BtB - I made it as far as Module 8 Lesson 1

That’s a good plan. Glad to hear it’s working for you man. You got this!

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Same here Paul… I’m all over the gaff… but I have watched some great bassists and they were solely resting on the pickup…as do I.
I feel more consistent and not hitting the wrong strings as much.
I have played snooker for years and they were saying that all of the top 32 players in the world…over 3/4 of them have slightly different grips and cue actions and which ball they are looking at when striking.
I think it’s subjective and if it works it’s right for you.
I’m only a beginner… I think it comes into play if you’re in a band or recording and hitting the top string…ping ha
Good luck with your learning.
I’m good at following Josh in the exercises but when I try to create a sexy riff on my own I sound awful… I don’t know the rules yet… I’ve pretty much nailed all the notes… I’m mainly a chugging animal…and I’m just practicing the modes and string crossing and dexterity.
Hopefully, later on, the lightbulb moment will come and I’ll go ‘aye aye’ :fist:
I sound like a bag of mashed crabs at present!
Regards
Cuzzo :+1:

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Some great points there corlissimo :+1: it’s helped me also.

Very good advice I feel. I’m the same… I’m in no hurry to get to the next lesson until I’ve nailed the lesson in question.
Saying that…last week I was playing BJ pretty well.
Today… I put the record on and I was all over the place.
That proves to be that I need to keep going back to it and slow back down as I wanted to play it faster…it sounded bad.
So I gotta keep at it…it was the changeover to b on the G string… kept tripping up…may of been a bit tired as when I am…time to stop ha
I will be the same as you when I get to your stage…you sound like your a perfectionist…in a nice way… I am similar…or maybe stubborn… I need to understand the concepts.
I am looking at the notes/symbols on the staff and trying to get them ingrained … I’ve always wanted to read music.
I wish you well with it :fist:

It helps to turn up your amp or use insulated headphones when you play with a pick. String noise really messed with me until I tried picking with a loud amp. All you hear is the amazing toan. LOL.

I’m using a Bose noise-cancelling set. Getting a bit of hiss but only when I’m not playing. When I am playing though, the sound coming through is exactly how it should be insofar as my notes sound like what Josh is playing, which they don’t on my little practice amp.

Good to do whilst watching football, but also good to spend at least a few minutes with 100% concentration. If I’m really stuck with something, I try to isolate and will look at my hand I’m working on the whole time. It’s not exactly “fun”, but I’ve found it effective and always keep it short before boredom kicks in :sunglasses:

I’ve got a question about alternating index- middle finger plucking that’s bugging me more and more the further from beginner I get (I’m now 3 years after Josh’s course and have been playing steadily with a band). The sound of my index-middle alternation for straight 8ths is distractingly non-symmetric in tone. It improves a bit if I pluck very close to the bridge, where there is more string tension, but it isn’t nearly as even and nice as when I play straight 8ths with index finger only, not alternating. This index-only technique isn’t needed for all songs, but some, like U2 “With or without you”, it is essential. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions for me about this issue? How do you cope? The problem with index-only is speed and index finger exhaustion. Btw, I play a short scale, I don’t know if this makes a difference or not.

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I guess the (probably not very popular) answer is to practise this intensely; to isolate it and practise it.

That means, especially in this case, to do the alternate plucking very slowly, very deliberate, very consciously and listen to the plucks. Try to see what it takes to make them sound softer, louder, more even - this will generate a feedback loop from your fingers to your ears to your brain and back to your fingers. Again, do this SLOWLY and with deliberation. And only when you almost no longer can hear any difference, pick up the pace and slowly work your way up to more BPMs.

There are, of course, a number of exercises for alternate plucking, but most of them, AFAIK, are geared towards nimbleness and coordination. These could include raking exercises and plucking paradiddles (i-m-i-i and then m-i-m-m and so on).

One thing that could help you is to pluck alternately in a slow steady rhythm and then put accents on different beats; e.g., first one the “one” of every 4-stroke figure; then on the 2 and so on. Then, put an accent on every third pluck etc.

All this will force you to really focus on every individual pluck. So, slow speed, accents and dynamics - that’s the way forward :wink:

Good luck!

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I’m glad you asked this, I thought there was something wrong with me because my middle and index fingers often sound different.

@joergkutter can you please explain in layman’s terms:

“…plucking paradiddles (i-m-i-i and then m-i-m-m and so on)”,

and

pluck alternately in a slow steady rhythm and then put accents on different beats; e.g., first one the “one” of every 4-stroke figure; then on the 2 and so on. Then, put an accent on every third pluck etc.”

Sorry for the dumb questions, I have sooooooo much to learn.

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Been working on this since it was pointed out to me a while ago too :joy:
Feels so strange at first :joy: definitely notice a difference though :slightly_smiling_face:

Not at all…

Paradiddles are borrowed from drummers - these are rudiments where you - instead of playing left-right-l-r-l-r-l and so on, you are playing l-r-l-l-r-l-r-r-l-r-l-l-r-l-r-r and so on. This typically means that while the one falls on “l” in the first bar, it falls on “r” in the next bar and that is typically where you put an “accent” (i.e., hit a little harder).

You can practise the same with alternate plucking, just substitute i and m for l and r.

Accenting means plucking slightly harder to highlight that particular pluck. So, e.g., playing i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m and so on would be one the “one” of a four beat bar.

i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m would be on the “two” of every four beat bar (assuming you still start with your index finger)… and so on.

This gets a bit spicier by choosing three note patterns, like

i m i m i m i m i m i m i m (notice that the accents now fall alternately on index or middle finger)

Being able to accent different eighth notes in a constant flow of eighth notes is important for outlining superimposed (to the steady pulse) rhythms, play along with a drummer or against a drummer, or generally add phrasing to your playing.

And, generally speaking, when you can accent, you can also play totally monotonous when required, which was what @erg asked about.

Hope this makes some sense!?

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@joergkutter I had to read it twice, but it makes perfect sense. I’m going to try this on the weekend when I have a bit more time to practice.

Thank you for taking the time to spell this out, Joe. I very much appreciate it :+1:

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Hey @pauldavidson335d I know you have a ‘metronome of death’ from a previous conversation. So to make this a less tiresome exercise.

You can mix in a simple chord progression, to kill two birds if you like.

For example you could use a progression of D,A,B,G as used in ‘With or Without you’. Play a bar of each paradiddle and then change the root note.

You can also play along to the video and try and emphasize the first note of the bar just for fun. Lot’s of ways to do this without it becoming a drag. Cheers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zONE-7ImMxY

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You’re welcome!

By the way, it’s a common misconception (and totally understandable) to guess that I am a Joe, but my first name extends all the way to the “g” :grin:
It’s Joerg, because in an email address (which is where my handle comes from because I am inherently lazy) you can’t have “Jörg”, which is the real spelling. Pronunciation is another stumbling block, but it’s close (enough) to “York” as in New York :wink:

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Thank you! I will do the work and hope to be able to report back some progress :muscle:t3:

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Thanks @Barney , I’ll give that a go this weekend :+1:

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@joergkutter this is the part where I say, in a very poor Michael Caine voice, “I knew that” :rofl:

Are you German?

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:wink:

Yes, originally… but I have been living in Denmark for 25 years. So, while I can’t (and won’t) run from my heritage, I consider myself a “European” - whatever that exactly entails :smile:

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