Let me tell you something I learned the hard way during my years at the Curtis Institute of Music. Practice doesn't have to feel like punishment.
When I started out, I thought being a serious musician meant grinding through hours of scales and exercises every single day, no matter how bored or frustrated I got. I'd force myself through routines that felt mechanical and lifeless. Then I'd wonder why I struggled to stay motivated.
Here's what changed everything for me: I realized that the practice sessions where I made the best progress were the ones where I got so absorbed in the music that I forgot I was even practicing. The distinction between "practicing" and "playing" started to blur, and that's when real growth happened.
When Practice Starts to Feel Like a Chore
You know that feeling when you open your bass case with a sense of dread rather than excitement? That's a sign something needs to change. Too many players set up these rigid practice schedules that suck all the joy out of making music. They run through the same scales in the same order, work through exercises that feel disconnected from actual music, and then close the case feeling like they just finished a workout they didn't enjoy.
The cycle continues for a while. Then life gets busy. You skip a day. Then another. Before you know it, weeks have passed, and you feel guilty every time you walk past your double bass. This happens not because you lack discipline, but because your practice routine forgot about the most important part: the music itself.
Building From What Actually Moves You
I've learned from watching incredible players and working with great teachers like Edgar Meyer and Hal Robinson that the best practice always starts with real musical goals. According to Double Bass HQ, professional musicians structure their time around pieces they actually want to perform, not abstract technical exercises that exist in a vacuum.
Think about it this way. You hear a piece that gives you chills. You want to play it. So you try, and you notice where you struggle. Maybe your fingers can't quite handle the speed in certain passages. Maybe your bow control isn't smooth enough for those long lyrical phrases. Maybe you lose your place rhythmically in a tricky section.
Those struggles become your roadmap. Now you know exactly what technical work you need, and more importantly, you know why you need it. When you practice shifts, you're not just doing an exercise anymore. You're working on the exact skill you need to play that beautiful passage that inspired you in the first place.
Time Matters
I used to believe I needed three or four hour practice sessions to make any real progress. Then I got busier with performances, teaching, and composing. Suddenly, I had to figure out how to improve with much less time available.
Here's what I discovered, and this aligns with what Jason Heath writes about in his Double Bass Blog: consistency beats duration every single time. Practicing for 20 focused minutes every day will take you further than practicing for two hours once a week. Your muscles need regular reinforcement. Your brain needs daily reminders. Your calluses need consistent contact.
Let me share how I structure practice sessions based on available time:
When You Have 20 Minutes
You don't need to fit everything into this short window. Start with five minutes of open strings and basic bowing to wake up your hands and get your ears tuned in. Then spend about ten minutes working intensely on one specific challenge from a piece you're learning. Maybe it's four measures that keep tripping you up. Maybe it's a particular shifting pattern you need to smooth out. Focus on that one thing. Finally, spend the last five minutes playing something you already know well and genuinely enjoy. This reminds you why you love the bass and leaves you wanting to practice again tomorrow.
When You Have 45 Minutes
Now you can dig deeper. Warm up with open strings for five minutes. Spend ten minutes on technical work, things like left-hand dexterity exercises or bow distribution drills. Give twenty minutes to the meat of your practice: working through an etude or tackling challenging sections of your repertoire. Then use the final ten minutes to either play something fun or record yourself playing what you just worked on. Listening back to recordings might feel uncomfortable, but it shows you things you can't hear while you're playing.
When You Have 90 Minutes
This gives you room to really develop your playing. Take ten minutes for a thorough warm-up. Spend twenty minutes on scales, arpeggios, shifts, and other technical fundamentals. Dedicate forty minutes to deep, focused work on your most challenging repertoire. This is where you slow things down, work measure by measure, and really problem-solve the difficult passages. Use the last twenty minutes to sight-read new music or explore pieces you've been curious about. This keeps your reading skills sharp and exposes you to different styles and composers.
Notice how each of these structures includes three elements: warming up, focused technical work, and something genuinely enjoyable. You need all three to maintain motivation over months and years.
Progress Needs to Feel Tangible
According to Ted's List, practice becomes sustainable when you feel like you're winning. Your brain craves those small victories. When you hit a goal, even a tiny one, dopamine gets released, and you feel good. That good feeling makes you want to practice again tomorrow.
The trick is setting goals small enough that you can actually achieve them in a single session. Don't aim for something vague like "get better at shifting." Instead, try something specific like "play measures 12 through 16 cleanly three times in a row" or "nail that tricky rhythm pattern in the second line five times without mistakes."
When you accomplish these micro-goals, you get that win. You feel progress happening in real time. This builds momentum that carries you through the harder days when motivation feels low.
I started keeping track of my progress in various ways over the years. Sometimes I record myself weekly to hear how far I've come. Sometimes I keep a simple practice journal where I write down what I worked on and what clicked. Some players love using practice apps like Modacity to track their time and progress. Find whatever method works for you, because seeing tangible improvement keeps you going when the work feels difficult.
Give Yourself Permission to Rest
When I practice for more than 30 or 40 minutes at a stretch, I've learned to take short breaks. According to Double Bass HQ, many professional players build rest into their practice sessions, and for good reason. Your muscles need recovery time. Your mind needs space to process what you just learned.
Step away from your bass for five minutes. Get some water. Stretch your shoulders and back. Let your hands relax completely. Walk around. When you come back, you'll have better focus and your body will feel fresh.
This prevents the fatigue that leads to tension and bad habits. It also helps the material sink in more deeply. Your brain keeps working on problems even when you're not actively playing.
Your Double Bass Routine Should Grow With You
The practice routine that works for you today might not work six months from now. Your goals shift as you improve. Your schedule changes with new commitments. Your interests evolve as you discover new styles and composers.
Check in with yourself regularly. Ask honest questions: Am I making progress with this approach? Do I still look forward to practice? What needs to change? Then adjust based on your answers. Your practice routine should serve your musical development, not the other way around.
Finding Music That Makes Practice Feel Like Play
The best practice routines balance structure with genuine enjoyment. They challenge you without overwhelming you. They make progress feel natural and inevitable.
If you're looking for bass music that brings this kind of energy to your practice sessions, I created The Exercise Book for exactly this purpose. These are short, melodic pieces designed to be accessible and genuinely fun to play. Each piece is concise enough that you can learn it relatively quickly, but musical enough that it doesn't feel like you're just drilling exercises.
I wrote this collection because I wanted material that sounds good from the first time you play it through, pieces that give you that satisfying feeling of making real music, even during your practice time.
You might find that The Exercise Book gives you exactly what you need when you want to practice, but you're tired of heavy repertoire. These pieces could become your go-to material for warming up, for working on specific technical challenges, or for those days when you just want to play something satisfying without committing hours to a single work.
Check it out here and see if it brings some of that playful energy back into your practice routine.