Exploring the best (and worst) practice techniques

The Practice Techniques Tier List: From S to F

Today, we’re ranking every major practice technique I can think of on a tier list from S to F. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned professional, understanding which techniques deliver the most bang for your buck can transform your practice sessions!

Here’s how the tiers break down:

• S Tier: Absolute essentials every bassist should use regularly
• A Tier: Excellent and highly effective techniques
• B Tier: Good and useful, but not daily necessities
• C Tier: Average with limited applications
• D Tier: Below average, rarely worth your time
• F Tier: Potentially harmful techniques

After years of teaching and performing, I’ve tested all these methods extensively with myself and my students. Let’s dive in.

S Tier: The Desert Island Techniques

Slow Practice

This is absolutely fundamental. No matter what you’re working on, you could probably slow it down even more. I had a wonderful conversation with Brendan Fitzgerald on my podcast about a year ago, and he shared a story about the realization every musician eventually has: slow practice is the key, and your teacher was right all along.

When you practice at extremely slow tempos, you can focus on accuracy, intonation, and bow control—all those critical elements. It’s like examining your playing under a microscope. You simply can’t achieve this level of detail at faster speeds. Combine it with metronome work or practice freely, depending on context. Either way, this is non-negotiable.

Recording Yourself

I’ll admit it—I’m guilty of not recording myself as much as I should. I try to make it a daily practice using an app called Modacity, which has a recording icon right front and center. Even 30 seconds is fine—a scale, an etude, whatever you’re working on.

Recording forces you to confront reality.

You listen back (and yes, probably hate what you hear), think about what could be better, try again, and hear actual progress. There are many ways to do this: high-quality microphones, video recording, or even the cool “distance monitoring” technique that Jeremy Curts Harris and Aaron Blick from the San Diego Symphony demonstrated.

The bottom line? Recording gives you objective feedback. It might not be fun, but it’s absolutely essential.

Chunking and Isolation

Breaking things down is everything. Nathan Cole, concertmaster of the Boston Symphony, has published valuable content on simplifying tasks. He describes trying to make it so you’re succeeding almost 100% of the time when practicing.

Here’s the key insight: doing something successfully and screwing something up both leave an imprint on your mind. If you can rack up wins, even simple ones like navigating a slight shift or going from one note to another, you’ll build toward healthier, more musical results.

Start somewhere besides the beginning. I actually put slashes through my music to break it into chunks, ensuring I’m not always practicing the same sections. This is a skill you develop your entire life, and it’s absolutely S tier. Here are more insights into how to annotate your music.

A Tier: Near-Daily Essentials

Metronome Acceleration

This isn’t rocket science, but it works. Set your metronome and gradually edge up to your goal tempo. A great starting point for most passages is half tempo—and if it’s still challenging, go even lower.

I use the Tonal Energy app daily, which includes both a metronome and a tuner. You can practice with the click in different ways: on the downbeat, on the offbeat, or with subdivisions (16th notes, triplets, eighth notes). I’m always amazed at how bad I am at rushing, and the metronome keeps me honest.

If you like tracking progress, write down your starting tempo and goal tempo. It’s incredibly motivating to see a passage go from 60 to 86 BPM over the course of a week. When working something up long-term, don’t go back to square one each day—maybe return to 64 or 68 instead of 60, building a staircase of incremental improvements.

Drone Practice

I use a drone almost every day, preferably on the fifth rather than the root (to avoid half-step clashes with the seventh). I’ll put a drone on scales, Bach, orchestral music, you name it. It’s wonderful for keeping you honest and giving you a reference point for intonation.

Metronomes and drones are on for at least half my practice time. Though I don’t always want both simultaneously, and sometimes I prefer to practice without any metronomic framework at all.

Looping and Repetition

As the saying goes, practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. When you repeat something, you’re leaving an imprint, so make sure you’re repeating quality playing.

I don’t usually set a specific number of repetitions (though many musicians find this helpful). Instead, I repeat until it feels like it’s getting into my nervous system and long-term memory. I’m not shy about taking breaks either. Maybe repeating something two or three times, putting the bass down, getting water, and coming back for a few more reps.

Rhythmic Variations

Jeff Bradetich introduced me to seven rhythmic variations you can apply to almost any passage. Take the first two: short-long-short-long, then long-short-long-short. What you’re doing is playing two notes quickly, giving yourself a thinking pause, then moving to the next two. You’re practicing half the music at tempo.

Practicing rhythms makes practicing feel more like a game. It forces you to focus on different shifts, string crossings, and fingering aspects, making you look at passages in a three-dimensional way. I use this almost every day, especially for complex passages.

B Tier: Solid and Useful

Metronome and Drone Together

Both are helpful, and I do practice with them together frequently. However, I wouldn’t necessarily advise this for beginners—trying to stay with the metronome while noticing how out of tune you are with the drone can be overwhelming. Sometimes alternating between the two yields better results than using both simultaneously.

Singing Your Part

Singing through phrasing and melodic lines is great, though it’s a bit of a cliché on bass. The instrument’s low register can make it hard to match exact pitches, but singing is particularly helpful when thinking through phrasing.

Hands Separate Practice

This goes back to the breaking-things-down philosophy—eliminating variables. Practicing just the string crossing is particularly helpful. I don’t usually practice left hand alone because I can’t hear anything, but I will if I’m working on vibrato or thinking through a fingering.

Just eliminating the left hand and focusing on string crossings can be revelatory. I was doing this last week for Daphnis and Chloé, and I realized a crazy passage on the E and A strings wasn’t nearly as complicated as I thought once I isolated the string crossing. For more on this practice approach, check out the incredible publication by Fred Zimmerman.

Score Study

This is particularly helpful when preparing for solo recitals or when you really want to understand your orchestral part in context. There’s probably a phase in your development where this becomes very helpful. I used to take my bass parts to Borders (remember those?) and study them over coffee.

Backing Tracks and Recordings

Depending on your style, this could be A tier or even S tier. I’ve been using the app Quartet for my jazz practice, and having something to play along with is fantastic. It’s fun to play with “other people” even when you’re alone—bass parts by themselves can feel pretty lonely.

Articulation Exercises

Whether pizzicato or with the bow, practicing articulation is like practicing your diction—sharpening the blade. This is incredibly important if you’re working on bow strokes for orchestra excerpts. Bass players particularly benefit from this work.

C Tier: Has Its Place

Pre-Planning

I used to be obsessed with this, writing down the exact order of everything I’d practice. Now I use Modacity more loosely. It’s like a Spotify playlist of practice items. Having some plan keeps me organized without feeling straitjacketed. Too much planning can lead to paralysis and disappointment when you inevitably go off track.

Visualization and Mental Practice

This works great when you’re more experienced, especially if you have an audition or important performance coming up. I used to be very deliberate about mental practice, but now it slips in organically throughout my day, while walking the dog, doing dishes, and at the gym.

If I have an hour, I’m spending it on the instrument (with breaks). But mental practice absolutely has its uses, particularly in certain situations.

Varying Dynamics

Playing forte passages at piano, or vice versa, is something I’ve heard helps people. I’ve tried it from time to time and don’t think it hurts, but I haven’t found huge benefits. Playing Mozart like Brahms or Brahms like Beethoven falls into the same category for me.

D Tier: Rarely Worth Your Time

Just Jamming

There’s nothing wrong with pulling out your instrument and just going for it. Having fun and playing without a plan can have benefits. But it defeats the purpose of deliberate, improvement-focused practice.

I’d equate it to going to the gym and randomly grabbing weights, doing a push-up, attempting a yoga pose, then trying to lift a kettlebell that’s way too heavy. You’re being intuitive, sure, but you’re probably not improving in any structured way.

I lost hundreds of hours in undergrad noodling around at the piano. Jamming has its place, but I don’t really think of it as a practice technique.

F Tier: Potentially Harmful

I don’t actually have any techniques in F tier. Most practice methods, even the C and D tier ones, won’t harm you. They might not be the most effective path to your goals.

If I had to put something here, it would be anti-techniques like practicing without listening to yourself or always practicing at full tempo without building up gradually. But these aren’t really techniques—they’re the absence of technique.

Final Thoughts

Here’s my complete tier list:

• S Tier: Slow practice, recording yourself, chunking and isolation
• A Tier: Metronome acceleration, drone practice, looping and repetition, rhythmic variations
• B Tier: Metronome and drone combined, singing your part, hands separate, score study, backing tracks, articulation exercises
• C Tier: Pre-planning, mental practice/visualization, varying dynamics
• D Tier: Just jamming
• F Tier: (Nothing—most techniques have value)

Remember, the best practice technique is the one you’ll actually apply consistently. Start with the S tier essentials, sprinkle in some A tiers, and experiment to find what combination gets you toward your goals.

One last critical point: breaks are essential. I’m a big fan of 25-minute focused sessions followed by deliberate breaks. Put the bass down, walk around, play with the dog, get water, stretch. That mini-break is just enough to refocus and ensure you’re not holding unnecessary tension.

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