Doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourself? I decided to stretch myself and set out to learn a stone cold Motown classic in time for my BassBuzz anniversary. I’ve given it my best shot and had a blast learning it.
What have I learned (or had confirmed) over the past year?
This is the nicest place to learn an instrument. You’re all super positive, thank you.
@JoshFossgreen Beginner to Badass course set me up for success in such a fantastic way. Words fail me to describe how grateful I am to have found and taken his course. My life is genuinely better for having Bass in it.
Learning songs has been key to my continued development post B2B course. Thanks again to @JT for taking time out his busy life to get the ball rolling and organize the 50 song challenge.
There’s no such thing as talent, it’s only work that gets you to where you want to be. I practice at least an hour a day, every day. So 400+ hours gets you to the point where you can play along to a Motown song and not totally suck.
I’m so very glad I found bass, even this late in life
What a great wrap up. Well done on the cover @Barney - it’s very obvious from every video you put out that you’ve put in hard work. Can’t wait to see the 2 yr anniversary edition.
Your playing looks amazing. Very relaxed and fluid.
Did you play any other instrument before you picked up the bass? If this is your very first instrument without any former musical experience that makes it even more impressive! And you are even singing during certain party…you are killing it!
These videos like this are truly inspiring for others to keep going. On days when ones fingers feel like a jumbled mess glued together, it’s videos like this that make me work harder to do better. Thanks @Barney for pushing us all forward one more step (or three in this case).
Hey @Snoopy good question. I didn’t play any instrument ever until I was 48 years old. I’m 50 now. I started on acoustic guitar but found the whole thing very frustrating. It was a steep learning curve and I wasn’t enjoying myself. This meant that after a year of learning I was only averaging maybe 1 hour per day of playing sometimes a lot less. This isn’t enough time to see any real improvement.
I stumbled across a Bass Buzz video by accident and bought a bass soon after. I realized that I needed a structured plan to improve. This was where the Beginner to Badass course made the difference. So I started out doing at least an hour per day on Bass. I don’t have kids so have a lot of free time. In the last 6 months I probably average 2-4 hours per evening playing bass.
I’ve had lots of different careers (military, ski school, construction) and the one constant I’ve learned is that to get really good at anything you have to put in the work. Nobody gives you anything. There are no free lunches. Put in the work and you’ll get results. That’s it.
If I look relaxed, it’s because that song took me 6 weeks to learn. 3 hrs a night for 6 weeks! There is no such thing as talent, only hard work.
I hope you’re enjoying your bass journey.
Great effort. Thats a very good benchmark you set for your practicing (although you are very young ) And great attitude about the talent…im certainly aiming to take it onboard.
Brilliant Barney. You look relaxed and sound fantastic. I love this bass line. Played by Wilton Felder who was actually a saxophone player.
Keep playing and posting.
that’s some serious practice 
