August 2008 Reader's Tip

Only five minutes. It’s what you say to yourself or your significant other when you sit down in front of the computer or the television. Meanwhile, five minutes turns into an hour and you later wonder where all the time went. But when it comes time to practice, you think about all the time it’s going to take to learn that new song or that new setlist, and somehow you find yourself doing something else. My advice is to sit down with your bass and say, “I’m going to practice this one thing and I’m only going to spend five minutes doing it.” You may get up after five minutes, or you may end up spending an hour getting that riff down (heck, you may even enjoy yourself).

So the next time you groan to yourself about learning that pile of tunes you have to know by next Thursday, just say to yourself: “Only five minutes.”

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