Beginner Class of Winter 2021 - How is it going?

Love this quote! Thanks!

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kuva

Took me 96 or 97 days from starting the first module to finish the course, but letā€™s say it was the former because it sounds nicer. (Edit: canā€™t believe I screwed up the numbers, it was a bit over three months, not two).

Had some course fatigue near the end, though Iā€™m not sure if itā€™s just my general mood being a bit crap lately. But anyway, itā€™s great to have finished this. It just happened that a bass I had been waiting for arrived to my local music shop some days ago, and Iā€™m gonna go try it out.

Iā€™ll have to catch up on the 50 songs challenge, and go review some of the course lessons I did not nail completely or are otherwise worth revisiting. Not sure in which order.

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Congrats @kowry!
well done!
Please do join in on the 50s100c, the more the merrier.

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Congrats @kowry

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Congrats @kowry,
That was a good fast pace. Always good to revisit the ones you couldnā€™t get thru the Medium and Fast workout, until you can, but its good you are not letting it stop you. Keep that as a side note, just donā€™t forget. :+1: :+1:

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I somehow screwed up the numbers in my graduation post :sweat_smile:I meant 96 (or 97), or a bit over three months. Not 66! Iā€™m not that fast!

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Congratulations on finishing (no matter how fast)! :partying_face:

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Time does not matter, if it were a race, I would give back my trophy, to a child with cancer.

3 months, or just over, and even 4 months, seems to be way ahead of the curve, some take a year or more, and it doesnā€™t matter.
We started at different slkill levels, and by the time we were done, putting in the work and absorbing all of Joshā€™s knowledge is what is important. If you get it in a month, great, a week, great, 2 months, great, 3,4,5,6 months, AWESOME, 9 months, or a year, PERFECT.

The idea of the course, and with @JoshFossgreen great structure and teaching style, if we take 10 players.

Student 1 does it in a week, and nails most of the fast workouts and is a badass
Student 2 does the 3 month program and nails most of the medium and some fast workouts and is a badass
Student 3 take a little longer program 8 months in total, then nails all the medium workouts, about half of the hard workouts, and is a badass
Student 4 does a whole year program, nails all the medium and hard workouts, and is badass
Student 5 creates their own schedule, 7 1/2 month - proceeds to nail all slow and medium and several hard workouts = badass

You see, if you take all those people, and the the 1st student did it in a week an could do most of the hard workouts, and all the medium, becoming a Bad Ass, is it any different then:
Student 2 took 3 months Bad Ass
Student 3 takes 8 months. Bad Ass
Student 4 takes a year - Bad Ass
Student 5 takes 7 1/2 months and is still a Bad Ass

WE all go at different paces, but we took the same path and all 5 tested out as Bad Asses.
if we could have Student 4 that took a year start, then 4 months later pop in Student 3, and 1/2 month later, Student 5, then at 9 months , add Student 2, and then at week 51, we could add Student 1. Then 1 year after Student 4 started, we have 5 certified Bad Asses, having all crossed the finish. line together, only the journey started at different times.

Now they all finish at the same time. Now they are equally bad ass. No advantages getting to that point, just some took longer and others didnā€™t, so just getting to that point is when you become a badass

Some go fast, others slow, but if we all showed up to a jam session right after we all finished the course, ( not including others that took other courses after or along side B2B) we would be in a room with the average graduate, all be at or near the same level , having learned and practiced the same things. Now some could be stronger in some areas, and others stronger in other areas, and then they can work together to help one and other become better. That is the idea of Bass Buzz the forum.

I just want to point out to anyone who may get discouraged, or think they are not doing good, because they think they are taking too long, THEY ARE NOT, they are doing at THEIR PERFECT SPEED, and they should not think they will be worse then persons that did it in half the timeā€¦ In fact, if they committed more of the course to memory, they could be ahead of those that sped thru.

We know the goal, to become a BAD ASS, but it is a personal trip. some go fast, others slow, but itā€™s the SAME ROAD to the SAME FINISH LINE we all cross when we get to it, and there are no cookies if you get there first.
Just your wallet that says BAD MOFO on it.

The only way to do bad in the course is to not do it. Even if you do it irregularly, you are still doing it. Hopefully those doing a little here and a little there, start to get excited after learning a particular lesson, and then canā€™t put the bass down and start doing it all the time. The more you play, practice, do lessons, workouts, play, play, play, the better you can become.
And of course, it is better to practice for 15 min a day (if you schedule a workout covering a few principles and finger exercises) then to wait until Sunday and sit down and do 2 hours til your hands are fried.
15 min a day, and 2 hours on Sunday would be great however.

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It took me a year and I have no regrets. The key is not how quickly you finish the course, the key is how often you pick up your bass. And the key to that is enjoying playing the bass. For me, I sometimes just want to mess around on the bass and not be doing lessons. Or maybe want to try to learn a cover. There is nothing wrong with that. If you ever get stuck in a part of the course, just pause it there and have some fun on the bass doing other stuff until you want to go back to it. Or skip that lesson and try a different one. Find what is right for you.

For example, I spend about 1/3rd on theory/technique/course, 1/3rd on covers, and a 1/3rd on improv/songwriting. This doesnā€™t necessarily mean I split up each session. I might do a day just on improv and maybe a day just on theory for example. But I try my best to play everyday, even if it is just for 15 minutes (though I always play longer than what I intended!).

And as Iā€™ve said many times elsewhere, the best learning experience (in my opinion) is to play with others. Think of learning bass as learning a language. We all know the best way to learn a language is to live in the country where everyone is speaking that language and have a trial by fire. That is what playing with others is like. And weā€™re in luck on that. Bassists are always in demand. I know it can be intimidating, but it really does help with learning and with motivation. Not essential of course, but recommended. Just donā€™t sign-up to a Muse or Jamiroquai cover band if you are a beginner. :slight_smile:

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It took me longer than I had originally planned because after a couple modules of B2B, I started taking the TalkingBass Scale Essentials course at the same time (sort of like back in college when I attended various classes each day).
I became so hooked on the Scales course, I found myself spending more time on it, and finished it about a week before I finished B2B.
As @JT pointed it out, itā€™s not about how long it takes, itā€™s more about how often you pick up your bass.

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Got through the Slap module yesterday, that one took me the longest by far. Slap is definitely hard but not impossible. I just need to keep working at it.

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Started end of November or early December 2020 - just finished.

Feels good that I made it through, but I will definitely miss having new lessons to go to.

Good luck everyone!

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Awesome, Congrats.
You probably already have read, but most people gravitate to Talkingbass.com and buy some of Marks courses. I recommend starting with Chord Tones or Scales
I have heard Chord tones should come before scales, but I did it the opposite way. I think they say chord tones because there are less notes to play instead of full scales, however, I had already studied scales a bit before completing B2B, and decided to jump straight to scales, without really knowing much about chord tones TBH.
But, truth be told, both courses are extremely similar, as Scales and chord tones are as well. So, taking one after the other seemed a bit like going thru the course a 2nd time, HOWEVER, there are some big differences, and obviously, it is important to cover them each separately.
If I had to pick one over the other, I would pick Scales, because basic chord tones are covered quite well in it.
Simple Steps to Sight Reading (he now has level 3 available, think 1 = beginner, 2 = intermediate, and 3 = advanced) is an AWESOME course, which sadly, I only got half way thru the first one. I have the all access pass, which is going away when he switches his sight over to a new platform. Looking back, purchasing the courses is the way better value, but I donā€™t regret doing the all access pass and having it all available for the time I had it.
There is no reason you couldnā€™t do both a Scales OR Chord Tones AND do the sight reading at the same time, I believe that is how @PamPurrs did it.
Then
You can move to Walking Bass Lines, which I am finishing up now, but running out of time, so I am breezing thru it, just to get what I can out of it.
Slap bass
And others that I have not looked at yet.

But I highly recommend it as a next step, and a way to keep classes going (unfortunately without @JoshFossgreen at the helm, but Mark is really cool too, and FUN, but the FUN dial is turned down a little bit with Mark)

I would also like to mention BassEducation.Com. Damien Erskineā€™s NEWER site. It has great content, a nice and growing community, (with a few familiar faces, notably @LesterH, and @joergkutter , maybe they can offer some other benefits from this site) with alot of lessons, players paths, practice logs, etcā€¦ and a VERY AFFORDABLE monthy price of $10 per month (recently raised from $7, so it doubt it go up anytime soon) and I was fortunate enough to get in on the LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP special that ran until May1st, where I paid $150 for all access lifetime, along with both of Damien Erskineā€™sā€™ amazing books,

So, while you (we), ever so patiently wait for Beginner to Bananas, or whatever the new BassBuzz , Josh, package comes out, we have plenty to do.

Again, congrats

If I missed any other people on Bass Education forum, I apologize, I just couldnā€™t think of any others at the moment.

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I guess you meant to say ā€œā€¦withOUT Josh at the helmā€¦ā€ :wink:

Yes, great site and a good place for going deeper with a number of aspects of playing bass. It has a bit of a jazz focus, but that is more because of the current demographics of the members and because Damian is known for playing a lot in jazz (although he himself wouldnā€™t call himself a jazz musician). Also, some of the material is geared towards walking bass and improvisation, but, again, that doesnā€™t mean that jazz is ā€œhard-wiredā€ into what the site has to offer. That said, I think this is part of the reason why Lester and I, for instance, got drawn to Damianā€™s site in the first placeā€¦

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right you are, Edited.

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I am a music FAN, but would hardly classify myself as a Jazz fan, more of an appreciator, I donā€™t know much about musicians, and genreā€™s within and such, but I fully appreciate the aspect of the music and give it the respect it deserves.
I think it is a challenge and if you venture towards learning it, it will be seen (or heard) for the better in your playing, regardless the genre you play.
BUT
That does not mean that the lessons and player paths and the information over there is ONLY, about jazz, most of the lessons are just about learning, and there is something for everybody over there for the most part.
Absolute beginners, it is not focused to that, it does cover some basics, but you will benefit from this more if you have already completed B2B

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bass

And thatā€™s that! Itā€™s a little spooky to not have my daily session with Josh anymore, but I know weā€™re all looking forward to the next course of his. For now I plan to jump into learning the 50 Songs, and also some others that interest me.

Thanks for the support everybody!

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Congratz.

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congrats @fosskersā€¦looking forward to your tunes!

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I am getting back on track. I am recovering from my surgery, and have enough energy in the evenings to play, so Iā€™m building a routine with my new bass.

I start out on Joshā€™s spider walking exercise. My fingers donā€™t cover 4 frets so hopefully this helps, but if not then I will still gain dexterity. So I do this 5 minutes.

After that I do a B2B lesson. I started back at the beginning.

After that I practice the two songs Iā€™m working on, Zombie and Feelz Good Inc. and play until I tire.

Also gave up on alternating plucking out of frustration. Strictly picking.

So back and getting my groove on

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