Billie Jean is a Wicked Mistress

Makes perfect sense now :slight_smile:

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Yeah… I need a trip to Chernobyl to see if I can grow 2 more arms.

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Just got the course a week or two ago, love it so far. I’d read about Billy Jean and to anyone in the future seeing this: ā€œI too was getting cocky and starting to think I’d breeze through the entire course not really challenged until I got here.ā€ I’m glad I ran into something that forced me to take a night and sleep on it before trying again. I really feel like this program is the ideal beginner to intermediate program. I already am motivated to seek out songs to learn on my own and am trying to tackle music theory again. Thanks everyone that’s posted…reading others’ stories has made me appreciate this struggle all the more.

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I saw a video of a guy today:

And after feeling humiliated… I tried again… managed to finish on the workout.

After that… motivated… also closed higher and higher - Module 8.

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Don’t go there. Comparison is the Thief of joy.
That guy is, obviously, on a whole different level.

This is what matters. It’s better to think of how far you’ve come.
You stuck with it. Finished the course. And… You’ve gone back and completed two of the most difficult pieces. That’s pretty great.
:index_pointing_at_the_viewer: :sunglasses: :+1:

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This is literally the most important advice on the forums.
Letting yourself suck is the key to improving. Embrace the fact that there’s always a bigger fish and that what matters is that you’re achieving goals relative to yourself and not others.

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Forgot " " there. That’s my mistake!
I know I am not on that guy’s level, I didn’t feel humiliated per se. I did feel inspired.

Tapping and Chords on a bass is where I want to go.. I am just in the process and celebrating little victories.

Thank you for your advice and words!

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Okay, so I’m at BJ’s doorstep. I’ve been reading here and I have been preparing myself to get this done… eventually. I will probably slow down the slow workout like so many of you did and then add it to my daily routine.

I am left wondering, though; did you all cruise through ā€˜With or Without You’ on fast? Because I don’t see a thread about that one and I am still struggling to get it right on the fast workout even though it’s one of my favorite U2 songs. I can’t consistantly chug through that entire song without screwing up the timing eventually.

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Whether we did or not really isn’t that important. All that matters is how you’re doing. Josh gives some advice early on that as long as you get through slow, move on. That might be the single most important thing he says in those early modules. I got stuck on Billie for a few days trying to get fast done, got frustrated and wasn’t having fun. I finally gave up and moved on and was groovy till James Brown. By the time I finished the course and went back through Billie Jean, I crushed it on fast after about a half hour of working on it at speed. I’m doing the course again right now and when I got to that lesson, it was kinda uneventful. I had to do fast a 2nd time and muting might not have been perfect (I’m doing it the second time around with a pick) but the build up was pretty anti-climatic. Don’t sweat anything, make sure you’re enjoying yourself. That’s the most important thing imo.

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Well, I actually do think it’s important to know how you guys did with U2. Just like most of us are sort of relieved and encouraged by how others here struggled with BJ but then nailed it eventually. Because it means we’re still on the right track. I’d like to know if it’s just me or were more people struggling with WoWY.

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We’re all different and we all naturally have different strengths / weaknesses and talent. I might be able to chug like a mofo but my fretting hand looks like I’m trying to tie those fingers in knots. Whereas you might be able dance around that fretboard like a ballerina and slap that bass like Victor Wooten. Even then… all of these techniques are things we can focus on after we identify the issues and hone them until we’re masters at it. If you’d like to get better at chugging. Do a whole lot of it. For instance, I spent about a month after B2B doing nothing but chugging to get a consistent tone with my right hand.

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To directly answer your question: very likely not.

Buzzers aren’t shy to post about issues they experience. :joy:

But @faydout is 1000% correct when he says that everyone has strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learning/playing bass. And that’s perfectly fine. We’re all different. But the fantastic thing about this forum is that we’re also all here - to listen, commiserate, laugh and, most importantly help.

Don’t worry about a thing. What might be easy for you to play might be a killer for someone else, and vice versa. Just take the course slow and easy. If (when) you find you relatively suck at something, don’t freak out. Instead, embrace the suck as a clear opportunity to work on a specific thing that time and dedicated, slow practice will cure. It is the way - and it will work for you as it does for everyone who tries. You got this.

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Totally. Five years on from the course and I am still bad at things like disco octaves. I never do them so when I try I feel like a noob… and this bothers me not at all. For others they are super easy.

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Sorry @NeuroticBalance I really meant this to be the main takeaway. You absolutely do got this.

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As the others said, you’ll be fine and everybody has his/ her strengths and weaknesses on bass and in life.
Personally I don’t remember WOWY to be very challenging, on the other hand I had a very hard time with BJ and higher and higher (got both down now)
There is a very nice saying on the English speaking forums …YMMV… :smiley:

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Damn, that is fantastic. Much hammer ons!

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Well, today was my Billie Jean day.

I knew it was going to be a challenge. I knew that it would take quite a few times through. I knew I’d get tired and frustrated. What I didn’t anticipate was how one tiny string change would completely destroy me.

How is it possible to play it on the D and A strings flawlessly, but then lose all control over my fingers when I have to switch and play it on the G and D? If I pause, I can play it on the G and D, but as soon as I move back up to the D and A strings it’s like I’ve never touched a bass before. It’s the transitions that are killing me. Isolated, I can play each section fine.

I refuse to move on until I conquer the Slow Exercise but I need to figure out how to get through that A to G transition and then to stay planted on the D when it’s time to transition back.

I know I’m one of thousands to have hit this wall. I know I can get through it. I just needed to vent.

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Please don’t get stuck on this song. So many have and have been demoralized by it. Then they don’t play bass for weeks or months. It should’ve never been presented this early in the course.

Just move on, and come back to it when you finish the course. There’s no reason to think you have to be able to play it now. It’ll be much easier to tackle after you have more experience under your belt.

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Yeah, I know I should do that, and I will.

I need to get this transition down. Not at the medium or fast speed, but at the slow speed. Even just once. I’ll keep moving along, but I think I need to make a habit of playing this at least once a day until I can get it. I know that this is a foundational skill, so I need to learn to conquer my brain-finger connection because I genuinely love playing bass.

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Again, just slow it down. Crawling-, glacially-slow.

You need to develop the physical and psychological proof to your body and mind that you can do this at some speed. Keep in mind: Regardless of how slow you fret and pluck the line, you will know it is doable. That’s the key.

The Slow workout is a good test for demonstrating that you can meet Josh at that level. But if at this point of your playing level it seems to be an insurmountable bitch (as most Buzzers have felt at a similar point), you need to show BJ that she’s not all that. Do it by proving to yourself that slow is your friend and ally. Because once you can play it cleanly, even at a snail’s pace, you have won. After that, you can increase your tempo super-gradually, over a serious amount of practice sessions, until you can play the Slow workout with Josh. Just relax and be patient. You got this.

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