Cooking up a successful practice session on your bass guitar requires specific ingredients. Otherwise, you may spend half a day noodling away without making much progress. Here is a list of drills and skills to include each time you decide to practice:
Permutations: These exercises help limber up your fretting hand and increase coordination.
String crossing: Your striking hand gets a nice workout with this type of exercise.
Rhythm: Set your metronome and start subdividing the beat.
Chords and modes: You know you need them for everything you do, so you may as well get them under your fingers. You can start with just one or two a day, but make sure you mix them up. Don't do the same ones each day.
Groove: This is what it's all about: laying down a solid bass groove. Establish the groove skeleton, hit the groove apex, and move it all along with the groove tail.
After you cover these fundamentals, you can fill your practice session with whatever your heart desires, even just noodling. Success is guaranteed.
