Here’s wishing you a speedy recovery!!
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Thanks @Regina !!
I’m going to go back through the whole course just to make sure I got all the good information and tips. I bet you are doing it at a pace where you won’t really feel the need to do it again.
I plan on joining the challenge!! I have been working on Bad Moon Rising and on The Wall here and there to try and catch up. I’m a stuck trying to figure out how the recording works. I’ve seen many people have it done but I’m still confused how that all is going to work. I’m a little confused how to get all the tracks laid on top of each other and record a video at the same time and get acceptable audio. I’ll keep working on the songs though.
Thanks again for the Congrats!!
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Not really, I’ve already forgotten a lot. I think I will at least go through the more theoretical lessons again.
Don’t worry too much about that. A lot of people get a bit nerdy about it but the point of the exercise is to have fun and learn the song. If you can run the backing track through some speakers and record yourself on your phone, you are all set. If you want to go a bit more “professional”, there are some recording threads on the forum or join the Discord server for help. I figured it out pretty quickly using GarageBand (if I can, so can anyone). If you happen to be a Mac user, I can walk you through how I did it. It is a useful thing to learn, but I personally didn’t want to spend too much time on it at this point.
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Just use an amp and your phone if you want. No stresses.
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One month update - I’m on Module 10 L4 and it is going well. I had some panic about not knowing my fretboard and diatonic chords flawlessly during I Put a Spell on You, which I allowed to discourage me for one lesson, but I’m back on top!
The bass feels comfortable in my hands these days, the strings feel ‘softer’ and easier to depress. And my laziness with microshifting means my tiny hands are getting a lot of strength and stretching, which feels great!
I do feel like my attention is wandering a bit during the more complex theoretical lessons (for me that is time signatures and learning my chords), so I intend to go back and fully focus. Taking notes helps with focus for me, so I keep a notebook on hand.
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Great to hear that you are moving forward so fast, getting more and more confident and comfortable!
I’m still in Module 9, been having too many distractions lately. 
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@dravernor - Glad to hear you are getting more comfortable with the bass. Took me a while too. @Regina - I’m sorta stuck too. April is a very busy month for me at work. Getting back to it, though.
Based on advice from @JoshFossgreen, I leave my bass in open view so I see it all of the time. I’ll sometimes just grab it for a few minutes as a break during the day (I work from home). We actually converted our dining room into a music room. We rarely used it as a dining room anyway and my wife plays sax, so we use the table for books and gear.
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Today I will finally be at the slap lesson… I’m excited and anxious at the same time.
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Good luck, @fosskers . . . 
Cheers
Joe
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Actual slap-like sounds coming out of my E string… 
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Amazing huh? Wait until you try the other strings 
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Sometimes, a short brake is not bad! 
Then you are motivated and ready for the more complex stuff.
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I’m now through modules 13 and 14!
M13 - I really had a hard time with slapping, and took my time with this module, but I at least I’m better at slapping now than I was before (meaning: had never slapped in my life). Definitely have to revisit this some day.
M14 - This was a pretty chill module compared to the previous one. Really enjoyed playing I Feel Good. One thing I noticed is that the backing tracks in the extras differ from the ones used in L3 - they have longer breaks.
Two modules left, and feeling pretty anxious to finish the course. Will take me a couple of weeks, I guess.
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I guess I’m overdue for an update here. I finished B2B about a month ago - it was a little anti-climatic to be honest. I haven’t bothered to do the self-test component just because… well… lack of patience I guess. I was a bit unsure of what to do next at first without structured practice I didn’t really know what to do. So I joined the 50 Songs Challenge and that’s been great fun and it’s awesome to learn some full songs. I recommend anyone who’s recently finished B2B join the challenge, you should have no problem catching up, or just start wherever the group is. If you’re worried about joining the challenge I’d remind you that you don’t need to post anything if you don’t want to but you can still participate privately, and I’d say the easy level songs are doable from as early as mid-way through B2B, if not earlier (if you’re not worried about disrupting your B2B progress).
I expect the 50 Songs Challenge to be my main practice focus until either I can find someone to play with in person (still untenable in my neck of the woods) and/or B2B2 is released.
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Interesting! I found the last couple modules to be the most valuable in the course. Less pure technical, more applied knowledge.
A lot of us also like Mark Smith (at TalkingBass) as an instructor for intermediate content, you might want to check him out. Also, Josh has a bunch of good content more aimed at intermediate and advanced students on his other youtube channel:
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I hope I didn’t give the impression that I didn’t think they were valuable.
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Just started today, really like the way the course is laid out. Love to see/hear some success stories of people that started here.
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Almost done with Module 14. I’ve already started to check the boxes for the workouts that I have to nail to pass the course. Looking at that list, I feel that Official Bass Badass status is definitely within my reach. The list of requirements for Super Badass status contains a number of workouts that I still have to work on, so that may be something for later…
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I’m now in the middle of Module 10, after a lull. I plan on doing two lessons per day, or an intro + two lessons, which should let me finish all 16 modules by maybe the end of May. I started B2B at the very end of Feb. 2021.
But, I do plan on going back over the lessons to review, plus working on getting the “fast” workouts down, so I can at least pass the “Badass” quiz at the end. If all goes well, I’ll then try working on the 50 first songs. 
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I bought my bass 2 and a half months ago. I fumbled around with YouTube videos for a couple of weeks before I received an offer from a former co-worker, who is now retired, to show me a few things. He’s been playing guitar and bass for 35 years and I figured it couldn’t hurt, so I took him up on the offer. Three weeks in, I had definitely made progress, but felt like I hit a wall. My concern was that I probably developed some bad habits on my own by just jumping in and trying to learn it by myself.
That’s when I decided to take the plunge into this course. Even though I had learned a few things, I decided to start from the very beginning and soak up every bit of information that I could. Things moved along pretty quickly for me the first couple of weeks, and then as the difficulty increased, so did the discomfort in my fretting hand and likewise, my frustration. At this point I really stopped to figure out what the problem was. I scoured through lesson comments and really, really focused on what Josh had been telling us all along, but I was just missing it. Keep that space between your thumb and the neck! It took me a couple of days of really paying attention to get out of the bad habit, but what a difference it makes.
I’m currently about 3/4 of the way through the course, and I have still been playing once a week with my buddy. I absolutely still feel like a rookie, and that it will take me forever to get good at it.
However, a little over a week ago something happened that changed my entire outlook.
My buddy needs a bass player for his band. WTF? When he asked me to try a real practice with a drummer, I immediately said yes. How could I pass up the experience, even if I fail? And then the anxiety sat in. Holy cow!
Now, I have made it through two five-hour practices (it flies by), and here is what I have learned, or am learning.
Tabs are a nice reference, but learn to play by ear. Don’t worry about playing it just like the original recording. Play to your level. Figure out what chords the guitarist is playing and play all roots if you have to. Roots and fifths work for a whole lot of songs, really. When this gets easier and you start getting bored, start learning the walk-ups and other little runs and fills. Oh yeah, make sure you know where the beat is and can stay with the drummer. It’s actually something that our drummer complimented me on. Apparently there are a lot of players that struggle with it.
I realize that I’m probably in an unusual situation. I’ve only had my bass for two and a half months! Not everyone has the opportunity to run out and jam with a full band, let alone one with experienced musicians who have the patience to teach and bring your level up to theirs. But, if and when any of you have the opportunity, DO IT!!
Honestly speaking, I know that I’m still in over my head on some things. But, the experience of playing with a band is nothing like playing along with YouTube. You are holding down the bottom end. It’s an awesome feeling to get through a song and have it sound good… And it’s a freaking blast! And that is exactly what it’s supposed to be!
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