Great warm up routine for bass players - Vlog #142 Apr 20th 2017

[marcosalazarbass]

My morning warm up is a slow chromatic scale, extended arpeggios(9th 11th and 13th) set at 120 on the metronome, sightreading exercise, a couple modes maybe, some slap exercises, a few minutes on music theory, then I get into playing through my setlists for upcoming gigs. That's how it usually goes down.

[Bassist]

My warmup I usually will soak my hands in warm water than I'll play chords while trying to stretch my fingers as far as I can, right after my first chord I play a corresponding arppegio, riff, or run etc slow, then as fast as I can for about 5-10 mins.

[mikecooper]

Hi Janek!

I liked your thoughts about warming up and I thought I would share my music situation and how I try to fit my guitar playing into my day. Firstly, I'll mention that music is not my career so for me the rigours of my full-time job and making sure I have time with my wife and young daughter do mean that I've had to drastically change my approach to playing, and therefore warming up.
The approach that I have found works (knowing that moments with my guitar are at times only fleeting 5-15 minutes every day or so) is to adopt an approach that I found worked when attempting to learn a new language.
By this I mean that I will hear lots of music throughout the day and if I hear a sound or a lick or a melody that peaks my interest, I make a note to remember it, and the small amount of time I have with my guitar is spent figuring out the bit of music that has stuck in my head recently. [The language learning theory is that if you hear a word (or collection of words) regularly then you make a note to look it up and learn it and you build up useful vocabulary that is relevant to everyday communication.]
I find that this is maintaining how astute my ear is to translating what I've heard into something I can play, as well as giving my fingers the chance to explore the fretboard with the kind of variety that prevents any kind of lull coming into my playing time due to relying on the same exercises all the time. I also find that I'm not finding my playing gravitating towards just one single style of music as there is always variety in what I hear - it can be anything from radio ditties, TV show theme songs, Disney songs, nursery rhymes all the way through to my personal favourite sorts of music. Variety is the spice of life after all!

I can appreciate that a lot of the commentators and viewers of your vlog are both more proficient with their instrument than I am, and perhaps have a greater chance of fitting in more practice time on a regular basis, but I thought I'd throw in my situation and how I try to fit music into my free time in case it's something that helps anyone else who is balancing a non-musical career and family life with their love of playing music.

My comment has grown a lot as I've jotted down my thoughts so I'm sorry this is a bit of an essay!
Keep up the great work and I'm looking forward to hear further last minute world tour details!

As a final unrelated question, I think I remembered you mentioning in a previous vlog that you do follow snooker highlights on YouTube and I was wondering if you you managed to keep up with the World Snooker Championship this last week? If so, who is your pick for the title?

[brentthomas]

I'm currently working on modes, so one of my warm ups is to pick a key, and work on playing the 7 modes based on the major scale as a warm up. The other warm up I do a lot is play a little Rocco-ish warm up working on playing two notes on each of the following: M3, 4, b5, 5, M6, m7, M7, 8 up and down. Bowing long notes on the upright is such a good warm up! Doing whole note scales at 60 or 40, 2 or 3 octaves!

[maa]

Hello Janek!

my warming up routine consists in a very phisical warm up since i play heavy metal, so i take care of my back and cervical. For my fingers i do some random playing and a very focused work on my wrists (i had tendinits).
I also do some elongation after playing, every time.

greeting from Argentina,

Mariano

[Doublebassblake]

Haven't done it in a while but I used to love warming up on piano playing two handed 2-5-1 voices, or going around the cycle, or maybe just a major voicing going up in half steps, and then I'd play the chords to whatever tune I was working on...wow I should really do that again...and I would just use the voicings from the Jerry Coker Jazz keyboard book.

[alcantey]

Hi Janek, I do a bit of scales sometimes, but I really like to stretch my fingers and wrists out before a gig. I'm a big believer in keeping your range of motion in your joints. Helps on the bike too ;) Cheers!

[ValuelessPond]

Pillows are really helpful if want to build up drum chops. They provide zero bounce for you, so you really have to use the wrists

[stephencharrison]

My usual warmup - playing Jamiroquai Cosmic Girl bass line. Arpeggio start, some linear bits and of course some disco octaves. Seems to have a bit of everything! Probably not as good as proper exercises but more interesting perhaps.

[RichCochrane]

Guitarist from a family of drummers here -- I used sticks & a pad for a while but somehow it fell by the wayside. You've inspired me to dig them out again! Such a nice way to loosen up and lock in. I like having a click in my ear when I do it -- not sure that would be practical pre-gig though.

[yusstyna]

Hey Janek! Cool insight into you're routine 😊 I myself am not a big fan of warming up. Of course it's obvious that when you warm up playing comes easier but what happened to me is that I started to rely on warming up to be able to play a show for instance. As anyone who has been on the road knows that the chances of warming up properly before a gig are slim... If you are used to warming up at home and you rely on it and then all of a sudden you can't do it before a show you're gonna be in trouble. For me it was a recipe for anxiety and stress and we all know how things go when you're stressed... So I had this thought: if we look at music as a language we will see that none of us need to "warm up" before saying anything, no one needs a 30min warm up routine to say "good morning" to their girlfriend first thing in the morning or to start a conversation. Yes our voices sometimes sound hoarse or we need to clear our throat but we are able to speak and communicate right off the bat. Of course it's because we speak all the time and use our instrument (voice) everyday of our lives. I think about playing the guitar the same way. I try to play and practice as much as possible so that I can just pickup my instrument and start playing no matter if I had the chance to warm up or not, if my hands are cold, just be ready to go. I think that anyone who is a musician and is seriously working on his skills can do this. Yes, sometimes our hands don't fly around the instrument as we'd like them to etc. and that's something we need to learn to deal with as well. I think it's really important to be able to play without warming up because in real life you rarely get to do that (that's my experience at least). I also think it's a psychological thing: "oh I need to warm up!", yes it's awesome but it can also be a trap. I know it was for me... If I do get a chance to have a minute with my instrument before a gig or when I'm at home I prefer to get in the mood of the music much more than running exercises. Playing a song (solo arrangement) that I know very well or maybe a fun groove that I like does the trick for me to get connected to the music and be ready to play. From there I go on with my practice routine starting slowly and let my body naturally come to. Once again, it's important to warm up and playing just goes better when you do, this is just the flip side that I wanted to share. Curious what you think! Cheers, W.

[ArthurDent]

Let's keep reposting these vids across social media so we can get janek drinking coffee!! He said 500k followers and he'd drink the java juice

[JulianFernandez]

Do a vlog with Louie, please... Rehearsal mode, trying ideas, giving/receiving ideas... Would be a killer one!

[harryplaysdrums]

Damn Janek has some great technique for drums! Would to see you on a kit in a Vlog man!

[joelpierson]

I'm so old, when I order something, it arrives and is a surprise!

[ChadGlassify]

I don't have a warmup technique. Im looking for one. Yours is great.

[deejayqueue]

When you were showing us how you were prepping for your last tour leg, I noticed that you kind of just tossed your pedals into the Pelican case with little regard for padding or cushioning in there. I know that you try to take a lot of gear in a small amount of space. However, perhaps it's worth thinking about using a larger Pelican with some padding and isolation between pedals. On one hand, you spend more money perhaps on luggage, and a larger case is a little less convenient to transport. On the other hand your pedals will not get beaten up in transport, you'll save money on repair/replacement costs, and you get the peace of mind of knowing your gear will work when you need it.

[perspecsmusic]

Hey Janek
Have you ever tried adding a little cayenne pepper to your lemon water? It's really good!

[CassStevens]

Janek is so amped up without coffee, I can't imagine what he would be like with caffeine. Might not be good a good idea.

[filippoieraci]

Hey Janek! I usually like to find a private space in the club or theatre where I'm playing to sing whatever tunes I'm gonna play on that particular gig. This before or after the technical warm up on my instrument (guitar). What about singing? I'm sure you do it but maybe you could talk about it a bit in one of your vlogs? cheers!!!