A bit late to the party but the double plucks trip me up on the string crosses in the patterns that bridge 3 strings.
I can’t seem to get my second pluck to land when returning to the root (the d and the g patterns).
If anything I feel like I’m getting worse the more I practice!
@JoshFossgreen it certainly is hard to get at 150bpm accurately twice in a row! Thanks for the challenge!
I realise that at some point I’m going to have to figure out the whole ‘post stuff on YouTube’ so that I can share videos on here, but that sounds like a problem for future me as I’ve got too many other things to figure out first…Including the double notes at 150bpm.
Currently I’m enjoying doing the practice at 150bpm with single notes and find it’s greatly improved by lots of head bobbing and general grooving. However whilst I can pretty much control my flying fingers at 132bpm it becomes much more difficult at the faster tempo. Who knew, right? Especially during the last two bars when it seems like my index finger wants to leave my hand entirely, free to pursue a life of its own as far away from my other fingers as possible.
Despite my emancipated index finger, and my face contorting into weird grimaces of concentration this is a great exercise to do not just for flying fingers but for MVP and keeping solid timing. It’s deceptively simple but tests a lot of skills and I’m really enjoying it. I suspect this will be something that I keep as part of my daily practice…just as soon as I’m reunited with my wayward finger.
So what fresh hell are you cooking up for the next Technique Challenge @JoshFossgreen ? Big jumps up and down the fretboard along with frenzied string crossing and blisteringly fast 16th notes?
Seriously though, these technique challenges are fantastic and are really helping me to improve my playing. I have incorporated them into my daily practice and warm ups and really benefit from the focus they bring. Thanks so much for putting them together for us.
I hate being on pictures and on video but did end up making a video for my own use to see where I was at for before and I’ll make another one after so I can compare. I’m definitely smoother on the quarter notes and can play both speeds well. I get tripped up doing the double eighths for more than a round or two. My alternating plucking starts reversing.
I reckon the next challenge will be the same pattern but in the minor key.
When should I try working on this? I’m still working on Module 5, lesson 6. I’m guessing I should get through the Modules with scales and triads, before tackling this to avoid frustration and be able apply what I learned. Very cool. Looking forward to learning it.
Hey Priscilla! This would be pretty tricky before at least Module 8 or 9… but according to folks in this thread it’s tricky after that too! I’ll probably add an easier level or two for the Youtube version later.
So play with it at your own risk. 
I am on Modules 8/9 and it is difficult. I play it for 10 minutes slow and in chunks along with the other 10-min everyday thing as part of my regular practice.
Here we are at the end. That was hard and there is clearly a long way to go yet - flying pinky, a few rattles and that dreaded g string ringing when doing pinky on the first D. But i guess the progress is good. Even tried the 8th note fast version for a bit - level 4 1/4!. Also note to self - need more than one bass appropriate tee shirt.
Here’s my “After” video. Much better than my before video. A couple of flubs early on when Red Light Syndrome got me.
This is still the 132 tempo. I’ve been doing the 150 as well, but it isn’t as good. I can do the eight notes at the slower tempo pretty well, but didn’t throw them in here. Looking at the video my fingers are still flying a bit more than I would like. And even after practicing this for the last few weeks, I still can’t do a pinky roll on any strings except between D and G.
Well, I missed the post and the challenge.
Not too bad, because yesterday I started the practice anyway.
My feedback (I’m currently finishing module 9 and starting learning some songs): the proposed speed is unreachable - I start @ 70, to climb the wall step by step.
No prob if it’s challenging: I find it useful and interesting. I’m sure that the fingers of my left hand will be happy and grateful in the future.
Hope this feedback is useful.
Apologies but I couldn’t give this one the attention it deserved over the month - life gets in the way and all - so any “after” video I submit isn’t going to represent the exercise. I didn’t even get to 150bpm, nevermind even trying the doubles. I don’t like starting something and not following through, but … here we are.
I will say though, I think it did help get my flying fingers under control a bit more.
Hi Josh. It took me a few minutes to decipher it but once I realized there are two different patterns in this bass line - 2 for the major chords and two for the minor chords the whole exercise became a lot easier. Just my 2 cents (and apologies if someone already mentioned this - this thread is a bit long at this point) - but maybe start by teaching the two patterns. Like I said, just my thoughts, your mileage may vary.