Congratulations! That is a big deal. Sounds like the start of a good musical relationship. I’d love to find someone in my area to jam with like that, once I have the skill required. A few friends have invited me, but I don’t feel confident in my abilities yet. Soon maybe.
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This short story is just that. It is a tale for all of us to realize that if we can count 1 2 3 4 and ONLY KNOW 3 notes, We Can Play.
@JoshFossgreen Man gave us all the tools required to experience the same discovery. I am willing to bet that the first 45 minutes, give or take 10 min, I simply camped out on the root notes with one big whole note for the count of 4. Later on is when I began to dabble with the BLUES BOX. But keep in mind, with my beginner fingers, I could only hold the BLUES BOX for a very short period of time. The rest of the song was relaxed whole notes.
We can all play whole notes. Also, when he sang his songs, those vocal changes were my Cue to switch between the G to A or D to G or whatever was happening. It was never about believing in myself, was never about my skills, and it wasn’t about scales. Just three happy little notes and having some fun.
Keep At It My Friends,
Cheers
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So cool reading this @travis.thepadre.reed ! Gives me inspiration that it really is possible! TY for posting. 
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There is an old saying - If you build it they will come.
For Bass I say - If you practice, it will happen.
@travis.thepadre.reed, and many other here prove this.
All newbies reading this - If you want to play bass you can do it. But not in a day, a week, or a month as some YouTube videos would have you believe. All it takes is practice, practice practice and after that more practice. It really is that simple. 
Above all in the beginning take the B2B course, keep it simple, and just have fun and ASAP get involved in playing with others 
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You are correct and learning bass is not a one day affair. I just completed my second summer of noodling around, tackling bass buzz bad A$$, and surfing YouTube. I still consider myself a rookie.
My advice with practicing is SLOW DOWN. I was throwing on a backing track at about 40bpm when practicing scales. I forced my intentions on even sounds and clear fret notes. This can be very challenging because I tend to rush the beat, miss a note with my fretting hand, or forgetting the pattern in general.
So quality of practice is “better” than just practice practice practice. We know this obviously but some of us Newbie folks need a gentle reminder. Practice sloppy only adds sloppy sounds of bad habits.
Yes, keep it simple. Yes, have fun. Yes, find like minded groups that meet your model of the world.
Be Well Brother Man,
Cheers
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Not bass related to bass but when I was learning Foggy Mountain Breakdown on the Banjo this was a necessity. Earl Scruggs played it at 250BPM. I have never seen anything faster in music. Bass players have it kinda’ easy compared to those speeds. Still can’t get to Earl’s speed but am at 180BPM.
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Hello Fellow Bass Buzzers,
Another righteous session took place and a couple of points I learned.
The same guitar player wrote two new songs since we last met. Both songs are very simple and easy to follow. What I learned from the first song was when I should actually play the root note. The song was a simple G to F to C only using the E and A strings.
For Example: I found a fly in my beer. That is the opening line of the song. He wrote a G over the top of the FLY and an F over the top of BEER. When we played through the song the first time, I was early or late. As I mentioned this to him, he points out the notes are associated with the word in the line. CLEAR AS A BELL, duh
The second run through married the note changes to the acoustic guitar. My timing was a little more accurate and we sounded better. Meaning, I wasn’t as muddy as the first run through. This also built my confidence for finger picking those notes with enthusiasm.
Second Song - Another very simple tune about friendship. This time, I asked if the notes were MAJOR or MINOR. Again, DUH on my part. So with the knowledge of the MINOR notes, the triads came into play. The song played out with a G Dm A and on the E string and A String again. So I held the G note and then played the first three notes of a D minor triad and then held the A not for the next line. His ears perked up because I was only playing whole notes up until this moment in time. The next run-through, I played the triad and ended with the D octave for a proper four count with four separate notes.
So That’s Cool
Also during the second song, we wrote out an instrument between Chorus 2 and 3. However, he wrote something like G4 F3 C1 C4 F2 G2
Now I didn’t have a clue as to what was going on and we stopped play because I sounded horrifically poor. Once he explains what is going on, I felt like a royal jack A$$. The G4 = a four count, The F3 = a three count , and the C1 = one beat. Clear As A Bell
So my point here is this, ask questions. I am so fortunate enough to have found somebody that offers patience and empathy towards my skills. I tend to over think or quickly become overwhelmed and could have easily been deflated if this guy would have taken away my power by belittling me.
But if I had not asked the question about G4, I would have continued to play a G and then the 4th note of the G major scale. Not a G for four counts. GUESS WHAT?? This all led me to feeling on top of the world because I broke up the four count with this simple play. I played the G on the E string and then the G on the A String. G Octave G twice to make up the four count. I actually played a bluegrass vibe. UNREAL
He clearly heard what I was doing and slowed the tempo down just a bit. The song has character now. It all stems from the fact that we had a running dialog of what the intentions were and how to go about it. My plan is to be able to play all three notes with triads and then play fluidly the instrumental section with root octave for each note.
Wish Me Luck
We finished off the session with a YT backing track. I played whole notes and he played what he played. Out of that approximately 10 minute track, we sounded like musicians for about three total minutes there. Overall, really enjoyed “grooving” with another person. And for me, rather pleased that I was able to “understand” the song structure compared to where I was last week. We are planning on a meet up this Tuesday the 28th. Yahooo000
So until then, search for another human to noodle around with. You Can Do It
Cheers
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Man, that rocks. Keep the reports coming.
What a great person to work with. It sounds like you struck gold when you found this guy.
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He is already a “good” guitar player in my book… because he listens 
But, seriously, he uses a non-standard short-hand for sketching out parts of his songs, and there is no way you could know that. You could have taken a guess, sure, but that requires a bit of experience, and, actually, now you already are more experienced than before and could wager qualified guesses to decode such short-hand. Anyway, as you mentioned, it is best to ask. Nothing embarrassing or wrong about that!
Sounds like you are on a good journey!!
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I am sorry to hear about your bad experience on Craig’s List. I also had a similar experience. I put out a posting that I would like to get with an area bass player to learn some fundamentals. A guy in a nearby town replied to me and it turned out that he was a ham radio operator, like myself.
He told me that he was newly licensed and was wondering if I could help him put up a suitable antenna in his attic, so that he could get on the air. I told him that I would be glad to help him with his project and that I’d do anything that I could, in utilizing my 40+ years experience as a ham radio operator.
Well, I never heard from him again. So, apparently he is not interested in my help with his hobby and he has no interest in helping me with my bass playing.
Confession - I have not been spending any times on the BassBuzz lessons lately. Too many projects around the house. But I AM going to get started again with it. I plan on starting at the beginning and hope o stick with it this time.
Brad
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Love this! Sounds like you’re on the right track! Wishing you continued success.
I totally heard the guy from the Yahoo commercial in my head when I read this… 
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Totally struck gold there my friend.
Will definitely continue to update as we are playing again this Tuesday the 21st
Cheers
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He is a good listener and far from over bearing
I agree with you for sure and that is the beauty of learning. Will know in the future to ask more elementary questions. And after he pointed these notes out, Clear As Mud. Then when we applied the knowledge while noodling around, got it.
Righteous Journey,
Cheers
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I should clarify something here. I really didn’t have all that bad of an experience with the drummer. It was just the emails left zero wiggle room and he made it clear that he wasn’t looking to give a yahoo000 like myself any lessons. I was more of a waste of his time.
Keep me posted on the new hobby of yours. Ham Radios can be a real hoot.
Welcome back to the bass and enjoy these lessons. Bass Buzz has helped me tremendously. The best part about Bass Buzz was that I didn’t realize in real time how helpful these lessons can be later on. Stick with it and share your progress.
Cheers
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Thanx for the well wishes
We all live in a world of make believe every now and again. Way Cool
Be Well,
Cheers
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This is incredible and super encouraging. Keep us updated!
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Stay Inspired My Man
We are getting together on Tuesday and will keep you posted
Be Well,
Cheers
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UPDATE:
The above photo showcases one of the songs that this friend of mine wrote. I am posting this as a way of showing you our progression from the first time meeting to our third time meeting up. From the running story on this thread, he explained that the G note was when I should come in during our last meet up. Then the D and back to the G and on and on.
This photo below is what was waiting for me yesterday.
AND GUESS WHAT?!?!?! I could play this and we actually sounded good. Not only did he add the beats but printed them out for me. Three Songs In Total.
Again, very simple song structure. We played each song three of four times and he allowed me to ask questions as I became lost a few times.
EXAMPLE:
We played the G, the D, the C, & the G. He did a little noodling around on his guitar before playing the G of ‘GRAB A PACK’. So I obviously jumped ahead during his little interlude if you will. But the third and fourth time through was clean after we continued our dialogue of how, why, and are you kidding me rants.
EXPANDING:
After we chatted about random common interest, played through the three songs, and laughed about who knows what, we got down to business. I asked him how he felt about slowing down the tempo and allowing me the freedom to play octaves and shift the pattern to a higher pitch. i.e. the 12 fret of the G string instead of the G on the E String.
Slowing down was a bit difficult for both of us really. My fumbling around didn’t help. But the second time through the first song, magical. His song instantly became a cross section of Bluegrass And Country. He Was Stoked
I then tried to explore a simple three note triad and adding the octave during our four beat G note, four beat D, and four beat C. I failed miserably. He was such a trooper and continued playing through. Upon conclusion of this song, informs me that he likes the concept of where we could go with this. That was definitely the coolest way of saying " stick to the whole notes for a four count."
The two hours flew by like this whole month of February. My confidence soared and my abilities surprised us both. No ego what so ever. Just two random dudes “playing” simple story telling songs. At one point during the practice session, we should search for a drummer was mentioned. Me in a BAND?? really, ME?? In A Band?? Hold On There Turbo
Before I jump to any conclusions here or lead you to believe that I am a bass player, I am STILL just a beginner. Meaning, my fretting hand still makes undesirable hums when I miss my mark. I occasionally pick the wrong string at times. I am still jumping in early or playing too fast or to dang slow. But my new friend has been supportive and knows exactly when a little humor becomes grounding.
NEXT:
I have the sheets with me and I practiced on my own this morning. I added a metronome at 40BPM and counted off the four beat rhythm. I slowly tickled the 5th and entertained the octaves a few times. Quickly defaulted back to whole notes for a count of four when I became lost or miss fretted a note OR TWO. My next step, MAYBE, is to sing along. Wait, WHAT??
Anyway, we agreed to meet again on the second Tuesday of March. He is flying over to Portland and I have about six irons in the fire as well. So until then, believe in yourself. Play those wrong notes and make all the mistakes you want. Then, slow down and try again.
YOU GOT THIS,
Cheers
P.S. Question for you all - What would you recommend I play over the D7 for the four beats??
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