Hi @DeadLossAngeles,
Love gold and brown 
3 Likes
thats the same drum samples/loops I use for all my recording…simple and has a good sound
2 Likes
Had a bit of a breakthrough just now, thought I’d share my experience in case it helps someone in the future:
I found this exercise today, and all went well until the second half of level 3, where I hit a road block: no matter what I did, my pinky just straightened out like a spring the moment I released the ring finger on the way down (see 11:00 in Josh’s video). I kept trying to fix it for around half an hour, and then gave up.
Then I had an idea during dinner: what if I try it on the lower frets? So I tried it on frets 3-4-5-6, and as expected, it was even worse. BUT because everything felt a hundred times worse it was also a hundred times easier to spot the actual issue, which is that my pinky was still tense even after I already lifted it. So I started paying attention to relaxing it before lifting the ring finger, and voila, then it stayed still. (It felt super weird though, I could feel the tendons in my pinky and my hand snap into a different spot the moment I relaxed it.)
Relaxing is much harder to accomplish for me on the lower frets, because I have small hands and my fingers are stretched to the limit trying to reach their frets. But when I went back to frets 9-10-11-12 and paid attention to all this stuff, I was finally able to keep the pinky under control. (And as soon as I stopped paying attention it started straightening out again.)
A bit complicated to explain, but hope it made some sense at least…
9 Likes
That is great, I like how you were able to see the problem after a meal, and a break, then go back and make adjustments. Good job, good story.
5 Likes
That’s awesome! For myself I feel like my thumb is the only finger left cramping up pretty fast.
5 Likes
Yeah I need to work on relaxing the thumb as well…
I’m finding it quite difficult to relax just one finger in isolation, while the others are still working their butts off stretching and pressing down on frets. I think I’m only going to get to level 4 once all my fingers are as relaxed as possible, not just the one I’m paying attention to.
Lots of good stuff in this exercise. And the best thing is that you can immediately apply these to your playing as well. I’ve been paying attention to pressure and relaxation and avoiding flying fingers while playing, and it really makes a difference.
5 Likes
If it is any consolation your progress sounds totally normal to me 
5 Likes
I keep coming back to this video every time things speed up a bit.
To be honest I have never managed to be consistent enough with these exercises as in “10 minutes everyday for a month” but personally I found it hard to apply to improvisation where I almost never now where my fingers would take me on the next bar…
Any ideas @JoshFossgreen?
Here is my most recent flying fingers video
2 Likes
The flying doesn’t look too bad to me! I would get your pinky finger in WAY more though, any time you’re doing a 3 fret stretch and don’t need to reach higher it saves stretch energy to do index-pinky instead of index-ring. That’ll keep your pinky on the board a little better too, the index-ring stretch thing tends to pull it off the neck.
5 Likes
Thank you for the comment Josh! You are right on the money as always!
Looking at it again with this idea, I understood that I might have developed a strange habit where I move my index finger between half and first position as in upright bass technique. But I’m still playing like I always did with one finger per fret technique… 
I believe I have to revisit another video of yours, the one with the Simandl comparison!
Thanks again!
2 Likes
Hey Josh! I just want to thank you for this wonderful program you set up. I initially came across your YT vids and after watching a few dozen of those I finally followed your advice to check out Bass Buzz and “Beginner to Badass.” I bought a bass and started the program about a week ago. I’m just finishing module 1 now but I am really starting to get everything and am VERY excited by my small but noticeable progress already! 
Thank you soooo much!
Oh, I just realized why I chose this section to post this. Since I am brand new to this I am having a bit of trouble trying to relax my thumb on the back of the neck especially when I’m trying to apply enough pressure to say the first fret with my index finger. I’m going for a good tone and TRYING to follow all of your advice for good habits so I don’t have to correct any bad ones later down the road. But relaxing the thumb is challenging.
3 Likes
@420bpm
It helps to flag @JoshFossgreen so he can read the post above this one, and reply to your question.
Thanks Josh.
3 Likes
Hey @420bpm ! Yeah, relaxing the thumb is a process, and it’s really easy to grip when you’re focusing so hard on fretting intially. Just keep your attention there periodically and it’ll get better with practice.
Here’s an exercise – try playing in slow motion with your thumb totally OFF the neck. Counter the pressure of the fretting with the weight of your plucking arm. See how little the neck moves? That helps illustrate how little the thumb should actually be doing.
Breathing also helps, and just focusing in on going light with the thumb and the whole fretting hand. You can try the Level 5 exercise in this video, applied to anything – 5 Levels of Bass Finger Exercise (Beginner to Advanced) - YouTube
4 Likes