Hi Pammie Jo, I can only agree with all the other posters here… please don‘t be too hard on yourself because of BJ, it’s a wall that we all run into. I got my fingers into a knot when I first tried it, and when I finally had memorized the sequence my hand would go sore halfway through it. So, after a lot of frustration, I finally followed Josh’s advice and went on. Then, many lessons later, I went back and lo and behold, suddenly BJ was no longer a problem to play, even at high speed.
Trust in your ability to develop as a bass player. You WILL nail BJ, believe me. Just give yourself some time.
Here are a few things you could try to deal with difficult bass lines (they help me a lot):
Give your kinetic memory a chance. Your fingers can “memorize” bass lines, too - and the good thing is you won’t have to think about what you’re doing or what you have to do. The funny thing is that I play BJ best when I let my fingers do the job and allow my mind to wander.
I find that a lot of repetition works great for my kinetic memory: pick up the bass, try to play a bass line for a few minutes, put it away, do something else, come back after an hour, do it again, then do it again the next day and so on. Short bits instead of long units that only frustrate you.
singing or humming along with the bass line and “dry playing” it on your desk, the steering wheel of your car or wherever else you can
But above all, give yourself time. We are all bass students, and we all have to learn and develop.
All the best, Mike
I felt the same way. I’ve learned that just practice it slow. The coordination came to me out of nowhere not long after that module. Don’t give up before the miracle happens!
I took a swing at Billie Jean, and percolated on it for 2-3 days then moved on… I just started module 6 today. Meanwhile, I also scored my highest scores on about half the songs I played on Yousician, today. I don’t think I’m ready for Billie Jean yet, but I know I’m still making progress!
Don’t get too caught up on Billie Jean, it’ll always be there to taunt you.
Billie Jean is a huge stumbling block for almost everyone here, so you’re not alone. My advice: play it as well as you can, move on, and revisit it later. Try giving it just 5 minutes a day for the next two weeks, and then give the whole song another shot.
Looks like probably a different Billie Jean thread (or multiples) got merged into this one. I think when that happens the posts go at the end of the thread (as it is at the time), not where they belong chronologically.
I just reached Billie Jean. It’s a rough one. I barely made it through the slow workout. I tried the mid and full workout. I got through it but not without stumbling a lot. I plan to run through it again and then move on. The fingering in the fretting hand is what got me.
I actually liked it and was not frustrated. I think @JoshFossgreen put it in not only as a benchmark but for the student to see how far they have come and how much is yet to learn. I think that’s what keeps me going rather than just giving up. It also makes one appreciate the instrument. Imagine if this were too easy. You might say, “Is there all there is to it?” Then get bored and lose interest.
So guys, quit your b*ing and moaning and just enjoy the moment. It’s a learning phase that you’ll enter over and over again. Just look towards the satisfaction you feel when you’ve conquered the little bastard.
Well I got to the infamous song last night. The slow workout actually wasn’t too bad for me. Messed up a couple times on the medium and gave up all pretense of left hand muting. The fast was just…. lol. I could kind of hold it together for the first bar but then it all fell apart.
I think slow into medium might not be a bad warmup for me to do as it will help me work on not fretting harder as things get faster.
I finished my first pass through the B2B in November. Today, I can play in normal BPM, but maaan. I cant play the whole song, I get cramp by the half of the song. Any tips? I dont think my technique is bad, I’m aware of the minimum pressure to fret the notes.
It’s a matter of endurance, man. It’s like working towards being able to jog once around the block without feeling too winded versus having trained to run a marathon. At top speed.
The only way to play any long piece is to first, learn it all. However slowly you need to play it doesn’t matter.
Secondly, practice the bejebus out of it at that speed until you can play it cleanly.
Lastly, increase your established slow tempo gradually over time. But keep in mind, if you speed up too soon, the wheels will come off. When/if that happens, slow it back down to your last established successful slower tempo, and increase the tempo based on being able to play the new, faster one cleanly.
Rinse and repeat.
Again, it’s a matter of building up your muscles and your muscle memory. The better you know the whole tune, the more you relax. The more and better you play the tune, the less effort it will take you.
Just remember, playing cleanly at a slower tempo is more important than playing poorly at the recorded tempo of a certified badass pro bassist. You got this. Just got to work it.
That actually makes a lot of sense. I’m going to try that approach, playing the whole song slowly instead of just looping small parts and really building it up over time.
I can already see how that would help with endurance and muscle memory instead of just speed.
Thanks a lot for the advice, I really appreciate it!
I haven’t been practising BJ, but I’ve been returning to it every once in a while to see how just playing other stuff makes me better.
Yesterday I found that I could play it pretty confidently, only starting to get tired towards the end of the verse. So I now feel ready to start practising the song in order to try getting to the point where I can keep going the whole way through.
