Hey Chris,
Thanks for all that, very kind of you. You're not being too nosy, we're in here to talk music and gear, but these are loaded questions so excuse the long post...
Our individual voices are the sum of all our musical experiences. For me this included a piano teacher mom, a symphonic and jazz bass playing dad, and an older brother who played guitar, organ, flute and bass. I was exposed to a ton of different music as a kid. On top of all that I studied piano first and then took clarinet lessons all through high school. This experience of playing a melody instrument definitely comes through in my bass playing - particularly in my odd solo style.
For the clarinet there is a book of exercises by Klose (if I remember correctly) which is pages and pages of intervals written out in 16th note patterns. Sitting down to play through these seemed like absolute torture and unrelated to music in any way until I realized the point - this is eye-to-brain-to-finger muscle training which results in being able to see an interval in a piece of music and play it without thinking. Ah-ha! Practicing explained! These method books are used for every classical instrument. Of course that system of music starts with reading what is on the sheet music so the first step of that training is not as applicable to our pop / rock / jazz world.
Even though music reading may not be as essential to those of us outside the classical environment we still need to put in the time on our instruments to train our fingers to do what we wish automatically. All musicians could probably be diagnosed with some degree of obsessive-compulsive disorder. You mean you try to play that riff, you fail, and then you keep trying over and over again for hours? But this is the only way to make a smooth connection between your brain and your hands. I have a close friend, one of the greatest guitar players I know, who is likely to answer the door at 9am in a bathrobe AND his guitar. The reason he is so great is that he just never puts it down...
Here's the twist on this obsessiveness... Because our side of music is mostly created in our heads as opposed to read off the page, we are the SOURCE of the music and we have to practice creating it. Scales and arpeggios are part of training our fingers but if that was all you ever practiced then that is all you will ever play! So, if not method books, then what? Well, practicing for me has always been to play along with records. My theory was that if I picked good music the groove would be there (a lot more fun than a metronome) and it would remain interesting because of the variety. I also move back and forth between trying to lock into the groove and just soloing freely over the top of whatever record I happen to be playing. Seems pretty silly, not much of a modus operandi, but I was also obsessed enough to do this A LOT when I was younger. Many hours, day and night, of racket coming from my room. (Thanks to my musically supportive family!)
I still try to play everyday to keep things functioning. It never ends, even after 40 years (good Lord!!) there are always new things to find on the fingerboard. OK, it helps to be a bit crazy!
Cheers to all!
Jimmy J
