Congrats,
Cheers Brian
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Just finished module 12. All up to speed on roots, fifths and octaves 
. Nice to know the chords on the whole of the neck and understand how to read proper music. Still struggle with some of the songs on fast workout but generally have everything down on at least medium. I couldnāt do any of this a couple months ago
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You said the magic words right there. This is all about being able to do something today that you were unable to do yesterday. Thatās what you call learning progress, and youāre doing great @Mikkaelson. Keep up the good work!
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Iām working through module 13, but not enjoying slapping/popping, and no plans to use it. So, I am just plucking the exercises for those lessons (Josh said we could!).
In contrast with Mikkaelsonās progress, Iām not up to speed with (and know I need to concentrate on) learning the fretboard and chords, as well as speed and accuracy, so I am trying also to do additional outside exercises to help with that. Not sure if itās my no-longer-a-spring-chicken brain making it just take longer, or what. 
+ 
= 
I plan on finishing the rest of the modules, but will most likely go back and run through the course again before considering that Iāve completed it.
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Awesome, thats what its all about.
Thats ok, it will come.
I posted a video on another thread that gives a simple exercise, that you can start to put into your practice routine, as a warm up. if you do it at the beginning of your practice, and once again at the end of your practice, you would probably start to know it pretty quickly.
Here is another one I found today. it is about chords in a key, but it can still be used to know the fretboard, and I love it, cuz I have a problem with all the chords (7 chords) in a key, so I found this very helpful.
He shows this on a guitar, but it is based on the E and A string, so you can easily apply it to guitar. Neat little pattern to know these things in any key rather easily.
HTH some people.
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I did the same thing when I took the course, @Never2Late . . . 
Although it does sound pretty cool, I have no plans for playing that style either.
Cheers
Joe
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Congrats on your progress! I go back all the time to those first lessons and just go for clean finger technique and accuracy. Itās a great way to solidify good habits.
This is, I think why Joshās process works the best ā he lets you progress to harder things even if youāre not 100% perfect. I have a lot of lessons going on right now, and I have to say there are a LOT of teachers/courses out there that make you do something with absolute accuracy before they recommend moving on. And maybe that does work for some people, but personally, I think people hate stagnation and they get motivated by progress. So latching on to key points and moving forward while honing your other skills just feels better, Iāll say.
Go back and enjoy the old lessons you havenāt run in a while. I promise youāll get excited all over again for the progress youāve made! 
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This is the magic of Josh. You are 100% right @chordsykat
This is also big complaint I have about most online/teach yourself methods. They think throwing the kitchen sink gives you more value for your class $, but I find this often confuses people into thinking they have to master everything before moving on, get discouraged, and then flounder around wondering if they suck too much to do this or that.
Think about in person learning. Each week/lesson, you are given bite size things to work on (albeit sometimes too small of a bite) vs. āhere is an exercise on 7th chords and a patternā¦now go learn it in all 12 keys, major/minor/aug/dim etcā.
I think what folks forget is that that one exercise can give you a year plus worth of practice material, something to come back to (which many forget to do) and work on inā¦bit sized bits.
Mark Smith is good to point out this concept throughout his courses.
SBLās approach is āevery single thing is important to know cold, so you better know it cold or you will be never be a bass player and you should buy a triangle and stick to that, well maybe not even that, just stick to playing the radioā.
When taking any course, I make notes of things that would be good to come back to and dive into later, then use these as a menu of things to add in / take out of practice times.
Josh cleverly knows the value in getting someone feeling good about what they are doing so it is imprinted as a pleasurable experience that leads to better learning, fun, GAS, obsessive bass disorder (the best of all the disorders), etc.
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Thanks @T_dub, I know I saw another video you posted in some other thread - was it to the āKnow Your Neckā exercises by Ed Friedland? I did check those out, download the .pdfs he has, and have started to practice them. Iāll check out the other video you posted here, too.
@Jazzbass19, glad to know Iām not alone with the slapping module!
@chordsykat, thanks for the encouragement and the suggestion to go back to earlier lessons now. I will certainly try it!
I think I will also add another practice session daily, and then when I do the next lesson, Iāll start with the warm up as T_dub suggested.
Thanks, all! This forum is great! 
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Absolutely agree, @chordsykat . . .
@JoshFossgreen leads the student into playing right away, and backfills with theory, then reinforces concepts as he goes along. Very motivating, indeed.
Cheers
Joe
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Youāre not at all alone, @Never2Late . . .
And as @chordsykat suggested, you can go back to the course and review/relearn any part(s) of the course as needed as you progress in your bass journey.
I do this frequently, myself . . . 
Cheers
Joe
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I said this too, butā¦ I have been going back to slap in various ways and now it just pisses me off that I donāt know how to do it. So ordered Mark Smithās slap course during his sale. Have not gotten to it yet, but will. I figure if I get through that and am still terrible at it, I gave it a fair go and can let it go.
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Of course, @John_E . . . I do think that learning how to slap and pop will help anyone become a better well-rounded bass player, just as learning different genres of music would . . .
That being said, I suppose Iām just set in my ways and SITS (stuck in the seventies) 
Cheers and good luck with Mark Smithās course,
Joe
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one way to start is to ONLY work on your thumb. do not worry about popping with your fingers, and donāt even worry about fretting any notes.
Just do open thumb slaps on the E string, until you can get a good sound from it. Then slap the E, and mute it with your hand, like all 4 fingers like you see slappers do in between slaps.
Then work on fretting at the 3rd fret, and do the same. just try to slap 4 1/4 notes, at like 60 bpm. then get it to 90 bpm, then do it on beats 1 and 3.
Then you can go to the A string and do the same
Then you can go to the D string, and do the same
Then go to the G string and do the same.
Then you can start to slap and pop octaves.
It takes time, but just work on the thumb.
Even if only for 5 minutes a day.
Soon you will have it, and you think, Wow, its not really that hard after you can figure out how to do the thumb.
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Here again, I think slap is significantly harder than a lot of other tutors give it credit for (and inadvertently give the impression you should just be able to do it as quickly as you picked up plucking). There are also a ton of factors at play for getting it to sound right, and itās not all in what your fingers are doing (do you have your mids turned down? do you have a good setup for slap on your bass? do you have a bass that sounds good when slapped?). No shame in giving the slap lessons some space - it is a learning curve, but absolutely not impossible.
I donāt think I can say anything that @T_dub hasnāt already pointed out, but the good news is ā once you get to slapping, not only will you love it, but itāll make anything youāre trying to pluck feel easier to do. 
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Im the sameā¦not into slapā¦but like the lessons for timing practice
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Sounds like the best way to do it go your pace and enjoy it each step of the wayā¦
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Merci Monsieur. 
For me itās the journey itself Iām enjoyning.
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