would create new superheroes and write stories about their adventures. Then one day I was sitting with my sketchbook on my lamp, and every time I tried to concentrate on creating a new adventure, I became distracted. Soon my distraction turned to frustration, and I began to systematically chew off every pencil eraser I could find. (Yeah, like you never did that!) At first I thought I was burned out on drawing, but in my heart I knew I really wanted to keep doing it. Then it dawned on me: I wasn't burned out on drawing; I was burned out on my room!

Armed with this revelation, I gathered my art materials together and went to a nearby creek. BOOM! Images exploded from my pencil and flooded onto the paper. I felt fresh and creative, and on that day I drew a new superhero who ended up being a weekly feature in my school paper.

After that, I began altering my creative environment often. My bedroom became an ever-shifting space, and I took frequent field trips to a variety of locations. Not only did this keep my creative juices flowing, but it kept my life from falling into a routine.

When I began to play bass, I continued to experiment with my creative environment. Sometimes I would practice in my family's back yard, in the bathroom, at the neighborhood, etc. When I was a student at BIT, you could find me playing in the halls, on the stairwell, in the main hall, and even once in a practice lab!

Recently, I applied this concept to a band I had joined. The group, Peace Museum, had been rehearsing in the same room for several years, without changing it around at all. Although this environment was new to me, the rest of the band was definitely tired of it. So we changed everything. Couches, carpets, amps, and even a stack of antique beer cans were shuffled around like a game of Three-Card Monty. When the dust had settled (cough) the room was new again. The creative effect on the band was amazing-although they still won't work my 20-minute bass solo into the set.

Take a minute and think about the place where you practice. Ask yourself, "When was the last time I moved the furniture?" Or better yet, "When was the last time I practiced somewhere else?" If your rehearsal environment has remained the same for a long time, do something! In fact, the next time you're under pressure to write some new material, or you have to learn a bunch of tunes quickly, take an hour and rearrange your room space first. I think you'll find it really helps.

All of this might seem odd, because it doesn't deal directly with the relationship between you and your bass. Or does it? Consider this: If you and your dream mate always made love on a mattress in the basement of a 7-Eleven, would that have an effect on your relationship?

I hope you can't answer that from experience…