Just wait until you get to the lesson. It isn’t difficult, but it’s a challenge. You’ll understand when you get there.
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It’s a jump in the level of difficulty, that’s why it has become a thing here…
I got to medium speed, completed the course and have not been back (I will, just not yet) it’s probably not the hardest exercise in the course either, but if you plot it on a graph it stands out, a premature peak (the next lesson is easy if I recall correctly)
My interpretation is that Josh put it in there to shake the student, because the corse is smooth sailing until then, it’s there to tell us that “no, bass is not this easy”
Plus the fact that everyone is familiar with the song helps drive the message too, “if you want to play cool stuff, get ready to work”
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Yeah, stuff is easy if you can already do it.
A large percentage of us have no background on a stringed instrument hence why that lesson is harder.
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I totally understand. That’s why I mentioned my background. I am self taught classical guitar though. I had the same problems learning Classical guitar as I was self taught. I learned my songs by doing one measure at a time. Looking at the tabs for Billie Jean is overwhelming even to me. I was just saying from experience don’t let that get to you. Do it one measure at a time. And practice that until you are comfortable with it. Then add the second tab and so on. Before long you’ll have it. I definitely wasn’t meaning to offend anyone, just giving my thoughts hopefully to help from my own experience. Just for the record though learning bass is a whole new experience. Plucking style is nothing like guitar so I’m learning an entirely new method. But yes, playing guitar does give you some advantage learning to learning this. But don’t take my earlier comment to be arrogant or anything was just trying to help a little.
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I am low key teaching myself guitar now (lots of excellent online resources that is, not going it alone) and I can verify that practicing guitar is excellent for improving bass as well. The extra (or at minimum, different in precision) dexterity required is kind of like a good workout for both instruments.
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@rawilcox, what you note about previous experience with guitar is true, particularly fingerstyle guitar. I’ve played fingerstyle steel string guitar for years and it’s certainly translated to navigating the bass fretboard.
That said, I found guitar and bass so different in the picking hand’s foundation that the technique of bass plucking has been new to me. Still, any previous guitar fretting of melodic lines and chords has been really useful.
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Exactly! I guess my long-winded comment was meant to say that playing Classical guitar helped me understand the left hand technique on the fret-board. But as you said the right hand plucking is so different between bass and classical guitar or any finger picking style.
The reason I bought this course and started bass is that both of my thumbs are getting arthritic and it hurts to play guitar. I wanted to continue playing so bass looked like a great option. This course so far has been very well taught. I’m looking at bass a total beginner which is what I am concerning bass guitar. But again as you said prior experience playing guitar does help at on learning to finger on the fretboard.
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Yep. Nothing wrong with having an advantage. And that’s the right attitude.
Things transfer both ways. I’m finding on guitar that stretches that many beginners find hard are trivial for me as we do those on the regular on bass. And the lead parts are not hard to learn early on as the fingerings are mechanically similar to basslines.
Conversely, fast chord changes break my brain and I’m having a good slow time with them.
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@pauldavidson335d Don’t let it keep you stuck. Most people add it to their practice routine and come back to it later. The last thing you want is for Billie Jean to keep you from moving forward.
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@eric.kiser thanks, Eric. I won’t give up, that’s not in my DNA. I’m just getting a little cheesed off that I can’t seem to get it right. Maybe I’m trying too hard and I need to move on and come back to it, as you say.
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Okay, I made it to the Billie Jean lesson and there are some subtle differences to the way I learned vs. the way Josh teaches it. As I posted before, the main riff I learned was like this:
The difference here being the first note is played on the second fret of the E string, but otherwise the same. When we switch to the G string I learned it like this:
So instead of playing the whole riff through, there is a pause in place of the 2nd fret on the G string.
I assume Josh is teaching the correct version, but when I listen to the song it does sound like there’s a pause! Now my brain is confused trying to play along with Josh! Heeeeellllpppp!
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@JoshFossgreen This?
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Hey @Ant and all!
This bass line is very contentious, everyone has a strong opinion on how it was played, whether it was bass, synth, or both… My take is that the main riff should be played with the high F# for cover purposes.
BUT when the riff moves up a string, YES there is a pause in the original track. I chose to keep them the same in the B2B lesson, intending it to be simpler, but you’ll see in the full chart in your 50 Songs Pack that the pause is in there like on the studio version.
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Thanks for clearing that up! After working through the lesson I find it is easier to play the first note of the main riff as F# on the D string since it keeps the fingering pattern the same throughout the whole riff. Personally I prefer the tone of F# on the E string but I suppose it’s not that big of a deal!
Also simplifies the string crossing since you don’t have to jump from D back to E to start the riff over. Appreciate the reply Josh!
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Boy, this is good to know. I can get through the slow workout at a fairly decent pace, but that’s it! I was getting frustrated, but seeing these posts helps a lot.
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BJ is a mental rite of passage. Taken sloth-slow, it’s totally doable. And that’s the way to learn and practice it.
Once muscle memory puts it under your fingers without any mental gymnastics necessary, you can play it incrementally faster until it’s at full tempo.
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I haven’t been playing much. About 5 weeks ago I had a bit of a nasty shock with a family situation which was very stressful, and I completely lost my bass (and everything else) mojo. I’ve tried to do at least 5 minutes a day in recent weeks and gradually getting back in to it.
Well, I just sat down and figured I’d do Billie Jean as a warm up. I never made it past the medium workout speed despite doing B2B twice and continuing to throw BJ in to the mix. And wouldn’t you know it, on the first attempt I played it at the fast workout speed. A couple of fretting buzzes and mistakes here and there but for the most part I did it.
Of course this probably means I will never be able to do it again 
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Sweet! Always like hearing someone has come to terms with the dreaded Billie Jean. Good on you, and keep playing it. After awhile it will just come naturally and you’ll be asking yourself why it was such a big deal. Another Michael Jackson tune that gave me fits was beat it. The quick shift from g to e on the d string was almost as elusive. Now it’s in my practice regularly to stretch my fretting fingers.
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Moved onto Module 4 Lesson 6 today after 3 weeks. Only practised for 45mins or so but can’t even follow Josh on the super slow lesson. Also when I move from C# to E it becomes a muddy mess.
I think me and Billie Jean are going to have a very complicated relationship 
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Trust me when I tell you, a day will come when that move will be as natural as scratching your nose.
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