I'm 45, been "playing" 27 years,(God it's been that long ?)and that's my real name in the Big Apple. Practice, practice, practice...with records (showing my age ?) CD's, tapes, radio, or other musicians if possible. If you're going to be a solo act, you can practice by yourself and perfect your sound but if you want to play with others ya' gotta practice with others. I play a Rickenbacker solid body (model 480-looks just like the Rickenbacker 4001 bass) through either a Fender Super Reverb (circa 1973) or a Marshall MOSFET Lead 100. The length of practice time is not as important as what you do during that time. Just my .02c